Burmese Days pt. 3: Bagan and Mandalay

Hello, xin chào, and မင်္ဂလာပါ (mingalaba)!

This last post for Myanmar is a two-for-one, as I didn't/couldn't do too much while I was in Mandalay (more on that later). My 8 hour night bus from Inle Lake had been surprisingly restful. The distance was only about 200 miles, but the poor infrastructure and mountainous terrain ensured a long journey. At one point I looked out the window and could see headlights illuminating at least five or six hairpin turns below. I then stumbled out at the Bagan bus station (an actual station, more or less) at 4am and was greeted by a cabal of aggressive cab drivers who were quoting prices that had nothing to do what was officially posted. One guy offered me a tricycle ride for less than what was posted, so I jumped at the value that only a solo traveler could take advantage of.

I imagined a motorbike with a sidecar, given that such arrangements are pretty common transport in this part of the world, but I was horrified to discover he was leading me to a shoddy bicycle with a sidecar. Because I'm too nice and also just wanted to get to my hostel, I decided to just suck it up. After about 10 minutes biking down a desolate highway in the middle of the night, I was growing increasingly despondent. The man riding the bike then told me it would be another half hour to go the 5 or 6 miles to my hostel. My sole sweatshirt was in my bag—rigged to the sidecar somewhere—and I was actually starting to get really cold. I was about to totally lose it when I just told the guy to drop me off in front of a random hotel so I could call a taxi. He then persuaded me to let him call his tuk-tuk driver friend, for whom I then waited 10 minutes. It was smooth sailing from there, but between the two drivers I ultimately spent the amount of money a taxi would have cost from the get-go.

At this point it was about 4:45am, and luckily I made sure to book a hostel that had a separate room for night bus arrivals to sleep before their beds were ready. It was set up just like a normal dorm room, just missing sheets. I immediately crashed for a solid 6 hours, and then I was ready to start checking out Bagan's renowned temples.

Looking out over the plains of Bagan.

Almost all of the 2,000 Buddhist temples dotting the dry plains date to the 11th to 13th centuries, during which time Bagan was the capital of a kingdom of the same name. It was the very first Burmese kingdom ever, laying the cultural and political foundations for what is now Myanmar. Quite frankly, that's about all I know about Bagan, so this'll mostly be pictures from here on out.

My e-bike parked next to some abandoned, unnamed stupas.

Getting around the roughly 12-square-mile archaeological zone was super easy—the most common form of transportation being e-bikes. These were basically scooters similar to what I had ridden in Vietnam before, except that they were electric. For whatever reason—something about safety or emissions, I'd guess—foreigners can't ride motorbikes in the area. More or less, I just spent two days putting around unmarked dirt/sand roads, stopping off at whatever temples I felt like.

Central stupa at Ananda Temple.

The grounds of Ananda Temple.

The massive Thatbyinnyu Temple.

A typical "road" in Bagan.

It was really surprising how undeveloped and uncrowded everything was. I would ride down empty, dusty roads and only occasionally pass horse carriage caravans, tour buses, and other e-bikes. Then I'd park my e-bike wherever in front of a temple, usually near the clusters of huts selling drinks and souvenirs—but only the larger ones had those.

The also massive Dhammayangyi Temple.

A sleeping dog at Dhammayangyi Temple.

Worshippers at Dhammayangyi Temple.

What was really cool—and unexpected—was that most of well-known temples were very much still in use as places of worship.

Sulamani Temple gate.

One of the frescoes at Sulamani Temple.

One of my favorite temples was Sulamani. Even though the front was relatively busy, there were few other people who wandered around the whole interior. (Almost all of these temples were set up with a square-shaped passageway connecting a shrine on each of the four sides.) Of all the temples I saw, Sulamani had the most amazing frescoes.

A shrine at Sulamani Temple.

More frescoes at Sulamani Temple.

