Myanmar Trip: Three-Point Bagan

When my friend first mentioned about Myanmar to me a while back, all I knew was Yangon. The word Bagan didn't ring as much bell as Angkor, need not to mention about Mandalay. As I went along in this trip with him, it was a journey of discovery on the places that were foreign to me. There were a number of experiences that I didn't foresee.

We were approached by taxi drivers the moment we got off the train at Bagan Railway Station in which we didn't even get to walk pass it. We actually attempted booking for Grab at first but unfortunately it wasn't available in the region. One of the drivers claimed that he knew where our hostel was. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we agreed to go with him with reasonable fare. It was all sandy around us as we cruised along the road. We needed to pay 25000 kyat for entering Bagan Archaeological Zone and the ticket was valid for five days. We were only asked for it once for the entire trip.

View of Bagan Railway Station from our taxi

Entrance ticket to Bagan Archaeological Park. Only one ticket issued for both of us.

As shops started to appear as we looked out through the car window, we knew we were close to New Bagan. The traffic was rather minimal or I daresay, there was almost no car on the road as we arrived at Ostello Bello Bagan. We were asked to fill up some sort of welcoming form while waiting for the room to be ready. 48 dollars for 2 nights, it was one of the nicest hostels that I ever stayed, if not in Myanmar perhaps among all the trips that I had previously. Cozy room and clean toilet, the hostel also hosted nightly game activities in which we joined for both nights. We went on to refresh ourselves after long journey since the day before (Remembered the twenty hours train ride?)

Our hostel was strategically located in the heart of New Bagan whereby the little town can be covered on foot. The air was rather sandy/dusty and hence I would recommend a face mask. We noticed there was plenty of scooter (or locally called it as e-bike) rentals around. Every time we passed by those little tents we would hear "e-bike?" which would follow up by question of asking for where we were from and ringgit notes as souvenirs. There was one particular boy called us "Malaysia" wherever he saw us while we were temples hopping.  Too bad we didn't get a picture of him as there was no sign of him upon our return.

We had our first lunch in Bagan at Shwe Ou Food Garden. I have to say, most of the eateries were not air-conditioned despite of the hot weather. The ceiling fan didn't seem to help much either. We relieved ourself from the heat temporarily with home made ice cream as our dessert. We started exploring New Bagan on foot as we found our way to the riverside of Irrawaddy (or Ayeyarwaddy) River, the largest river in Myanmar, nicknamed "The Road to Mandalay". The intention was going to the lookout point but eventually decided to detour back to the hostel as the place seemed to be not really accessible. Along the way, we could see some of the temples, a prelude for what is going to happen on the next day. I could feel that my skin was almost burning walking under the hot sun and it was around 3pm. There was barely any shade and the distance towards our hostel seem to be extended due to the heat. We checked the temperature on that day was as high as 41 degree Celcius. That was a record for me. We chilled out in the room before visiting another spot of ruins in the late evening. Had our dinner at Black Rose which was just ordinary - hunger filler for the night.

First lunch in Bagan. Buttermilk Curry Chicken and Cowpea. Nyum.

Ice cream to cool ourselves. Mine was the strawberry oyster, no real oyster. Basically just strawberry ice cream served between the bread and jelly. Tasted a little too sweet.

We saw this signage while exploring Bagan. Apparently need to call for Grab around this area.

Remnants of ancient temple within New Bagan

First sunset in Bagan

Pork Curry. The curry in this country wasn't that spicy in my opinion.

Next day started as early as 4.00 am as we planned to catch the sunrise. The receptionist recommended a spot and at first we thought the place would be less touristy. We were joined by another traveller from India in which we met during "Stop!" game the night before. Initially we thought of renting two bikes but eventually we resorted to one big bike (luckily we did) for 9000 kyat. We had a test ride at the roundabout right in front of the hostel. I have fear of bikes and to ride one of these things was a step up for me. When my friend mentioned about renting one before our travel, I didn't really dwell that much and it was too late to turn back at that point of time. At first, I thought it was manageable, just need get used to the control; right hand to accelerate, left hand to brake. I told myself, "I can do this!" Or so I thought.

My friend was the first rider for the sunrise spot as I navigated the way. As we were off the main road, the pathway was not properly paved and not well illuminated. There was another sunrise spot that we missed in which we only noticed when we were on the way back in the evening. The receptionist told us it would be quite a hike to get to the sunrise spot which turned out to be just a little slope. I could have just worn my Birkenstock sandals instead of sport shoes. To my surprise, the place was already crowded with tourists, mostly coming from the mainland. There were lots of buses and horse carriages at the parking lot. I wasn't sure what to expect for the view but my friend didn't seem to be pleased as it didn't appear as what he hoped for I suppose. It was very cloudy and by the time the sun made its appearance, it already went beyond the horizon.

Look at the crowd. Look at that sun.

This is our version of Bagan sunrise.

Temples of Bagan. We were going to tick them off in a while.

