After 2 days and 1 night in Yangon, we caught an overnight bus to Bagan. Among the bus companies, we chose the JJ Express bus because of the good reviews. Our bus tickets (from Yangon and back) were prebooked at around 19 USD per way per person so we had less worry.
Taxi from down town to Mingalar Bus Station was about an hour and 30 minutes. Our jaws dropped when we heard this but we wanted to get to the bus station early anyway considering the traffic in Yangon.
Arriving at the bus station, we were shocked at the number of buses parked and moving. It was a chaotic place but our driver was kind enough to drop us directly in front of the JJ office. After showing the staff our ticket, we sat down and waited. Their office had a lot of seats and coffee was offered almost every hour. We also took turns to go out from the office to buy interesting snacks from the outside stalls.
At around 7:30pm, we were asked to board our bus. The seats were wide and there was an outlet for phone charging. We were given blankets, a wet tissue, one bottle of water and a snack box.
The driver drove quite fast but I didn't mind. We were busy talking and eating anyway. After 3 hours on the road, we stopped at a place where there were stores, restaurants and toilets for bus travelers like us.
There was no loud music being played on the bus during our travel. The only annoying thing was that it was very cold, like I was punished and sent to the freezer. The blanket helped a lot so I was able to sleep amidst the temperature.
We arrived in Bagan at around 5:30 in the morning. A lot of taxi drivers greeted us when we came down from the bus. We managed to make a deal with one driver to take us to the hotel after seeing the sunrise in a pagoda. Makes sense to see the sunrise now so we won't wake up so early the next day. He drove fast and took us to Shwesandaw Pagoda.
Along the way, he stopped in front of a ticket booth wherein we were asked to pay 25,000 Kyats entrance fee for Bagan Archaeological Zone.
This was the first of the many pagodas we were to visit in Bagan. Shwesandaw Pagoda is one of the taller pagodas with its height of 328 feet. It is a white painted symmetrical structure consisting of a bell shaped stupa set on a base of five square receding terraces. It was built in 1057 by King Anawahta, founder of the Bagan Kingdom.
We were asked to leave our shoes before climbing. It was quite steep so holding on to the railing was a must.
I had to catch my breath at some point during the ascend. The sun is rising fast and I can see that at the top, people were ready with their tripods and cameras.
Being cute (read: short), I had to find a way to get a glimpse of the sunrise amidst the tall people in the crowd and of course take some good photos. I situated myself in a tiny space at the wall, just enough for my feet to fit so that I can stand and be quite elevated from the rest.
While waiting for the sunrise, one man (or local) was trying to persuade some visitors to come down from an area very near the stupa. He said that out of practice and respect for the place, people are not allowed to go beyond our area. They did not budge and was very rude to reply that they don't understand English (What the??). (Note: Dear readers, please don't be rude tourists/travelers.)
A few minutes later, the sun began to rise. It was so beautiful to see its rays slowly shedding light to the plains and showing silhouettes of the pagodas beyond. Then, the famous Bagan balloons began to appear.
The balloons added to the romantic scene. I've read about Balloons over Bagan before but it was too expensive for me so I didn't try. Anyways, the scene unfolding before me was already priceless.
The crowd became less after that but we can't get enough of the sight yet so we stayed a bit. Tourists would politely ask us to take their photos and in return volunteer to take our photo as well. :)
Taking in the view, I realized there were so many pagodas to visit. But of course, being afraid of being templed-out, we already had specific pagodas to go to.
The air was cool and the sun was not that hot yet. It was a fun thing to observe how travelers attempted to strike beautiful poses while being at the top. It was really a good place for photo opportunities.
After enjoying it all, we had to go down and back to our waiting taxi. The struggle to go down was so real. Locals selling souvenirs were waiting at the foot of the pagoda to offer their goods.
We were then taken to our hotel to rest and be ready for the day's activities.
Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!
