The Land of Pagodas

So, I went to Bagan over the summer. It was my first time.

The city that has earned various nicknames, including: the “Land of Copper,” the “bronzed country,” or the “Land of a Thousand Pagodas.” After visiting this location, I came to realize just how fitting these nicknames were.

“You’ve been living in Myanmar for your whole life and you have never been to Bagan?”

– A friend

I had always wondered what it felt like to watch tangerine sunsets and hot air balloons from on top of a century-old temple. It was my first official trip to this ancient city and I can say that I am beyond glad that I went.

Surprisingly, this short trip was an unplanned one. Being a person who finds happiness in traveling and experiencing new things, it seemed more exciting that way. After a couple days of exploring around with my family in a dust-coated car, I had lots of things to say about the places I went to; there were positives and negatives.

Some of the scenery was breathtaking, especially that one sunset I spotted from beside the Irrawaddy River. When visiting temples, I was impressed by the extremely precise and detailed handiwork upon some of them. The locals were actually very kind and were willing to help us. I also got to experience museums based on Bagan’s history. Truthfully, I never really found myself enjoying them as much as I did with other attractions like for example, Ananda Temple.

One thing I must say is that due to inconvenient weather conditions, hot air balloons were temporarily unavailable, which was completely understandable since the weather in Myanmar is crazy unstable. Adding to this, the weather was scorching hot. There was not a single drop of rain, compared to Yangon.