Cycling at 4 AM in Bagan

After spending a few days in Nyaung Shwe (and Inle Lake) we went straight to Bagan via a direct bus that we booked from one of the travel agencies in town. The travel time was approximately eight hours since we left around 8 – 9 PM and arrived in Bagan at around 3 – 3:30AM. As soon as we arrived at the bus station in Bagan, we started walking towards our right where they say we could find most of the budget guest houses in Nyaung -U.

This information by the way might not be accurate anymore (or perhaps might still be) by the time you read this post as according to the owner of the guesthouse that we stayed in, there will be a new bus station at New Bagan and most buses coming from other places in Myanmar.

From the bus station we just walked approximately 2 or 3 kilometers while finding a place to stay, while most guesthouses were still close, luckily we found one that was still open and immediately booked a room.

While waiting at the reception, two other travelers who arrived less than an hour before us asked us our plans for the day and invited us to join them cycling to see the sunrise in Bagan. I was actually thinking of sleeping first since I haven’t had any decent sleep yet but nevertheless agreed to go with them.

Our guesthouse was also renting bikes to tourists and we rented four bikes after leaving all our belongings in our respective rooms.

It’s been awhile since I last rode a bike, the last time was still in Siem Reap which was more than seven months ago prior to that day and the other travelers that I was with were driving their bikes so fast that I could barely keep up (not to mentioned the lack of sleep).

One of them was doing the navigation and we found ourselves lost somewhere and just decided to go off the main road and walk towards the large stupa that we saw and wait for the sun to rise.

There were no one except for us and some dogs barking wildly at us and we were thinking that there should be more tourist in that area to see the sun rise. We had a hint though that we might be in the wrong place since according to the map that one of them was holding, the stupa that we should climb is where most people go to see the sunrise and sunset in Bagan. Anyway, it’s nice though that we had the place for ourselves and it’s not swamped with many people.

We chatted and waited patiently until nature’s spectacle unfolded in front of us. As the sun slowly illuminates the whole area, I was amazed to see so many temples which we barely saw when we got there due to darkness. Fatigue, hunger, sleepiness disappeared for a second as we all enjoyed the beauty in front of all us. Not bad for my first few hours in Bagan. This would definitely be one of the trips that I’ll remember for a long time.

Here are some pictures taken that morning:

While walking around the area, I saw some local kids picking up some berries