After Sulamani, sunset was nearing, so I thought I'd figure out a place to watch it. One of the main activities in Bagan promoted in guidebooks over the last several years was climbing temples, especially at sunset or sunrise. At most large temples, this was sanctioned with [original] stairs and railings, but at the hundreds of little temples, many people would scramble up the sides. This all changed in 2018, as authorities very reasonably want to preserve and protect this cultural heritage from unnecessary damage. When I was there, there were some blogs that listed unnamed temples with coordinates to find them where you could still climb up. I stopped by two of these only to find security guards who turned me away.

A herd of cattle passing by a temple, seen from a viewing mound.

The authorities had also created a handful of very large mounds about 10-20 feet tall so people could get a view across the flat landscape in the archaeological zone. I stopped by one of these so-called viewing mounds about an hour and a half before sunset. I quickly got hot in the 90°F heat and direct sun, and after about 10 minutes I saw a few tour buses pull up and realized this would not be the experience I wanted. I rode around on my e-bike aimlessly for a while, and several locals passed me on motorbikes and offered to guide me to a temple I could climb. Apparently a cottage industry has developed around covertly leading tourists to obscure temples.

Just before sunset.

I was starting to feel hassled, so I decided that it was just not worth the effort to ultimately engage in an unsustainable practice and damage the cultural heritage I had come to see.

My sunset spot.

Sunset behind a temple someone managed to climb.

After a bit more aimless riding, I stopped off at a cluster of scenic-looking and non-famous temples. There were certainly other people around, but it was easy to find plenty of space to myself, and I even wandered off to some less accessible temples in the distance (and spotted some that others had climbed).

Worshipper at Shwezigon Pagoda.

Somehow I managed to cover most of the major temples during my first afternoon in Bagan, so my second day was a lot more leisurely. My first stop was Shwezigon Pagoda, which was unique in that was totally gilded, reminding me of similarly-named Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon (but much, much smaller).

Entering Dhammayazika Pagoda.

The stupa (under restoration) at Dhammayazika Pagoda.

After stopping at some little, abandoned temples, I visited my other favorite temple: Dhammayazika. This one was partially gilded, and the grounds were lush, especially compared to the dry and dusty landscape throughout the rest of the archaeological zone.

Some of the trellises on Dhammayazika's grounds.

One of the dogs at Dhammayazika.

There were never more than a dozen other people around, it was totally blissful to just relax in the shade of the greenery. Even better, it was clear a litter of puppies had been born within the past several weeks.

I was 100% ready to take this one home with me.

Minnanthu village with some temples in the distance.

I routed my way back to my hostel so I could pass by a village I saw on Google Maps, Minnanthu. There happened to be a large viewing mound there, so I climbed up and got some photos. Two young girls followed and offered me a tour of the village, but I declined. In an effort to avoid scams and practice sustainable tourism, I'm generally weary of being approached like that—especially if it's by children—in areas with such high concentrations of visitors.

I went back to my hostel to relax by the rooftop pool—this is what you get when you spend a relatively expensive $14/night. I grabbed dinner at the place down the road I had been to the night before. I absolutely loved their pork curry with coconut rice and a mixture of pickled vegetables I didn't recognize (but mostly the coconut rice). This second time, however, my food came out almost immediately, which was not common in Myanmar. It was here, of course, that my trip took a turn for the worse.

Long story short, during the night I came down with some sort of food poisoning. I was due to head to Mandalay the next afternoon, so I had the joyous experience of clenching my entire digestive tract on a 5-hour mini-bus ride. The seats were not roomy, and luggage completely filled the aisle. We stopped at one rest stop, and like all the other rest stops I had seen on my bus rides across Myanmar, there were only non-flushing squat toilets. I would not have survived were it not for Imodium.

Anticipating—correctly—that I would be pretty worn out by this point in the trip, I booked myself a private room with a shared bathroom in a brand new hotel in Mandalay. I barely ate the day I arrived, and even after lots of rest in my heavily air conditioned room, I still felt nauseous during my first full day. I had to cut down on my Mandalay plans accordingly. I rented a motorbike for the afternoon and ended up with a painfully ugly pink scooter. It had seen better days, and there were flower and butterfly decals all over. Just in case I needed another reason to stick out as one of the few Westerners in the city.

Bridge over the Irrawaddy.

Sagaing Hill and boats on the Irrawaddy.

