Travel-Burma/Myanmar, The Ancient City of Bagan

Traveling to Burma or Myanmar (as it once again called) was an experience I will never forget.  To explain a little bit of this country’s history…for the last forty years Myanmar has been ruled by a a military junta.  However, just last year, the country began taking steps towards democracy…which has subsequently opened up the country to more tourism.  Never in my life would I have imagined traveling to this far off place.  But as you can tell if you’ve been following my Travel Thursday posts, my husband and I are up for anything!  So again, we took on another adventure and began our journey through Myanmar (to start from the beginning, see here and here).

After leaving the city of Yangon, we traveled north to the Ancient City of Bagan – our favorite part of the trip.  Stepping off the plane in Bagan, was like stepping back in time.  We did not come across a single tall building or apartment complex, not one McDonald’s was spotted along the roads (in fact the only American product we came across, because of the sanctions against the country, was Coca-Cola), it was rare we even saw a car and good luck finding an ATM.  Luckily, we came prepared bringing only cash on our trip (US Dollars actually), which had to be completely void of any markings or creases.  Only crisp, clean dollar bills were accepted.  We made our way around the city by horse cart and seemed to wave and smile at every person we came across.  What a magical place to visit.  I hope you enjoy the pictures from our adventure.

Getting off the runway in Bagan, I looked back and took a picture of our plane…a prop jet!  Their motto…”You’re Safe With Us.”

It is difficult to see, but the time in Myanmar is 30 minutes different from the rest of the world!

Arriving we were able to find a taxi to take us to our hotel.  These were the sights we saw along the way…

After getting settled, we hired a horse cart and made our way around the temples of Bagan. As the day was ending, we decided to watch the sunset atop one of our favorite temples we visited during the day.  So we turned around, headed back and climbed to watch the sun creep below the mountains.