More Bagan Pagodas and another trip on the Irrawaddy…...

We saw several more pagodas and a monastery before taking a sunset boat trip on the Irrawaddy.
Oh ….and I forgot …we went to see the Archaeological museum……
We couldn't understand why this was not mentioned in our guide book…..now we know!  A huge, huge museum……..with very little in it!
One of the reasons to go to it……. is to go to the third floor, to have a panoramic vista of the whole area……unfortunately it was closed to the public!


First we went to a cave monastery…..this was mainly underground……

Then to a Pagoda built by a queen….. Tham Bula….

a little crumbling on the exterior……

but with some nice detailed stucco still intact….. 

it had interesting murals from the 13th century inside…..

then Phayathonzu …….3 pagodas joined together, no cameras allowed inside but it did have beautiful wall frescoes.

 another pagoda …….Lemyethna…..

……... with a totally painted interior…...

…..it also had a very large brick monastery which had been earthquake damaged on its grounds. It was open to visit but I chose to remain outside! Particularly after seeing the remains of a totally destroyed pagoda in front of the existing one!!

The last pagoda, the Manuha  was the most interesting. Built in 1067 and apparently totally undamaged in the many earthquakes.   There were 3 extremely large Buddhas in the sitting position.

Then one has to go out and go behind  to see a vast reclining Buddha which took up almost the whole space inside….difficult to squeeze past!

Rice donations…..?to feed the poor/or the monks…..

Village life goes on as usual between the pagodas!

Then off to our sunset boat ride on the Irrawaddy…..
the jetty area was quite busy….

 ….presumably this boat had just unloaded its delivery of pots….

The blue boat was our ride for the evening…..

…and there were some rather ancient looking boats around!

 We passed some monks waiting for the ferry to take them upstream…..

We went quite a way upstream…..and then drifted down while watching the sun go down…….

 and this rather large barge passed us going quickly upstream…… the Irrawaddy never sleeps!

Burmese days…..Bagan continued

We finally were able to check into our hotel in Bagan……after lunch! Guides and drivers had their meals offered by the restaurants……presumably included in the prices paid by tourists!

We had chosen this particular hotel,  the Thande Hotel, in Old Bagan, because it is  historical ….

and had agreed to upgrade our room to have a view of the Irrawaddy.

the bar area has a superb view……..where, yes indeed, we did indulge!

the pool area…….where we absolutely had no free time to relax and enjoy!

The rooms were a liitle basic…. but the beds were nicely decorated!

We  were extremely happy with our choice and can thoroughly recommend,
even though it is  now a little tired.

The grounds are beautiful  and it is very low key…and we couldn't fault the breakfast view, nor indeed the actual breakfast……

The afternoon was another round of Pagodas….

First the Sulamani Pagoda…..

I was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic by now…internal corridors, no way out as only the entrance was open as an exit…..kept thinking about the fact that they have a lot of earthquakes…...

I was very happy to be outside!!

then Dhammayan Gyi Pagoda…..  this we were told was built by an 'evil' King….

Monastery on the grounds……….again earthquake damage evident!

then Ananda Temple

These two Buddhas are the original ones…..

and at the feet of this one is a gold leafed small Buddha….. probably again no ladies are allowed to put any gold leaf on him!

Then it was off in a horse and carriage, very difficult to climb into and not a very comfortable ride, to get to the Shwegu Gyi Temple pagoda in order to watch the sunset...