The Adventures of Kerri & Matt

The city of Bagan is in the central region of Myanmar and contains hundreds of pagodas from the 11th to 13th century.

What it looks like is that there are an endless number of pagodas that stretch on and on.

They are all brick and most have stood up quite well despite a large earthquake that virtually destroyed the old city in 1975.

Obviously some have been restored more than others.

When you get up higher it looks really interesting with all the peaks jutting out of the forest below.

Every one has a slightly different design.

Some are the original brick colour, while others are painted.

There were a couple you could climb to get a better view, or try to see the sunrise or set.

We went up twice and it was nice to just sit in the quiet.

Some where built more like monuments with no entrances just stairs up to the upper areas.

We weren’t the only ones watching the sunset, so we could get help for a picture.

So many pagodas.

Every time we went to one there would be 3 more behind it.

They also turned golden in the sunset which was really nice.

This temple was built in 1215 by another king with another name I can’t pronounce.

The pyramid is 140 feet tall.

The lion on the left has the strangest feet yet.

Though the one on the right comes close.

Every little nook on the pyramid is filled with Buddhas.

Supposedly every one is in a different position, but the differences must be subtle.

Actually anywhere on the entire temple you could possibly fit a Buddha has a Buddha.

There is even a superbuddha.

The buddhas inside are covered with gold leaf.

And the biggest one inside has blinky lights. This shrine is presumably for expert meditators only.

Overall it was a lot of Buddhas.

Our first day in Bagan started really early with the overnight bus arriving at 5 am. We went to the hotel and slept for a few hours then went out to this amazing area.

Some pagodas can be climbed, although the pathways are built for people a little smaller than us.

Everything here is brick.

Most temples date from 11C – 12C AD.

All the temples here are Buddhist. This is the original painting from the 12C AD.

This was not the original painting but someone’s drawing.

This guardian was missing half a head.

And there are many pagodas.

In every direction you look and for as far as you see.

To get around between the temples in Myanmar we used a horse, of course.

Some of the roads were paved and some were not.

The horse seemed pretty happy either way.