The temple studded plains of Bagan are a magical sight. Scattered across green fields there are thousands of temples, some of which originate from the 11th century. However, in this earthquake prone region, many of the temples have been restored and rebuilt from rubble over the years. It is a working religious site rather than a historically intact set of ruins. Due to this, Bagan is not a Unesco world heritage sight.
Ground level
We explored many of the temples with a taxi in three hours. I particularly loved the old brickwork against the greenery, the aerial views from Shwesandaw Paya after climbing lots of outdoor stairs and the trees outside some of the temples with traditional handmade puppets hanging from them. I would be inclined to do a half day of temple viewing at a time, as at some point despite the variety, one temple starts to look like the next!
On our first afternoon, we also took a half day cycling tour with an Asian company called Grasshopper (in fact, over the course of our 9 days in Myanmar we took four tours from this company.) As well as seeing a couple of temples and monasteries, we saw local homes made of woven bamboo, farm workers drying peanuts and separating sesame seeds from the husk and a lacquerware maker. We watched a woman cut thin strips of bamboo and coil them into a bowl shape. The structure needs to be covered with clay and peanut ash followed by eight layers of lacquer sap (which oozes out of a lacquer tree in a similar way to the rubber tree.) The detailed decoration is then etched on the surface before applying colour paint to fill the ridges. The final piece is strong and resistant to heat.
The cycling in this region was tough at times for me as there were several paths of deep sand – the picture below was the main road which was the relaxing part! The trick is to have a low gear and keep pedalling even if y0u feel that you are going to fall…
The tour ended with a sunset cruise on the Ayeyarwaddy river, just 5 people to a boat with a good supply of cold Myanmar beer, vegetable tempura and tea leaf salad. This is a “salad” made of used tea leaves and lots of delicious fried peanuts with chilli and garlic. If all salads were this delicious (and unhealthy!) I could survive on salad for a week!
Generally, in Myanmar we were not often hassled by hawkers. This was a contrast from being chased by hoards of beggars and hawkers when I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia 9 years ago. By the river in Bagan, however, there were some young children trying to sell their little simple drawings or one smart boy asking for certain currencies to complete his FX collection. Funny that he had Peruvian sole, Japanese Yen and Bolivianos but was just missing pounds and dollars! They were sweet and seemed to be more interested in practising their English than persisting with a hard sell.
From the sky
Viewing Bagan from a hot air balloon was expensive but was our most incredible experience in Myanmar. I had never been in a hot air balloon before, so part of the charm was seeing how it functions. If you want to do it in the peak season, it is best to book in advance… there were a lot of disappointed tourists trying to book when we were there. Spaces are limited with 21 balloons (run by 3 different companies) allowed to operate in the area each morning, weather permitting. I also would highly recommend ‘Balloons over Bagan’ as the company really looked after us throughout.
It started with a 5.10am hotel pickup in a restored WW2 Chevrolet bus partly made of teak wood. We then had tea and biscuits by the side of the airfield. The two pilots (Belgian and English) for the balloons on our side of the field told us who would be in which balloon. From our safety briefing, I learned that there is a landing position that passengers need to take because landings are bumpy! It was exciting to see the huge balloons be inflated, first with a regular fan then the gas fire to move it upright. During this process, the balloon was tethered to the bus for stability.
We got in, four people in each quandrant (twelve people in total per balloon) wearing our free baseball caps. Lift off was smooth and within a minute we had beautiful views of the mesmerising landscape below and the sunrise on the horizon. It felt like we were floating. I would put the wow factor up there with going on safari a couple of years back or going to Disneyland when I was a kid. I had the same ‘wow, I can’t believe I am here’ feeling.
The windspeed was extremely high and after about 45 minutes of ballooning, our first attempt at landing did involve a knock against some palm trees which was a shock (extremely rare situation and the balloons on Bagan have excellent safety record!) There was some swearing in several different languages on collision as we got a jolt and palm leaves poked over the top of the basket. After taking landing positions rapidly for that, we were prepared for the bumps of the real landing on the river sandbank 5 minutes later! It felt like we were washed up on a deserted island with just a fisherman shack in sight.
In terms of logistics, we waited in the basket whilst our Belgian pilot Christophe (who was a bit shaken a few minutes ago) radioed the team our location. A team of about 8 people came to dismantle the balloon and help us out of the basket. Before boarding the bus to go back, we had croissants, fruit and champagne which had been set up for us in a nearby clearing!
Accommodation
We stayed at Bagan Lodge which is a boutique hotel with a beautiful open lobby, two swimming pools set in courtyards, an ornate jacuzzi and big safari-lodge style huts. It was a beautiful place to relax in the sunshine after sightseeing excursions and enjoy beers for less than ÂŁ2 during happy hour. The buffet breakfast was also very good… as well as the usual fare, I found myself enjoying veg chilli and garlic noodles each morning!
All in all, our two days in Bagan delivered beyond my expectations and I am happy we opted for an unforgettable balloon ride.
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