Bagan II

This is a continuation of the first album.

In this album are pictures from Mount Popa, Bagan’s Nyaung-U wet market and some miscellaneous pictures of Bagan.

Rice is always served with many dishes, the soup are particularly good all the time.

Mount Popa is a volcano 1518 metres (4981 feet) above sea level, and located in central Burma (Myanmar) about 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Bagan (alt: Pagan) in the Pegu Range. It can be seen from the River Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy)/Bagan as far away as 60 km (40 miles) in clear weather. Mount Popa is perhaps best known for the nearby stunningly picturesque Popa Taungkalat monastery atop an outcrop. The Popa Taungkalat (Taung Kalat) Shrine is home to 37 Mahagiri Nats, or spirits.

The name Popa is believed to come from the Pali Sanskrit word 'popa' meaning flower.
... and Nyaung-U is the town center of Bagan …. Check out the pictures of the market.

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Bagan I

Date: 04 Sep 2010 - 18 Sep 2010
Location: Bagan, Myanmar
Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Lens: Tokina AT-X 124 AF Pro DX 12-24mm f/4
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-200 mm F3.5-5.6 IS
Filter: none
Post editing: PS CS3
Trip schedule and details: http://danlow.multiply.com/journal/item/91 Check this out if you plan to visit Myanmar, I have shared tonnes of goodies here.

Bagan, formerly Pagan, is an ancient city(800-1300AD) in the Mandalay Division of Burma. It was the ancient capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma. It is located in the dry central plains of the country, on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 90 miles (140 km) southwest of Mandalay.
Bagan was submitted to become a UNESCO heritage site but many speculate of politics as partly the reason for the exclusion. UNESCO does not designate Bagan as a World Heritage Site. The main reason given is that the military junta (SPDC) has haphazardly restored ancient stupas, temples and buildings, ignoring original architectural styles and using modern materials which bear little or no resemblance to the original designs. The junta has also established a golf course, a paved highway, and built a 200-foot (61-m) watchtower in the southeastern suburb of Minnanthu. Well those were just excuses to my opinion, Angkor has paved roads, etc etc as well. Penang and Melaka have even more roads and towers, bla bla bla...
It is hard to believe that Bagan is not listed as an UNESCO heritage site.
To me Bagan is amazing! This this is highlight of my 16 days trip to Myanmar.

Things I like about Bagan:
- Very beautiful ancient temples of various styles
- There is a statue of Buddha in each and every temple and pagoda, unlike Angkor Wat's temples are mostly empty
- Going from temple to temple, pagoda to pagoda, seeing them up close for 3 days and still unable to see them all. Bagan (Pagan) has over 2000 Pagodas/Temple/Stupas.
- Very few tourist when I was there

Things I don't like about Bagan:
- pheuuuu. .. it is a very hot place.
- expensive fuel = expensive taxi
- sticky gifts vendors at famous temples, so bear with it or skip those temples all togather

SLIDESHOW