Two travel bees
and our travel diary
The sunrise over Bagan
From previous post: Bagan was the capital of the first kingdom, the kingdom of Pagan, which unified the regions of what we today know as Myanmar during 9th to 13th century. At its height, 10.000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed on the Bagan plains alone. 2.200 of the temples have survived to the present day.
​
The sunrise in Bagan is among the most beautiful we have ever seen. In complete darkness, we ventured off with our e-bike to the temple plains and climbed the moist steps of the Shwesandaw Pagoda to view the first rays of sun over the landscape.
We had set our alarm clock to 4AM and drove on our e-bike out into the temple plains in the goblin dark chilly night.
We climbed the slippery steps to the top of the Shwesandaw Pagoda to get a good view over the area.
For some time, all we could see was darkness with a golden backdrop of the slowly emerging sunrise
Slowly, the first silhouettes of the thousands of temples on the plain would emerge from the darkness...
...and we could see the green plains covered with fresh morning dew.
As the first rays of sun greeted the landscape...
... hot airballoons floated slowly across the sky: First one..
...then many.
As the hot airballoons filled the sky, the sun would slowly reveal the intense colors of the landscape...
...ranging from dark green to brick red.
Within few minutes, the sun had risen, painting the sky in light pink.
Each temple can be seen as stings sticking up on the plains...
...as far as the eye can see.
The many faces of the sunrise and its slow emergence, made it a perfect moment ...
..with our view of a golden landscape...
...waking up while the local farm's rooster was calling.
The sunrise in Bagan is more special than the sunset due its slow development enabling us to follow the change in the sky for hours
The hot air balloons are tourists on tour to see the plains from above.
After 1.5 hours the watercolor play of the sky came to an end.
We would soon be blinded by the sun.
...which also marked our end of a unforgettable morning...
...and the beginning of a day of exploring the thousands of stupas and temples of Bagan.
Two happy bees at a travel highlight.
Thanks for tuning in - Till next time.
Two travel bees