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Amazing Bagan ancient city of Pagodas and Temples, Hotels,Attractions,Myanmar (Burma) on the Ayeryarwaddy River
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BAGAN
INFORMATION
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Bagan ("plate" in Burmese) developed into a major Kingdom during the 10th-11th centuries C.E. King Anawrahta enthusiastically embraced Bhuddism whose teaching was brought to Bagan by Shin Arahan, a monk from Thaton in the south.
This page is dedicated to the memory of Saya U Kyaw Tin, a school teacher in the Bagan area for his whole life, for the last ten years at Minnanthu village. Died January 1999.

Simply extraordinary
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Over little more than 200 years, thousands of Temples and Pagodas were built, many remain intact
But many more are just a small pile of bricks.
All the palaces and dwellings built from teak are long gone.
Bagan sits on the wide slow Ayeryarwaddy River south of Mandalay.
The Story of Bagan
On the day of the death of Thupyinnya, twenty-seventh King of Prome, in 84 C.E., a countrywomans corn sieve was carried away by an impetuous wind. She cried out "Oh, my corn sieve!" The citizens, not understanding cried out "Armies of the corn sieve!". Great confusion arose and the people were divided into three nations, the Pyu, the Kanran, and the Thet. The first fought the second and were victorious, but internal strife arose and again they were divided into three groups. One group put itself under Prince Thamokdarit, nephew of Thupyinnya, he led them to Taung-Nyo, but were expelled three years later.
Then at Padaung and Mindon, but were driven off by the Arakan people, they settled in the kingdom of Bagan, a confederacy of nineteen villages.
Reigning there, he was destitute of virtue and power, even having to feed the forest animals who rebelled against him. In time, the daughter of the prince of Dragons married the Son of the Sun and had a child called Pyumindi, who lent assistance to the King of Bagan and tamed all the rebellious animals.
 He married the daughter of Thamok-darit and became King on Thamok-darit's death, when a fiery globe, the size of a wagon wheel, fell from heaven.
For seven hundred years the settlement grew. The capital was moved from Yun-hlut-kyun to Thiri-pyitsaya ["the city of power & glory"] and then to Thamati ["the seat of the Kings"]. In 639 C.E. the King of Thamati, with the help of Hindu astologers, established the Burmese era of reckoning time.
In 847 C.E. Bagan came into existence. Founded by Pyinba, the 33rd king in the dynasty, and lasting more than 400 years. The zenith of achievement was in the reigns of Anahrawta, Kyansitta, Alaung-sitthu and Narapati-sitthu, from 1010 to 1204.
This fable has elements of truth. A likely reality is that the power of Prome was broken by civil war and invasion from Thaton, the capital of the Mon people.
  TIPS.   
Coming & Going:
most people arrive by boat from Mandalay or by Bus from Mandalay or the south.
$10 fee payable on arrival for the Archeological Zone. You get a ticket, but noone ever looks at it. But you need it to be able to book a room. The hotel will sell you one if you missed it earlier.

BOAT: leaves Mandalay 6am, arrives late afternoon. $15. 4 times a week.
On the BOAT when you get near Bagan boys representing various hotels/guesthouses will try to get you to come to their hotel with free transfer included. The transfer is a good idea, the boat arrives about 4-5 pm, below the Ayar Hotel in Old Bagan, and the jetty is a long way from most hotels.
Pick a hotel from the area where you want to stay (Nyaung Oo, New Bagan, Myinkaba), have look, you are not obliged to stay there and can get a horse-cart to find another hotel you like. The same situation occurs on the road, either on the bus or where it stops outside Bagan to pay your $10 entry fee.

AIR:The plane is the other option. Flights to/from Rangoon ($80-113), Mandalay ($35-45), Heho-Inle Lake ($65-90). Air Mandalay is the more expensive and has the best safety record. Yangon Airways and Myanmar Airways have been known to crash.

ROAD: to/from Rangoon (Yangon). direct aircon buses for about 1400 Kyat ($4-5). New Bagan Express and others. about 16-18 hours
To/from Mandalay. Medium bus, no aircon. leaves Mandalay from Highway Bus Terminal. 400Kyat, about 5 hours.
To / from Taunggyi / Inle Lake. Change at Meiktila.
Hassles:
the vendors of goods at the main temples are very persistent. Do not show too much interest unless you are seriously going to buy something, then settle down to the bargaining, keep your humour. Other boys hanging around will try to sell you fake gems and "old" artefacts, buy them for fun if you want to, but get the price down very low.
Children will often hassle you for gifts, its your choice. Ball point pens and even your small Baht coins from Thailand are greatly appreciated.
Getting around:
Choices are bicycle (K200,60 cents) per day and horse-cart. Bicycle is excellent for cruising around but plan your day if you are going a long way, it can be quite tiring. Horse-carts are popular and relaxing and you get a guide thrown in.

