The Rest of our Week in Bagan, Myanmar

Before I get into our normal play by play, we have 3 videos that can give you a sense of Bagan: 1. An aerial view, 2. Riding Bagan's Dirt Paths, and 3. Riding Bagan's Town Roads.  If you have a second I'd skip through at least the first one.  It gives you a sense of the immensity and isolation of the place. This is what captivates us.

After three days at the Bagan Step we moved to a new place, the Aureum Palace Hotel & Resort. It was a beautiful compound overlooking three remote temples in the savannahs. Surprisingly, it had a bungalow with two beds, a couch, and a patio with lagoon and temple views which cost less than our AirBnB. It also had an extensive breakfast buffet which makes for very happy travel kids. We typically go very budget with our lodging when we travel because we find we actually spend little time at the hotel. However, when we find something that adds to the experience then we go for it. Bagan Step had a great homey feel with an amazing temple on the grounds, and Myanmar style with a touch of rustic flair which definitely added to the experience. The Aureum Palace was built with traditional Burmese architecture and had a brilliant pool, which overlooked three gorgeous temples that were also lit up at night.

 

While there, we continued to explore Bagan’s 2,000 plus temples scattered all over the place, taking in the wind, the dirt, the people, and the scenery atop our e-bikes.

We hunted for souvenirs, ate food, and also found an international menu restaurant called Sharky’s which not only utilized local produce in a delectable manner, but also became Milagro’s favorite restaurant in the world. It was good.

Our souvenir haul in Bagan was impressive. We picked up sand paintings, wicker items, a large Burmese offering bowl, a large stacked food carrier, and a bunch of other cook nick nack items. We considered buying some big statues but decided against it. But, it was a lot of fun to imagine them back in our house.

After our stay in Bagan, we took the bus back to Mandalay. We thought about doing another minivan, but the $6 bus tickets were tough to pass up. However, it turned out that we would be in a small bus that didn’t have an under-compartment for bags so we had hold onto or stuff our luggage under our seats.

On the bus ride we met and spoke with an older Aussie who had lived in Phuket, Thailand with his Thai wife. We were talking about different places in the world and I learned he was robbed in South Africa and a crew mate of his (he delivered yachts) had his arm slashed while he was robbed on a separate occasion. Hmm… South Africa might be dropping off our short list of places where we were considering living.

Bagan… still our favorite place in the world.