Bagan is really far from everywhere. Perhaps that’s why its incredible heritage has remained almost completely intact for a thousand years. It took over seven hours on an old, dusty bus to get there from Mandalay, but it was totally worth it. It’s a World Heritage Site, and for very good reason.

Bagan was once home to thirteen thousand brick temples, pagodas and stupas built between the 9th and 13th centuries. Many have been damaged or destroyed by earthquake, man or time, but almost four thousand remain, and they astonish and mesmerize you over and over. Even though the temples of Bagan are ancient, the people of Burma (this is what they prefer to be called, as Myanmar is a name created by outsiders) consider them to be sacred.

I toured them in a group on e-scooters yesterday. What a gas. I traded the first one they gave me, which I thought was the childrens’ model, for a full sized model and we were off. Ripping around on dusty dirt roads (these scooters were fast with their electric torque) and rounding bend after bend, only to behold yet another spectacular sight, overloaded the senses in the best possible way.

Here is a series of photos on our temple tour that kind of defy description, so I’m just gonna shut up and let them do the talking.

There are nine temples in the background by my count, and this is representative of the fact that they’re literally everywhere, sometimes only fifty or so feet apart.

Whimsy outside the gate

This was the first and only time I’ve seen two Buddhas next to each other. They represent two brothers who fought to the death to assume their King father’s throne.

Our guide Mauing, born and bred in Bagan, who was incredibly knowledgeable, interesting and fun to be with.

I asked this woman, who was selling postcards, if I could take her photo after I demurred on the purchase. She said yes, then I tried to pay her and she refused. I ended up buying the postcards to make myself feel better and it made her smile. The people in Myanmar ask for nothing and they have so, so little. Their grace is wondrous.

Young temple guardian and monk

A beautiful young girl seemingly peering into the future

The next morning, I struggled with how to make my exit from Bagan – by boat, bus or flight. I decided to fly out, as the time and distance to Yangon was over ten hours (forget about heading anywhere else – you’d grow old before you got there) and I might have been on the river for weeks….

Back to Thailand tomorrow, this time up north to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Chiang Khong and Pai. All are supposed to be pretty amazing and representative of the cultural and spiritual center of Thailand. Can’t wait.