Sunset views of Bagan's 2000 temples and stupas

February 27, Tuesday                                                                     Bagan, Myanmar

After the Shwezigon pagoda and Ananda Temple, we headed out to reach the watch tower by 6 PM to watch the sunset.  The pagodas were  amazing – warmly lit by the setting sun.  We took an elevator up to 11^th floor, then walked up 2 more flights of stairs (small and circular)to reach the observation level.  We were a bit of a curiosity to the local Burmese – one woman wanted to take her photo with Caucasians – and we exchanged photos with the whole family. There is a bar at the top, so waiting for sundown seemed a bit of a party.  Ironically, as soon as the sun set, around 6:30, pretty much everyone left.  We headed back to the room in time to change for Jack Daulton’s lecture and then dinner.  He talked about Burma, and gave an overview of what we will be seeing. During dinner we had a Burmese dance demonstration and music.

Entrance to the Watchtower, especially popular at sunrise and sunset

Views of the Bagan plain from the Watchtower

Bagan is situated on a bend of the Irrawaddy River in central Myanmar, south of Mandalay by about 100 miles.  This region was settled by the Burmans (or Bamar) in the 9^th century, migrating south from eastern Tibet.  Bagan (also spelled Pagan) served as the capital of the first Burmese empire from the 11^th to 14^th Century.  Their first king – King Anawrahta - brought Theravada Buddhism to the region.  The area flourished during the 11^th and 12^th century, contemporarily with the Khmer civilization at Angkor.  More than 2200 monuments have been inventoried in the Bagan area (around 25 square miles) – all are religious structures, because the non religious ones were made of wood and have not survived.  It is thought that there were over 4000 stupas and temples at one time.  At the end of the 1200s, the Mongols invaded northern Myanmar, which brought an end to the Bagan and Burmese empire.

At one time there were more than 4000 structures - still 2200 remain

Our hotel complex, from the Watchtower.  Our cottage is in the bottom left, just above the lime green treetop

I spied a path to these temples, which would make a great walk in the morning

New friend, Susie, took our photo (see above, and thanks!)

Sunset over the Irrawaddy River

Lots of folks at the tower were fascinated with us - including this little tadpole