A one horse town

Old Bagan by day


We flew to Bagan on February 26, actually to Nyaung U, a 20 minute flight that was only 40 minutes late. After trundling off the plane and paying our $10 US 'donation fee' to visit the archaelogical zone, we looked around for our bags. There was no carousel, just a big hall with a door on one side leading to the tarmac and a door on the other leading to the road. After about 10 minutes, we saw all these guys carrying bags in from the tarmac. Using some form of Burmese ESP they knew who belonged to what, and, as if by magic, here came our man with our two bags.

Nyaung U, Old Bagan, and new Bagan ( where the folk who used to live in Old Bagan were relocated ) follow a bend in the Irrawaddy River in the middle of Burma's central plain and are only 5 or 6 kilometers apart. This means it's flat, folks, except for Mt. Popa, where the 37 natsor spirits reside. Bagan has over 3,000 temples and flourished during the 11th - 13th centuries. Some of the temples are in the process of being restored and some attempt is being made to protect many of the fading murals depicting Buddha's many lives from over-exposure to too many tourists, many are full of tourists (mostly French and Japanese), but there are lots of temples where you will feel like you are the only person who has visited since the builders left.


Old Bagan at sunset


Inn Wa Guest House was our home for the next three nights. It had aircon (when gov't power was on), fan if generator was working, hot water, a toilet that really flushed, and green wall to wall carpeting. Breakfast was served on the rooftop overlooking Nyaung U's one main street and featured wonderful papaya, oranges, bananas, eggs, toast, and, alas, the everpresent coffee in a tube.

The staff told us where to use the internet (it was someone's house with one computer!) changed money, rented us bikes, and arranged a horse cart tour. The first night we ate at San Kabar where we had huge avocado salad and thin crust pizza. Apparantly an Italian opened a restaurant here, and pretty soon there were many imitators. Pizza is everywhere! This was delicious, crusty, fresh tomatoes, olives, real cheese!!!, but again no real coffee.