Myanmar Travel Notes: Bagan, the Land of Ten Thousand Pagodas
BaganBagan is located in the middle of Myanmar and the middle reaches of the Inrwaddy River, the mother river of Myanmar. It is famous for its thousands of pagodas that stand in the fields and jungles of the riverside plains.
Regardless of whether you believe in it or not, as long as you have witnessed its elegance, it is difficult not to be attracted by it. This is the beauty and charm that religious architecture exudes as an art.
2019.12.25, Bagan at dawn, the spire in the jungle mist.
Regarding Bagan, I roughly searched for some introductions, but after reading them carefully and combining them with the information I learned after going there, I found that there were many loopholes and contradictions in these introductions.
There are relatively few official research works on Myanmar history and culture in my country, and there is not a large publishing market. Therefore, it is not easy to find timely updated and reliable information on the Internet. After all, there are very few Chinese people who are interested in this country. In 2019, when the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand may exceed 10 million, the number of tourists visiting Myanmar will probably be only a few hundred thousand, not more than 200,000.
There is a book in Myanmar titled "History of the Ryuri Palace King" written in 1829. It is a history book with a mythical flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't know about it before I came to Myanmar this time, so I didn't read it. It is now included in the plan. After reading it, I will share my reading notes with everyone.
It’s almost 600 kilometers from Yangon to Bagan, so we chose to take the bus. After a bumpy night on the bus, we arrived at the bus stop in Nyaung U at 6 a.m. on the 24th.
The picture comes from the Internet. Bagan is mainly divided into New Bagan, Old Bagan and Nyaung U. This time we stayed in Nyaung U.
Leaving the city, we came to the quaint Bagan. It feels like returning to Angkor. The season when we come to Myanmar coincides with Christmas and New Year, so it is also a Burmese holiday. Many Burmese people go to Bagan for fun and pilgrimage.
Hotel to stay in Nyaung U. Most of the buildings in Bagan are single-story buildings, and buildings are rarely seen.
When you come here, you can see ancient pagodas scattered on the ground wherever you look.
Here, you only need to rent an electric car or bicycle to explore Bagan comfortably. Except for a main road that passes through Old Bagan, from time to time some tourist buses passing by will honk their horns behind them to let the tourists on small bikes pass by. The eDonkey tourists were a little panicked.
I like Bagan the most at night, which is quiet and dimly lit. Looking intently, the pagodas standing there on the roadside are particularly quiet, as if their figures are telling people about the past.
Most of the pagodas in Bagan come from the vigorous pagoda-building movement of the Bagan Dynasty from the 11th to the 13th century. At that time, whether kings, ministers, monks or ordinary people, they all had a lifelong wish to build pagodas.
These pagodas have different shapes: some are bell-shaped, some are square; some are glittering gold pagodas, and some are brick pagodas without any decoration.
2019.12.24, Shwezigon Pagoda, built in 1059, is the founding tower of the Bagan Dynasty. Shwe is translated as Rui, which means "gold" in Burmese. Generally starting with shwe, they are all shining golden pagodas.
On December 25, 2019, Ruishandu Pagoda was also translated as Xu Sanduo Pagoda. It was one of the most popular pagodas in the past, because you can have unobstructed views in all directions from this pagoda and watch the beautiful silhouettes of countless pagodas in the afterglow of sunset. But now Bagan’s towers are no longer allowed to be climbed.
Standing under these huge pagodas built nearly a thousand years ago, you can't help but sigh at the changes in time and space and your own insignificance.
Thinking along these emotions and feelings, will find that all human emotions actually depend on the time and space unit in which they are located. The smaller the unit of time and space, the easier it is to grasp and feel, which is what people often call the "now". On the contrary, it gives people a stronger sense of uncontrollability.
When we enlarge time and space to a certain extent, or to infinity, we will have an indissoluble sense of meaninglessness.
In the end, I found that "living in the moment" is indeed the most correct. For example, immersing yourself in a delicious dinner, a hearty reading or even a TV series, or a selfless love.
However, living only in the "now" will also cause people to lose their ambitions for long-term planning, and make people unable to think about things due to temporary sadness and pain. A common cause is suicide due to emotion. That's why there is the so-called move on.
When people go out to appreciate historical sites and integrate into nature, they are essentially changing their aesthetic state of life itself and temporarily freeing themselves from the "now". Stimulate the economy, increase communication, and nourish the soul.
2019.12.25, hot air balloon at sunrise in Bagan.
On December 25, 2019, a crow sat on the top of an unknown pagoda.
On December 25, 2019, outside the Silaminlong Pagoda, a small pagoda prepared purple lotus for the Buddha.
2019.12.26, children playing in Gubiaoji Temple.
Burmese girl poses next to puppets.
Some handicrafts commonly found in Bagan pagodas, scenic spots and local markets.
Tea leaf salad, the taste is sour and spicy.
A statue of Aung San Suu Kyi in a popular restaurant in Nyaung-U, Bagan.
An aerial view of the ancient Biaoji Temple.
Myanmar tourists taking photos on the lawn in front of Shwesandu Pagoda.
The Pagoda of Bupaye Temple stands on the banks of the Inrwaddy River.
The Inrawady River at sunset.
Electric cars from China. In Bagan, the cost of renting an electric car is about 6,000-8,000 kyats per day, which is about 30-40 yuan.
The portrait paintings in the Bagan market are basically from the back, with no front view, except for Aung San Suu Kyi.
When I wrote about Mangshi before, I started by urging everyone to forget about Lijiang and Banna. Here I want to urge everyone to forget about Thailand and come to Myanmar.
However, you must be prepared to endure hardship when coming to Myanmar. After all, the country’s per capita GDP is only about one-fifth of its neighbors.
