Bagan - The Ancient Religious City (Pics intensive)

There are two preeminent ancient religious cities in Southeast Asia, Bagan in Myanmar and Angkor in Cambodia. Both sites are notable for their expanse of sacred geography and the number of temples. Scattered across a vast dusty plain, is the scores of Buddhist Pagodas.

The first day, we hired a driver and visited quite a no. of Pagodas, of which some are really magnificent. But as we explore more, we got overloaded with pagodas that we cannot remember which is which...

That is where we decided on the 2nd day to re explore the place in a slower pace.

The left untouched ancient Pagodas.




A Local who earns as a local guide for the templae, sit by the entrance waiting for visitors...


Stalls were built along the path to the entrance of the Pagoda




The awesome view of these ancient Pagoda, reminded us the process of constructing it...




Inside, you will find the Buddha statue in all 4 entrance.






The next Pagoda that we visited is a small one that was near the river..


Where monks and locals ride a distance to reach this temple and offer their prayers..


The kids here started earning their livings at a very young age. This is a common sight in most 3rd World country...well, the good thing is that they aren't exploited...they working willingly here as peddlers, helpers, guides to help out with the family financial...




This little boy was really observant and helped out in a restaurant that we had our lunch..


As we moved on, we see herds of cattle..Most of the locals here are still farmers. 











Its only on the 2nd day where we took our own pace to revisit some of the more secluded area that we discovered more awe inspiring sites.




A pagoda away from the popular sites...we spend out time slowly here..


This little kid was in the pagoda and he looked abit grouchy as we approached him...


With tranquility here and lesser tourist flooding the area, we had a great time taking our own portraits.... Here's one where Holly posed for a shot...


Viewing Sunset at Shwesandaw Paya is a must..and so we went there at 4pm..

Climbing up the stairs here is a challenge, each steps is built very steep..



But once you are up...the kind of satisfaction and views is rewarding...

Everyone enjoying themselves after conquering the fleet of stairs..






Sadly we didnt get to see the sunset... but then again..its still quite a sight...


This trip to Bagan did left me a deep impression...and definitely a nice place to explore by cycling or walking if you have the time..

Canon P, CV25mm f4, Canon 50mm f1.4 and Canon 100mm f3.5
Colors shot on top, Kodak Pro Image 100,
B&W Legacy Pro 100, HC110 stand & Trix 400, R09
Colors shot below, Kodak Colorplus 200