I apparently I only have the attention span to make one of these posts every few months. However this was a pretty memorable trip, so I’m not worried about forgetting it. I left off last post with us boarding an overnight bus in Burma. This was not a glamorous bus. No beds, just sleep in your seat. The road to Bagan was mostly dirt, making it a bumpy ride. I’ll spare you the details, but that night ended up being the worst food poisoning I’ve ever had. Jackson got it too. We traded off turns in the small bus bathroom the entire night. You probably don’t remember from the last post, but we accidentally short-changed our impromptu tour guide from the temple in Yangon. At one point during our rocky bus ride, I was waiting patiently outside the bathroom for Jackson when he stumbled out, ghost-pale, dripping sweat, and said, “THAT OLD MAN PUT A CURSE ON US.” He was referring to our spiritual tour guide who may or may not have had magical powers. Always tip your tour guides.

I can easily say it was the worst night of my life. Nothing else comes close. When we made it to our hostel, we had a room to ourselves with a bathroom in it which was a god-send. I slept the entire next day and through the next night. Probably close to 24 hours. I didn’t have a single bite of food. I woke up to go to the bathroom or have a sip of water but not much else. We think the source of our poison was water from the nice restaurant we went to, ironically. But we were never sure. The day Jackson and I slept, Kyle went out and saw the town. Food poisoning didn’t hit him until the following day.

When I finally woke up, I struggled to get a little bit of breakfast down and went to a local clinic just to get an IV. I was still hurting, but felt a bit better. I was also angry at wasting an entire day, so I was determined to do something. Upon returning to the hostel, I was able to appreciate for the first time how cool of a spot it was. The town was very small, and if it had a main street, we were probably on it. There was lots of outdoor seating with shade and lots of friendly people. People were playing guitar and playing cards and puffing cigarettes and drinking coffee. It was laid back and just what we needed.

It was Kyle’s turn to feel the Old Man’s wrath today, so Jackson and I set out to see Bagan. An excerpt from Wikipedia: “Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar.^[1] From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom’s height between the 11th and 13th centuries, 4,446 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of 3,822 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.” Bagan is a truly magical and unique place. The lack of structure and red tape in Burma played into our favor in Bagan, because it felt like true exploration. We didn’t have a bus tour we took pictures from or a walking path to a set destination. We rented some electric bikes, got a paper map, and drove off.

I could post a hundred pictures of this place. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. While we had a map, we didn’t use it much. There was an abundance of winding dirt roads that led to new temples. Some hundreds of feet high. Some ten feet high. All had varying levels of preservation. Earthquakes have destroyed many of the temples, but thousands still remain. No one told us where to go. No one told us we couldn’t do anything. The only rule was no shoes inside the temples, as a sign of respect.

Despite the last 36 hours being a nightmare, this day turned out great. Many of the temples we could climb to the top of for a better view. Some had big interiors to explore. It was fascinating to think what the ancient empire that built Bagan was like. Along the way, we attracted a lot of attention from locals. Like, more than usual up to that point. People would open-mouth stare at us, take pictures of us, and with us. We stopped for lots of pictures. They must have thought we were in a boy band or were college basketball players or something. It was bizarre, I’ve never felt that much like a celebrity before. There were other tourists there, but most were old couples and guys that looked like they just spent a week at a music festival. To end the day, we watched the sunset from on top of a temple. Then I got some much needed rest.

The next morning, we set out early to catch the sunrise. A local helped us find a good spot to watch from on top of a temple. The sunrise was almost indescribable. It was the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. The valley had a gray-dawn light humming in the mist. The air was brisk, but only enough to keep you awake. When the sun began to cross the horizon, the silhouettes of hundreds of ancient temples began to show their reddish hue. The trees cast long shadows across open meadows. The entire valley took on a warm ambiance of wonder. As the sun grew, the sky became dotted with hot air balloons. Dozens floated into our field of view and completed the perfect scene. Jackson and Kyle left, along with the others who had come to share the view, but I stayed for a while longer. Something about that place and that moment resonated with me and I couldn’t bring myself to leave.

Well eventually I did leave, reluctantly, but I’m glad I did. This was the first day the three of us were healthy. It was also our last day in Bagan. The three of us hopped between temples and ruins for the remainder of the day until we had to get to the airport. Some were off the beaten path (this was relative since most the paths were pretty beaten) and some were surrounded by visitors. Dozens of visitors and locals wanted pictures with us. It seemed like every place we went we were peppered with requests for pictures. Eventually we just stopped questioning it and soaked in the limelight. But many temples were remote and had no one in sight. Some we could climb to the top of to get a better view of the valley. Sometimes we broke off and each explored smaller temples then rendezvoused at a larger temple in the distance. It was really the perfect day.

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We all opted out of taking an overnight bus back, we couldn’t risk it again. So we flew out of the Bagan airport. This was the smallest airport I have ever seen. There was one gate. There were windows directly facing the runway. The only runway. We saw our propeller plane land in front of us, take a U-turn, and stop in the middle of the runway. We walked right onto the tarmac and boarded the plane. I felt like Indiana Jones after a long day of raiding ancient temples and escaping on a propeller plane. I suppose this post was relatively short. It is easier to describe with pictures, but as always, they don’t do it justice. I think Bagan is one of my favorite places I’ve ever traveled, so it was worth the horrible 36 hours at the beginning. Myanmar isn’t exactly a tourist destination, but if you’re looking for something with a bit more adventure and a bit less structure, I highly recommend it. Our next stop: Vietnam.