We went off to our very first temple, Htilominlo Temple, a three-storey tall red brick temple. Be mindful that no footwear was allowed in all temples. Since we were early, we were the first to be there, I reckoned. Next pagoda in the plan was Shwezigon Pagoda which was quite a distant as we passed by some local neighbourhood and it appeared to be less touristy. We didn't get to go in as nature called for my friend. The mission soon became looking for water closet before we stopped by a random temple which was unplanned. That was the perk of exploring the place with scooter, can be more flexible in the itinerary. But, I won't be able to do it alone, not right here.

Side of Htilominlo Temple. There was some work ongoing at the top.

The still joyful me with bike in front of Ywa Haung Gyi Temple.

Ananda Temple by far was the prettiest temple I have seen in the zone with the golden dome and surrounded by white structure. Dhammayangyi Temple was claimed to be the largest temple in the area. Taking a brief break from the temples, we visited Bagan Golden Palace with additional fee. It was a small complex which can be easily covered in less than hour. Thatbinyinyu Temple was the tallest temple but it was under renovation work. One of the kids approached us selling postcards, saying she needed money for her to get into university.

Ananda Temple. I think this was the easiest name to remember among others.

Monks walking towards the pyramid style Dhammayangyi Temple.

Posing right in front of the archway

Thirizayabumi Golden Palace. The whole palace was rebuilt. 5000 kyat entrance fee.

Thatbnyinyu Temple. The peak was under with scaffolding so we settled with the side view.

Welcoming to Bagan sign. Didn't notice this the day before.

Completed the agenda in the morning, we were off for our breakfast at Kan Htoo Get to try the unofficial dish of Myanmar , Mohinga and the owner told us they only left one for us to try. I was expecting it to be good and turned out I kinda liked it, reminded me of Malaysian version of laksa.

Myanmar Style breakfast. A good feast to nourish ourselves after all the temples visit

We returned to the hostel as we planned the next activity in the evening to avoid the almost unbearable heat. Unexpected downpour happened afternoon which may have cooled off the surrounding a little as we chilled at the common area. Free pasta was served at 1pm.  We had our late lunch at The Moon, a vegetarian restaurant. I ordered noodle soup which was nyum. Free mango slices were served as our dessert. I have been craving for eating mango since I saw them in Yangon but dare not to try due to hygiene issue. From there we went to Shwesandow Temple for planned sunset view. Unfortunately, the staircase was closed and hence, no sunset view from there. As we rode around, we have been approached by the locals whether we were interested for temple climbing. It seemed to be a thing there, or it used to be. We were told that the temples climbing was no longer allowed due to earthquakes that hit the place few years back which may have compromised the integrity of the temples. We explored the temple before attempting another site for sunset view but it was in vain too. At last, we went back to the same spot we went for in the earlier day. There were two French girls who seemed to be looking for sunset vantage point and my friend invited them to follow us.

Satisfying late lunch at The Moon.

Tamarind Flakes which tasted similar to Hawthorn Flakes. Sweet mango cutlets.

Cute coconut monkey

Candid photo of me wearing longyi at Shwesandow Pagoda.

All those efforts looking for vantage points of sunset seemed to go to waste due to these clouds

We had a little incident with our scooter when it was out of battery while we were heading back to town. It was 5km away when our scooter decided to fail us. Luckily, a tourist police passed by and helped us to call our scooter provider before being joined by his friend. We waited in the drizzle for 20 minutes before our smaller scooter came for the rescue. I felt bad for my friend for having to ride in the rain as his sight was partially hindered by the droplets on his glasses. I had minor trauma myself earlier in which I twisted my right wrist. Most importantly, we made it back safe and sound. With all the ordeals, we decided to settle our dinner at the hostel.

As our bus would pick us around noon, we went to lacquerware workshop next door after having breakfast at the hostel. I booked our bus ticket online and selected the hostel as pick up point. However, you will still need to inform the receptionist to reconfirm with the bus company for the arrangement. Apparently lacquerware was Bagan's specialty which explained a number of lacquerware shops around. My friend bought one from the shop and we were brought around by the lady on the manufacturing process. I was amazed as all these products were hand-made and one needs to be very meticulous and patient to produce a fine piece of lacquerware and it involved more than one person. The effort may go as long as months or even years, depends on the material/quality. We returned to the same spot for our last lunch in Bagan.

Lacquerware on display. These were made from bamboo. Some they used horse hairs too.

Different stages of lacquerware making.

Last lunch in Bagan with noodles.

The bus brought us to the bus station together with other passengers. There weren't many passengers onboard. I remembered there was only a family of five, a solo traveller and us.  The bus departed earlier than scheduled and the 4 hours bus journey began. The online reviews mostly actually discourage to use bus. In those reviews most of them were referring to the minibus. On the contrary, we opted for bigger bus with JJ Express which was quite comfortable. I would recommend the same company for those who wish to use bus for intercity travel in Myanmar.

Our very last intercity travel in this trip. It was coming to a close.

One last pitstop to go.

Our journey:

Mingalaba: Yangon - Bagan - Mandalay

You may wonder what is it called "Three Point Bagan". My friend's post may explain.