3 Emotional Days in Bagan, Myanmar

A year ago, I went on a short backpacking trip to Laos and Myanmar. As excited as I was to explore Laos (I’d heard pretty great things about it), I was far more intrigued by my impending 9-day trip to Myanmar (or, as it was once referred, Burma). From friends and fellow backpackers, I’d heard nothing but positive and glorifying reviews of the country as a whole. I simply couldn’t wait to see it for myself.

Due to its tumultuous past, Myanmar has an overall negative reputation. Their political past, civil unrest, and very recent genocides lead most people in the West to believe it’s completely unsafe and off-limits to foreigners. Granted, their civil unrest is very real; there are some dangerous and off-limit areas for tourists in the country. However, not every spot on their map is unavailable and/or dangerous for exploration.

On top of all of that, Westerners simply don’t know much at all about the country—me included! So, as usual, I sent myself to go backpacking in a place I simply knew nothing about in order to learn.

So, I continued my solo journey and left Laos (more on that in another post) to explore the highly-anticipated Myanmar.

YANGON (1 NIGHT)

I’d heard a lot about Yangon, which is the capital of Myanmar, and not a single word was enticing. I’d heard it wasn’t worth much of an investigation, as it was heavily polluted, overpopulated, and didn’t offer much at all in the realm of sightseeing

When I first arrived in Yangon in the early evening, I immediately felt that what I’d heard was spot on. Getting a taxi from the airport was no small feat and, while slowly chugging along in their fume-drenched rush hour, I was overwhelmed by culture shock. The noise. The air. The traffic. The crumbling, snug, molding buildings. I simply wasn’t into it.

Once arriving at my hostel in a sweaty, filthy, bug-eyed state, I checked in and tried to book a bus ticket for two days from then to Bagan. Bagan was actually my main reason for going to Myanmar at all due to their apparently mind-boggling sunrises with hot air balloons dotting the sky above a plethora of ancient temples covered in morning fog. ‘Twas the season for it (October 1st to sometime in April) and I wanted all the views, not a sensory overload-causing city.

However, upon trying to do so, the hostel staff told me that every, single bus was booked for the next week. They had absolutely nothing. Why? Because it was a national holiday, specifically Thadingyut Festival, and everyone and their mother was traveling in the country. Therefore, everything was booked. I was screwed.

I ran up to my dorm room and chucked my bags in my locker. While rummaging for my shower bag on the floor, undoubtedly grumbling to myself in pure rage, annoyance, and bafflement, the dorm door opened. A shadow walked in, was quite fittingly illuminated by the light behind it, and when he came into view, a cute boy introduced himself (of course it was a cute boy. What else would have distracted me from my chaos?). I clumsily picked my jaw off the floor, spoke to him (probably didn’t say anything intelligible and looked a fright), then joined him and a bunch of other friendly hostel-goers for dinner.

We all instantly discussed the holiday and how almost none of us were prepared for it. However, the aforementioned cute boy said that he had a flight booked for the following morning to Bagan and that another underprepared hostelgoer and I should book that flight if we can (DONE!).

I checked immediately (duh), but wasn’t really excited about the added $90 expense. Then, there was the obstacle of booking a place to stay. Bagan was filled up accommodation-wise. So, when that same underprepared hostelgoer booked that flight and offered to share a private room with me (that was all he could get), I ignored my normally overly-safe self that was screaming, “NO!” and said, “Absolutely!”

So, all things were booked and, the following morning, I took a flight with two completely strange (yet very good-looking) men. Onwards and upwards, as they say!

BAGAN

Day 1

We checked into Baobabed Hostel, which was the same chain as the one we stayed/met in Yangon (I highly recommend it if you stay in Myanmar, as they have them across the country and are awesome). Immediately after checking in, the three of us rented bikes from our hostel and rode around in the immediate area, taking in the nearby views.

That evening, we went to a hostel event where we caught a gorgeous sunset with views of the temples.

We then headed back and naturally wandered up to the rooftop bar/pool (yeah, you read that right) and fully indulged in all the luxuries! There, we met a large group of diverse and wonderful travelers. We intended to end our evening early before meeting them to prepare for a sunrise view of the hot air balloons, but let’s just say we did not at all fulfill our intensions! Worth it.

Day 2

Across the street from the hostel, we rented e-bikes, which are electric motorbikes. We rented them for cheap (maybe $10 each for the day!) and buzzed around the city and temple grounds the entire day. Even in our mutual very hungover state, we all thoroughly enjoyed rolling around the pagodas and temples, which all were built some 800-1,000 years ago!

