Seat of Our Pants

If you’re independent travelers, like ourselves, you will have three choices for exploring Bagan. The first is on foot – which is just dumb. The valley is huge – 42 square kilometers to be exact, making the other two options, horse-cart or bicycle, much better options.

We chose the horse cart tour for our first day. Horse, cart and guide set us back roughly $15 for an eight hour tour. Our guide spoke relatively good English (though I’m pretty sure that one of his stories included a long-haired monk throwing a toilet paper roll into something and it became a rainbow – what?) and gave us the history of most of the places where we stopped. The route he took caught all the best off-the-beaten-track temples which included a great little monastery to catch the sunset. We shared this with just two other people – unlike the droves of air-con bus groups that pack together on the larger monuments.

Our second and third day was spent on bicycle, which can be easily rented from a guesthouse for roughly $1.50 for the day. Having gained a good idea of what buildings we liked and didn’t like (because the sheer volume ensures that you will not be able to see them all in one trip), we rode around at our own pace. Having the freedom to stop when you want allowed us to explore many of the stupas that are overlooked by others. It’s a magical (if slightly sweaty) way to spend a day – that is, if you can keep on the bike in the thick sand.

All in all we spent three days exploring Bagan. Any less would have left us feeling shortchanged and any more would have been overkill. As sad as it might sound, getting templed-out is a pretty easy thing to do.

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