Despite having to pay with our precious cash, the Kumudara Hotel, in New Bagan nearest to the temples, was a great choice, set in fields close to the temples, with a good restaurant, temple facing swimming pool and upmarket rooms, including breakfast for $39US. Best of all, they served the best gin slings ever for £1.20. Our rooms gave on to the temples in the distance which appeared to be randomly dotted for miles around. As we scanned the horizon more temples appeared. It was hard to keep count of them. We couldn't wait to see them in daylight.
The four thousand temples here are spread out over sixteen square miles and the best way to get around Bagan is by horse and cart. The other option is hiring a bike, but it is a bit hot.... We negotiated with a driver to take us around the temples for the next two days. We liked the look of his pony - a healthy and well cared for specimen compared to some of the mangy nags we had seen around town. We had no real plan on how to see the temples, but preferred to visit them almost at random. Thankfully none of us are the type of people who need to tick sights off a list. Perhaps the most fun of the day was getting on and off the trap. Ant bagged the front seat and asked our driver to wait while "mother" and " younger brother" clambered aboard. We really hoped that Neddy would get an extra nose bag for hauling us around all day. He certainly deserved it. It was an unusual looking "taxi rank" outside the hotel each morning!
The Bagan temples were originally built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in a sprawling complex dotted around the countryside on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy river. They are built in a variety of styles and Bagan is a work in progress as temples are still being built today. Bagan has been denied UNESCO World Heritage status, as new temples are going up, and existing ones are undergoing constant renovation. This makes for some interesting juxtapositions of ancient temples with fairy lights and tiling that would not shame a 1970's bathroom. Perhaps UNESCO have a point, but we loved it and the temples seem to be a living reflection of the Buddhist faith and not just a showpiece for tourists.
After seeing a handful of temples, we began to experience temple blindness. Which temple did we go to today? Have we already been to that one over there? Most of all we enjoyed the atmosphere of this unique place, the lolloping rhythm of the pony trap, and the sedate, clippety clop tempo that was the soundtrack of our stay in Bagan. We each took turns at driving....
The highlight was the visit to the "sunset pagoda", Shwesandaw, to watch the sun setting. It' s possible to climb up many of the temples, though the precarious inclines and the Burmese interpretation of health and safety make this a climb not for the faint-hearted. If you can put your fears to one side then the reward is great: a view of the surrounding plain, studded with temples all of different design and scale, looking westwards to the Irrawaddy river, the misty mountains beyond, and the setting sun. As the sun set the temples looked increasingly ethereal as the light changed, and mist drifted across the plain in the far distance. A moment of perfect peace and contemplation.
As temple fatigue kicked in there was also time for some R&R by the hotel pool, which in our case meant falling asleep with books on our laps. Evenings were spent in the hotel restaurant, eating hearty curries and drinking innumerable gin slings that went down very well, so much so that the hotel ran out of local gin. On both nights the barman was very grateful to hear that we were going to bed as we were the last to turn in at the very late Burmese hour of 9.30pm. The gin slings really were that good.
We were sad to leave Bagan. It is a unique place, not overrun by tourists yet. Despite the 5am alarm call to make the boat departure at 6, we were excited to be heading for Mandalay, up the Irrawaddy, both names so evocative and filled with promise. We would not be following in Nellie's footsteps today, as she took the road, and not the boat.
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