Bagan, Myanmar - February 1-3

February 1,2,3 weekend

Bagan, Myanmar

We traveled by Bagan Air from Yangon to Bagan which is in the central part of Myanmar. We checked into our hotel, the Bagan Hotel and were given a lovely room right on the Ayeyarwaddy River. It was comfortable, and as nice as any hotel room I have stayed in. Included in our $40 nightly charge was a full breakfast. After unpacking our bags, we hired a horse and buggy to take us to some temples.

I could fill my whole travel blog with pictures of the pagodas and temples we visited but I will include a few of the more impressive ones. For the Buddhists, the highest action for gaining merit is to build pagodas and as a consequence numerous pagodas are seen all over the country. In Bagan, there are approximately 4,000 such structures. This number of pagodas is by far more than any other Buddhist country. Most of the pagodas in Bagan were built during the 11th Century.

The next day, we toured a lacquerware shop. Most of the workers were young and we would imagine not being paid very well. However, they were very talented and patient craftsmen. The process to make lacquerware is very time-consuming because between each layer the piece has to dry in an underground cellar for at least a week we were told. I did buy a few pieces while I was there but was limited by available space to bring them home.