Today started with the final episode of the Madeline McCann documentary….
Breakfast was great again, this time on offer was a tofu vegetable curry and fried battered potato stick things, along with all the other staples offered the previous day.
After brekky we set out to explore all that Bagan has to offer on an e-bike. Not gonna lie, it was pretty dodgy with the two of us on there and we had our near fall moments when we were biking on soft sand but keeping a slow speed seemed to be enough to stay upright and give us more time to soak in the views.
Pagodas and Stupas of all sizes are scattered everywhere over the Bagan landscape. Although similar, they are all so different and it was fascinating exploring those that we stumbled upon. The more popular spots were occupied by locals trying to sell trinkets, jewelery and prints, and at the most popular spots of all, the area outside was covered in stalls trying to sell all kinds of goods. One thing that was popular everywhere was puppets, and more often then not they were hanging from trees….
The riding overall was smooth, but to get to some of the ‘out of the way’ sites we found ourselves biking over sand. To make things easier, when the sites were close together I would get off and walk and leave Kyle to navigate the dodgy terrain without having to account for the extra lump of lead on the back.
A popular animal around the sites, other than dogs of course, was squirrels! Speedy little things.
For lunch we headed to New Bagan for at least 2 hours to get out of the heat. After demolishing two vegetable sets, which included around 10 bowls of veges to share, and a serving of rice and soup each, we passed the time by playing 500. At this point the temperature was 38 degrees so we knew we wouldn’t last long if we didn’t have a good break! Unsurprisingly we smashed through a lot of water and a few sodas to help quench our thirst.
Following lunch we set out to explore more sites before trying to locate a good position to watch the sunset.
Unfortunately over the past 18 months or so climbing access to all of the Pagodas has been removed. It was incredible to explore all the sites on the ground but I was pretty guttered I wouldn’t be able to get a full appreciation for the scale of it all by viewing the land from height as well.
Eventually we found a small crumbling Pagoda whch was climbable and provided an average viewing position. We watched the start of the sunset before deciding to head back into town for dinner. Kyle was a bit nervous because the e-bike battery was running low!
For dinner we went to Leo and had the chicken green curry, sweet and sour pork and banana smoothies. It was very tasty, the sweet and sour sauce was perhaps the best I’ve ever tasted! All up, cost around 12,000 kyat ($12). Not too shabby.
After returning the e-bike to the hostel we set out to stock up on water and grab a couple of beers to sink on the rooftop using our winnings from the day before. Unfortunately no winners this time.
Kyley on Tour 