MYANMAR PART II - BAGAN

Bagan is a must-see for anyone visiting Myanmar.  I would however suggest a cooler time of the year as it was baking hot.

There is something wonderful about seeing huge empty plains, dotted only with trees and temples.

There are over 3300 temples in various states of restoration (some of which is also questionable) in the area and I believe there were over 4,000 temples originally.

I must admit that the temples all merged into one in the end, especially when we walked a few of them one morning, which in the blistering heat, does make you slightly less prone to standing around outside trying to spot the differences.

 The odd gold temple or stupa broke up the unrelentingly harsh looking landscape.

 There were quite a few stupas that appeared to tilt both ways.

Most of the temples were empty but for the Buddha images.

Some temples were overloaded with Buddhas while others contained just a few.

There were a few giant reclining Buddhas also.

They rather liked things big in this temple.  I think this is where people throw in their donations.

This temple was under repair.  From the distance this stupa looked like a giant silo.  It wasn't until we were right up close that we realised it was scaffolding.  It looks like a giant net has been pulled over it.

 They must have had quilting tilers in for this temple!

 After the heat and dust of the plains, it was great to retire back to the serenity of our hotel.

The hotel was set right on the banks of the Ayeyurwady river.  Our room was below this raised garden area, so sitting outside our room gave us an uninterrupted view of the river, which was fantastic.

It was also a wonderful place to watch the sunset.