2. Ancient Bagan....

We left our hotel in Yangon before dawn to fly to Bagan, passing the monks out on the streets with their bowls of food that local people donate to them as alms. The duration of the flight depends on whether it is a modern or turboprop plane.... Today it was a modern one so about an hour. 

Bagan is an historical centre and once was the ancient capital. There are thousands of temples, stupas and pagodas, some large, and lots and lots of small ones, with many dating from the 11th and 12th centuries and some older than that. So many of them are crumbling and falling down. Bagan should have UNESCO World Heritage status but doesn't as some of the monuments have been restored very badly. The debate continues whether to restore or to allow them to fade away. Both is happening in Bagan. 

We had a wonderful couple of days there, exploring the various ancient stupas and temples, climbing them with hundreds of other people to view the sunset. No preservation here yet, and no health and safety either, with hundreds of people then jostling to get back down again. Would have been easy to fall off.....

Living in and amongst the ancient stupas, pagodas and temples are the residents of Bagan. 

They farm around the artefacts, and the landscape is dotted with relics 

Note the cigarette in the mouth (above)