Thursday 13 March 2014

Day 219 - People and Temples in Bagan


I just ain't really the sunrise photographer as I didn't manage to get myself out of bed in time yet again. On the other hand it meant I had enough energy to walk to the temples rather than rent a bike.




As with so many other places I have been to, I was not sure quite what to expect other than temples, lots of them.




And there were indeed a lot of temples everywhere I looked once I got out of the town but even in town there were some smaller temples and ruins of temples. It reminded me somewhat of Ayuthaya or Sukhothai just bigger.





There are over 2,000 temples in and around Bagan so one could spend months trying to see all of them but since I was walking, I could only see a more limited number. The good thing about walking is that I didn't try to rush and see as many as possible but took my time at each of the temples I did go to.





There are a lot of temples that look similar, a lot of small temples and some that are just ruins but the bigger temples are all quite different from each other and worth seeing.



One thing that quickly became very annoying was to have to take my shoes off to enter each temple even if it was just ruins. It is here even more strict than in the rest of Asia where you can enter the temple with shoes and only take them off where people pray.



Still, it was great to walk around and see all the temples and it was almost as impressive as seeing Angkor Wat the first time, despite being to Ayutthaya and Sukhothai before and having seen a fair share of similar temples in Thailand.

I managed to find the most touristy an visited spot  possible for the sunset and as usual (when I make the effort to see it) the sunset was nothing too special.
The walk back to the hotel in the dark was also not so much fun but I stopped for a beer on the way so this helped me to continue.

Tomorrow I will rent a bike though.


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