Fun fact: Bagan has over 3,500 ancient Buddhist temples, pagodas, and other structures. Are you seeing why I was obsessing over getting there!?

First stop: Thatbyinnyu Temple

Second stop: Ananda Temple

Third stop: Htilominlo Temple

Fourth stop: Dhammayangyi Temple

After gallivanting and thoroughly enjoying the day, we all met (without planning it!) for a gorgeous sunset.

Day 3

After all waking up at some ungodly hour, we rented our e-bikes from our friendly e-bike-renting neighbor once again, then cruised to a quiet, off-the-beaten-track sunrise viewpoint. There, we got to witness what I had been wanting to witness for years: hot air balloons amongst ancient temples at sunrise.

Truth be told, it wasn’t perfect. There were swarms of irritating bugs and stray dogs humping each other, but otherwise, it was truly a life-altering experience. It felt surreal. I finally made it. I lived a dream—and for that fact, I’ll be forever grateful.

From there, we went back to our hostel for some grub, then immediately got into a minivan to take a day trip to Mount Popa. Mount Popa is an extinct volcano that holds a monastery and temple at its peak where people have prayed and worshipped for over 700 years. In order to get to the top, one needs to climb 777 steps.

We all imagined it to be a magical and unique experience. However, we did not plan for the Mecca-like gathering that would greet us upon arrival (remember the Thadingyut Festival? Here it is— and where apparently all the locals go during this festival!).

Near the top of the mountain, but at the base of the 777 steps, there was a massive and mind-boggling traffic jam. I mean, one of those traffic jams where: a. nobody is moving at all and b. you realize you’re in a third world country.

We eventually took matters into our own hands and ditched our minivan private driver (hoping to all the deities he’d be there when we wanted to leave) and walked to the begin of the stairs. From there, we began our ascent. …in more traffic, but this time, pedestrian traffic.

It took us around an hour to climb to the top amongst hoards of Burmese folks. …Sweat. So much sweat. And stink. And bare-feet. Oh, sorry. Did I not mention that almost all of those steps needed to be climbed without shoes? Yeah. We needed to take our shoes off only 5 minutes at the start of our climb. Yum.

When we did eventually make it to the top, we were underwhelmed. There were crowds of people (obviously), but the view just simply wasn’t nearly as magical as we’d hoped. The temple itself also had hills of trash everywhere and simply wasn’t at all what we’d hoped for.

In pure annoyance, distress, and claustrophobia, we made our descent, which fortunately went by very fast. At the bottom of the stairs—of which I still have nightmares—our minivan and driver were conveniently waiting for us! We all crumbled into the van and relished in the air conditioning.

However, my emotional rollercoaster didn’t end there. While nearly everyone else napped, I listened to music and looked out the window. What I found there genuinely haunts me to my core to this day.

Poverty is a very real issue in Myanmar. So, being that it was a national holiday and we were on the one road to Mount Popa, the impoverished local citizens found their way there. They lined the road on both sides, begging for passersby to throw anything to them. Food, money, clothes, anything they could.

I’ve seen plenty of beggars in my life, but never like this. There were hundreds upon hundreds of beggars on this one road. They were of all ages— from newborns to decrepit elderly. Almost all were malnourished and some even had visible disabilities.

To put it simply, the scene broke my heart and it led me to cry silently to myself.

But, the horror didn’t end there. On several occasions, the car ahead of us would occasionally throw out money and the beggars would dive onto the ground and fight one another for it. They would even dive into the road and oncoming traffic, risking death (people speed on that road) for some change. Our driver needed to swerve out of the way of a person diving into the road right in front of him like one would a deer in the US.

This was one of the most heart-crushing scenes I’ve ever experienced. It’s engrained in my brain forever. The entire instance humbled me beyond words and reminded me of where I was, what I was doing, and what I was lucky to have in general.

Eventually, we made it back to our hostel. Everyone was better rested after their naps, while I felt like I aged ten years.

We decompressed a bit, then headed out for a last temple rendezvous together, since I was headed to Inle Lake later that night and everyone else was separating as well. We took our e-bikes to Shwesandaw Temple specifically to admire it and the surrounding temples while watching the sunset. Lucky for us, the temple set up candles all over the grounds to honor the holiday, so we got a special show.