Royal Bagan Trip

“Mingalabar”. It means “Hello” in Burmese.

Yangon is the capital of Myanmar. I stayed at Sedona Hotel; opposite the Inle Lake. Quite commonly, some fishing activities held at the lake by the locals.

The most famous pagoda in Yangon is the Shwedagon Pagoda. It has 4 entrances; North, South, East, West. It’s the biggest and most dramatic pagoda in Myanmar too. Entrance fee is $5 for foreigner while it’s free for the locals. Try to visit it either in the early morning or later evening as the floor is made of marbles or stones. So, after the sun is up; it’ll be rather hot to walk on it. Remember, you need to take off your shoes to enter most pagodas in Myanmar.

An hour flight from Yangon, you can reach the ancient capital of Bagan; which is situated in the Central part of Myanmar. Try to talk the first flight in the early morning; ETD : 630am so that you have more time to spend in Bagan. Foreigners are required to pay an entrance fee of $10 at the Bagan Airport. It’ll be used for conservation purpose.
Once you are out of Bagan’s Airport, it is like back to the ancient world; imagining yourself in that era. No high-rise buildings; just pagodas and some resort hotels. After checked in at our hotel; took some beautiful flower photos.

In Myanmar, the locals are using a type of wood to produce natural cosmetics that can be applied to their face and skin. It is functioned as a sun block or moisturizer against the heat. Interesting…

Initially, we thought of renting a bicycle to cycle around Bagan. However, as the weather is rather hot, we decided to hire a car to bring us instead. It costs about $25 for a day rental; until 7pm. Basically, nothing else to visit in Bagan; except for admiring the beautifully made pagodas of the ancient world.

Shwezigon Pagoda

We had the local Burmese food for our lunch. There were so many dishes served. Some of it were great, some were just ok for me. It costs about $10/pax.

There are numerous famous pagodas in Bagan. Do check out the websites for it. As you have paid for the $10 entrance fee at the airport; you do not need to pay anymore when you visit any of the pagodas in Bagan. Unless, if you want to make some donation to any of the particular pagodas. Some of the photos taken in the pagodas of Bagan.

An overall view of Bagan

Sleeping Buddha painting

It was really hot in Bagan when we visited it that day. Thank god that we made the right decision to hire a car instead of cycling around Bagan. As the sun started to set; it created some great effect as the pagoda’s background.

We climbed up a pagoda to watch the much-talked about sunset of Bagan. It was so beautiful to watch the sun sunk below the sea of pagodas in Bagan. It’s definitely worth to visit Bagan at least once in your life in order to admire the stunning views that you may not be able to see in other parts of the world.

After the great sunset experience, we had our dinner at an Italian restaurant; costs about $10-15/pax. In Bagan, besides car and bicycle to go around the city; you also can choose to ride on a horse cart. It costs about $10 an hour; that sits 3-4 pax. Thus, after dinner; we took a horse cart ride to a pagoda; lying beside the Irrawady River; the longest river in Myanmar. This pagoda is beautiful at night as the lighting is on; together with the breeze from the river.

All in all, Bagan is definitely a must visit site if you ever visit Myanmar. From Bagan, you can take a ferry ride to the Northern state of Mandalay; which used to be another capital before as well. Anyway, this is just a brief introduction of Bagan to share with you all. Hope you’ll enjoy it.