Vehicles are for special trips and relatively expensive (because of the cost and short supply of petrol) e.g. Mt. Popa day trip about $20, up to 4-5 people.

if going off the beaten track take water with you.
A map is essential. the flat terrain makes difficult to maintain a bearing and unless you're an expert many of the temples look the same.

Explore off the usual beat. e.g from the riverside below Schwezigon Pagoda you could get a small fishing boat over to the sandy island. From Nyaung Oo jetty a motorboat could take you up, down or across the river.

Where to Stay: Three main areas are Nyaung Oo, Old Bagan and New Bagan (Bagan Myo Thit). There are many cheap Guest Houses in Nyaung Oo town, but it is a long way to the other end, same for New Bagan area. Old Bagan has mostly more expensive hotels but is well located. The Guest Houses around New Park Hotel and New Heaven are a good location, not far from Schwezigon Pagoda. There are also some Guest Houses near Myinkaba village, which is a good location too.
Events:
the Ananda Temple festival on the full moon in January is enormous and fascinating. Thousands of people arrive from miles around and set up a temporary town and market. Special donation baskets are given to a procession of hundreds of monks.
If you hear a Burmese band playing (once heard, never forgotten) go and have a look. it is likely to be the first part of an ordination ceremony for boys, where they are dressed up like princes before becoming monks.
Behaviour:
Show the usual respect when visiting temples (modest clothing, no shoes or socks)
If invited to visit someone's home take a small gift. If you are having a meal do not be surprised when you are treated like royalty.
Good "cheroots" are very cheap and people you meet or provide a small service appreciate them very much.
People in Bagan are terribly friendly.
Oh My God:
There is now a huge ugly totally inappropriate and uneccessary viewing tower near the golf course.
Whoever in the government did this should be banished to the Diphu Pass.
  FACTS.   
Telephone Info:
Country code=95. Area Code=62. then the 5 digit phone no.
The phones in Bagan do work, at least inside Burma. international will be a matter of trying hard.
Electricity:
again, not too much of it around. Your hotel will have a generator. Many homes will not have electricity or water. In the early morning you will see children carrying pots on their heads getting the day's supply for the home.

Getting water
Dhammayangyi Paya
Schwezigon Pagoda
Golf Course: Why? across the road is a severe, secure luxury building frequented by Government officials from Yangon. There is an interesting agricultural research area on the road to the golf course.
Climate:
in Dec-Feb, the main tourist season, it will not rain. It is quite warm in the daytime (28-30ºC) and very pleasant at night (no sweater needed).
Author's Highlight
The man who was the night time security guard at the New Park Hotel befriended me, he was very proud of Bagan. He worked at the post office for twenty years, then built a house in Nyang Oo for his family. He helped me hire a boat from Nyaung Oo jetty to go up the river a little way, then walk in to the Kyak Gu Umin Monastery and Temple. Its an old cave type temple dug into the hillside with very tiny tunnels going deeper, the myth is that one of them goes all the way to somewhere near Pindaya (hundreds of km !!). There are a few rundown monastery buildings, only one monk and a novice were living there. Apparently there is just one day of the year when people from the town come here to pay respect. Going back we passed a farmer resting under a makeshift shelter, he grows vegetables on the riverbank when the water level is low.

Next day I visited his home and met his family. His wife is a very skilled Cheroot maker, the best leaf comes from Shan State.

Saya U Kyaw Tin one evening showed me a simple tin building with no signs, quite close to his home, sitting by itself off the nearest dirt road. A few lights were on outside. We went inside to see some local people sitting in silent meditation in front of a simple shrine with a Buddha image. Its always so delightfully surprising to discover something so personal about the people you are visiting, but which they consider of no interest to tourists like me.

One other thing I find powerful and strangely emotive about Bagan is the locations of the three "guardian" pagodas. Three Pagodas form a triangle that encompasses all of the Bagan area. The Schwezigon, in Nyaung Oo, and two others on hilltops, one over the river from New Bagan and the other to the north-east.

Your best travel agent is probably your hotel manager, who will know all the options and times for getting around.
There used to be no Internet Cafes in Bagan.
But things are changing so maybe there is now. See Introduction Page for latest status. But the phone sometimes works.







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