Bagan: Wat the ..........

Bagan is considered by many to be the number one must-see sight in Burma. The town is divided into 2 distinct areas, the old Bagan where all the stupas are located, and New Bagan where everyone now lives, having been forcibly moved when it was decided to turn Old Bagan into a purely visiting area. That's quite sensible as it will help preserve what is a real relic of the past, but was unlikely to be much fun being turfed out of your home due to some bright spark's idea about preserving heritage. Under a dictatorship though you haven't got a lot of choice, you do as you're told.

Getting very behind with my blog so this posting will be mainly photos for Bagan, with a few completely out of order short posts inserted here there and anywhere so you don't all fear that I'm on yet another impossible Hunt The Post Office quest, never to be heard of again.

Suffice to say: Bagan is dusty and hot and chock full of wats, and best visited on a bike, despite the state of the roads, or the condition of the bikes for hire. Despite my nervousness both wheels stayed on all day, and the brakes worked well, maybe even too well, I had to remind myself not to go in for any emergency stops or I'd sail straight over the handlebars!

Many photos below, on the basis I mentioned before of: seen one wat seen them all. Trevor, he of the goat fame, is of the opinion that the way to get round the too many wats scenario is to just choose 1 and photograph it from hundreds of angles but I wouldn't do that to you, my faithful and patient followers!

Time to get out of the dust for a while! Not all the wats/temples/pagodas/stupas are on the open plain, some are in more protected areas, those not from the 11th and 12th century as can be worked out by the style of the architecture.

Below a variety of Buddhas:

Above: a seated Buddha

Above:.a standing Buddha

Above: a grumpy Buddha

Above: a very big lying down Buddha

Above: an on a pedestal Buddha

Enough Buddhas for the time being, but fear not, I have hundreds more to show you at some stage!

Back to the dusty plains of Bagan, as that is the real purpose of a visit here. It is quite difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of the place but it has an air of magic to it which I found uplifting. So more photos for you:

And so the sun sets on the plains of Bagan. It has been an incredible experience.