Myanmar

Visiting ancient places has always given me a feeling of … I’m not sure exactly. Excitement isn’t the right word, nor is interesting. Hmm … maybe fascination is a better word? Anyhoo, I have been fortunate enough to visit places such as the Great Wall & Ming Dynasty tombs in China and Angkor Wat in Cambodia (twice!).

Being sandwiched between India and China, South East Asia tends to be forgotten, despite the fascinating history of the area. I have been fortunate to have visited almost all the ASEAN countries and last week I finally made it to Bagan in Myanmar.

There are so many temples, pagodas and shrines on the plain in the area it seems as though someone has scattered a bucket of them. It is noticeable as you drive around, but more so when you get up high. Many of them are quite small but there are several large ones that are very much worth visiting. And although they are very old (perhaps 800-1000 years in some cases), there are some that are still functioning.

We happened to be in Bagan in time for the full moon, which is an auspicious time for buddhists. The day of the full moon was a public holiday and there were large crowds of Burmese people at some of the temples. In the carparks were many small trucks packed to the gunnels with people, with their belongings piled on the roofs. It was interesting to see, though my daughter Matilda become a little tired of the attention she attracted from local people.

Bagan is an amazing place and I would love to go back at some point. A balloon flight over the temples would be and taking the boat from Mandalay would be very cool.