Bagan, the eighth wonder of the world?

A boat from Mandalay to Bagan takes us around 8.5 hours. All the boats seem to have a person at the front with a stick measuring the depth of the Irrawaddy River except perhaps us, the Irrewaddy is very low, we beach at least 3 times. Skillful steering round in a circle planes the river bed enough for us to be freed, it's a little unnerving the first time but then we're old hands at it. We do see one boat only measuring 3 feet of water.

On arrival we are inundated with taxis, postcards and books. I'm offered several copies of Burmese Days by George Orwell but I'm already reading it!! We're charged the 15$ area fee immediately we leave the jetty, I can't get the tourist police guy to believe I'm a native even though my tan is so good.

We are here purely to see the Temples of Bagan. The original capital that tied together all the kingdoms that became Myanmar as we know it today. The city thrived between the 9th and 13th centuries and was still a place of habitation and pilgrimage in the 15th century. Located in an earthquake zone Bagan suffered more than 400 earthquakes between 1904 and 1975 with many temples being damaged.

 UNESCO were involved in some of the restoration undertaken by the military government but withdrew after disagreement in 1996. The site has never been designated a world heritage site and is unlikely to be as a result of new buildings within the archaeological area and the unsympathetic restorations that have taken place. There were originally 4000 temples here, the last count was 2229 although new temples are always being added by rich Yangonians trying to appease the Buddha and make their onward passage easier. Another good reason not to get the status.

We cycle round for 2 days and it is an amazing place, definitely rivals the Temples of Angkor. Sunset on day one sees us sat atop the Shwe San Daw Pagoda watching the hot air balloons head west. Truly remarkable. Think we'll remember this place forever.