The Marvelous Kirchner Adventures: Myanmar-Day 6: Bagan

Old Bagan is littered with thousands of stupas, pagodas, and temples from around the 11th and 12th centuries, a similar time frame to when the temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia were built. The experiences in Old Bagan and Siem Reap are often compared, and I will give it my best shot here. Both have pros and cons, obviously. Siem Reap's temples were restored beautifully, as such earning them a place on the UNESCO World Heritage sites list. Old Bagan, not so much. It is very obvious in most places what is new versus old, and alot of the temples on the inside have been completely blocked off in the middle, or totally covered over with plaster. So no UNESCO for them. Also, the temples in themselves are very different. In Siem Reap, the temples are very ornate, with elaborate carvings both inside and out. They were also very large. In Old Bagan, the outsides of the temples were carved well, but the insides were not. Some were painted, but some were very plain. They were very tall, on average, but not necessarily that large. In Siem Reap, most of the temples were in the shape of a cross, with lots of passageways to explore. You could spend hours at a temples, wandering around, getting lost and enjoying being lost. In Old Bagan, the temples were in the shape of a large square. Since most of the temples were blocked off on the middle, you could only walk around the outer pathway of the square, so not too imaginative or exploratory. For the temples themselves, I liked Siem Reap's better. However, Old Bagan has the upper hand when it comes to the overall experience. Because there are much fewer tourists, you don't get harassed at every temple to buy stuff like you do in Siem Reap. Also, the terrain in Old Bagan is very dry and desert like, with few trees. This means you can climb to the top of a temple and see the thousands of other temples in the surrounding area. The sight is magnificent. In Siem Reap, you could only really see the temple you were at due to the abundance of jungle. Finally, in Siem Reap, you have to get around by either bicycle (impractical due to how far apart the temples are) or by a hired tuk-tuk. That means you go where the tuk-tuk drivers suggests by the paths he chooses. In Old Bagan, we rented electric bicycles, which were essentially wussy scooters. But, it gave us the freedom to go where we wanted, by whatever route we chose. The freedom made the temple touring really, really fun, as was actually driving the electric bicycles. However, half the time we didn't know the names of the temples we were at, and rarely were there English signs. So, from an educational experience, Siem Reap was better.

This is me getting the hang of the e-bike. Drew of course was a natural. It may have taken me a time or two to not accidentally rev the engine when I was trying to park the bike etc. There was alot of deep sand, so that took some getting used to also. Those small tires can get a bit squirrelly in the sand! But, I have to say, I was way better than all of the Chinese ladies we saw tottering around. They would go so slow you could walk faster.

All of the temples in Old Bagan were Buddhist as opposed to those in Siem Reap which were mostly Hindu, so all of the paintings showed Buddha in some form or monks.

A stupa with more gorgeous weather.

Nicely carved entrance.

Gorgeous temple. The outside was always nicer than the inside. They were beautiful just to took at from the lanes as we buzzed around.

Just like the Shwezigon Pagoda in Yangon, you have to take off socks and shoes before entering any temple. So, we actually just wore flip flops all day, as you were constantly taking your shoes on and off. However, because we were scooting around so much in the sand, it meant our feet were filthy by the end!

You also burned your feet anytime you walked on a sunlight path. It was a good lesson in the heat retention of materials. In the picture below, the red brick would burn in an instant, while the white marble was bearable.

Golden statue of Buddha. Most of the temples had a large Buddha statue in them, but they were not original.

About halfway through the day, Oh no! I got a flat tire! We took a picture of the temple we were at, left the bike there, and drove together back to the e-bike shop. They were so nonplussed, it must happen all the time. They gave us two new e-bikes to use, saw the picture of where we had left the other e-bike, and went to retrieve it themselves. No muss, no fuss, and no charge to us! Funny enough, the exact same thing happened to Drew the next day, so it was nice they were so relaxed.