I headed about an hour outside the city to visit the pagodas of Sagaing Hill. I crossed a large bridge over the Irrawaddy River and then wound my way up the hill, passing groups of Buddhist nuns (more or less) and monks walking on the side of the road.

The terrace of Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda.

Looking out towards another temple.

At the top, I visited Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda, which provided gorgeous views of the rest of the hill and the Irrawaddy River. I was still nauseous and exhausted from my food poisoning the day before, so I dazedly wandered around the grounds for about an hour.

The covered walkway (zaungdan) up the hill is a common feature of Burmese temples.

Sunset on the Irrawaddy.

Sunset was approaching, and I was ready to call it a day. For my first full meal in nearly 36 hours, I needed something mild and familiar, which meant a visit to KFC for a chicken sandwich. I felt kind of guilty about it, but I had zero appetite for anything local.

At the top of Mandalay Hill.

For day two in Mandalay (and my last full day in Myanmar), I opted to splurge and take a tuk tuk up to the top of 790-foot-tall Mandalay Hill on the northern side of the city.

A ceremonial bell at Su Taung Pyae Pagoda

A local woman adjusts her hair in a mirror.

I then took a series of escalators to get to Su Taung Pyae Pagoda at the very top of the hill. It was bustling with locals and had a nice view across the flat expanse of Mandalay.

A backlit monk walking through Su Taung Pyae.

After a group of 5-6 locals around my age asked for photos with me—one at a time—I then followed the zaungdan (covered walkway) down to the bottom of the hill.

A dog on the Mandalay Hill zaungdan.

On the way down, I passed many dogs, trinket vendors, and shrines. I then walked a few minutes to the last sight I would visit in Myanmar, Kuthodaw Pagoda.

Kuthodaw Pagoda with Mandalay Hill in the background.

A row of stupas at Kuthodaw.

Kuthodaw Pagoda is sometimes called the world's largest book, as its grounds contain 729 stupas, each of which holds a stone tablet inscribed with the text of the Pāli Canon.

Close-up of a tablet at Kuthodaw.

The Pāli Canon, traditionally known as the Tripiṭaka, is the earliest and most important collection of scriptures in Theravāda Buddhism, one of the two major strands of Buddhist thought. At Kuthodaw, the entire Tripiṭaka is written within these stupas, which are arranged in neat rows around the central stupa.

More stupas at Kuthodaw.

I sat down for a little bit as many locals were doing, and the man in the photo above eventually came over to chat with me. He spoke near-fluent English, and we had a really nice conversation about the differences between Vietnam, the U.S., and Myanmar. I was really pleasantly surprised during my entire time in Myanmar at how genuinely friendly the locals were, regardless of their English abilities.

The next day, I flew back to Hanoi with a geographically counterproductive stop in Bangkok. I had pretty much fully recovered from my Bagan food poisoning when I decided to try some sausage pastry at a cafe in the desolate Mandalay International Airport. It came to me pretty lukewarm, and I realized there were a lot of them sitting in the bakery case. Surely I wouldn't get sick from airport food? Then I remembered how several years ago my sister had gotten food poisoning at the airport back in Detroit. But I had already had my food poisoning incident for the trip, right? Naturally I continued eating, and a few hours later as I boarded my flight from Bangkok to Hanoi, I found out I was quite wrong. Live and learn.

In spite of the incidents on the back half of my trip, my 11 days in Myanmar were absolutely extraordinary. I'm really grateful that I got to have the unique experience of seeing this complicated but beautiful country firsthand, particularly at this historical moment. Admittedly, there's still part of me that feels selfish for essentially vacationing in a country rife with human rights abuses and sectarian violence. But I do honestly believe that at the end of the day, talking to people like the man at Kuthodaw Pagoda makes the world a better place for everyone, however indirectly. That said, I've also donated to Helping Hand for Development and Relief's Rohingya refugee program an amount equal to the cost of my visa. (Incidentally, they're based near Detroit—in Southfield, specifically.)

Check out more photos from Bagan here and more photos from Mandalay here. And next on the blogging docket is my one-day sojourn to Hội An in central Vietnam a few weeks ago.

Till next time,

Gray