The ebike drove us the 6km to the meeting spot. The roads were fairly quiet at this time but there was still traffic around. We had directions to follow and as Darryl was the driver that left Christine to navigate. We drove for about 15 mins and then turned off the main road onto a tiny dirt/sandy path. Another 50 metres or so and we arrived at the location. Our Canadian friends were going to arrive even earlier to take pictures of the stars, however sleep got the better of them and they turned up right behind us.
We walked amongst the trees and bushes and found the wall that they recommended to climb. Many temples are out of bounds for climbing and for good reason, to protect these magnificent buildings. The view from the top was great and we could see for miles as the sun rose behind us. As the sun peaked above the horizon we looked to our right as the famous hot air balloons were beginning to rise. As they came across in front of us they flew low over the temples and we imagine the view was something special. The price of the balloon rides were also quite special!
We took lots of photos as did our friends. They also had a secret weapon that took a range of pictures from different perspectives. Once the excitement had peaked, we went for an explore in the surrounding area. There are so many ancient temples in Bagan, in a relatively small area there are over 2000!
Inside all of the temples there appears to be a Buddha statue and some have painted frescos on the walls. Some are relatively complete and others are falling down. This is due in part to their age but also due to earthquake damage caused a few years back.
Returning to our hotel was fairly simple and we enjoyed a big breakfast in the dining room whilst we let the ebike recharge a little.
After a short rest we headed back into the dusty roads once more, this time towards Old Bagan where some of the larger temples are to be found. There really are temples everywhere you look. We explored a few, then a few more, following dirt roads and some less frequented trails. We spotted hoards of tourists at the large temples in big bus loads. We went to find temples where no one was there. That is fairly easy to do in Bagan. We found some nice carvings on the walls, pretty pink and orange flowers at the temples and lots of sand.
The ebike made covering the distances around the temples easy and as our hotel was close, we found it easy to recharge. Although, we never seemed to drain the battery below halfway.
We had arranged to meet our Canadian friends at a sunset location. It had good views towards the west and of the temples behind. We also tried another spot where you could climb stairs inside the temple to the top. The view from here was great but that meant sharing them with another handful of people. Many photos later and after a spectacular sunset, we headed to a restaurant together in the dark. The food was good, the company was good and we are enjoying Bagan.
