Brief Information about Bagan
This temple town is one of Myanmar’s main attractions. Once the capital of a powerful ancient kingdom, the area known as Bagan (ပုဂံ) or, bureaucratically, as the ‘Bagan Archaeological Zone’ occupies an impressive 26-sq-mile area. The Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River drifts past its northern and western sides. Bagan has been hit by earthquakes over the centuries. The most recent, in August 2016, damaged 400 temples; work on repairing them is ongoing.
Typical Day Visiting Bagan
The main attractions in the region are of course the famous sunrises and sunsets on the Bagan temples! Thus, afternoon on the site is devoted to looking for the perfect temple for the sunrise or sunset (it will bring back good memories of the Angkor temples where we had a bit of an Indiana Jones feeling).
The Breathetaking Bagan Sunset Experience
Watching the sunset from atop a temple is a MUST when visiting Bagan! The sun sets behind the mountains and the Irrawaddy River and you can position yourself so that the stupas create black silhouettes or you can choose to have the sun behind you so that it lights up the pagods in shades of pink and gold. There are a number of temples that you can climb at sunset. Ananda and Shwesandaw are the most popular and always overcrowded since most of the coach tours take tourists to these spots for the breathtaking Bagan sunset.
