not only the city itself, but some of the
surrounding area, including another
bone-shaking ride, in a horse cart this
time, around the ruins of the old capital,
Inwa, and a drive out to the beautiful U
Bein bridge at Amarapura for a glorious
sunset over Lake Taungthaman. This
200-year old bridge is made from teak
planks and there are tea stalls at intervals
along its 1.2km length.
A relaxing day on a boat took us from
Mandalay down the Ayeyarwady River
to Bagan. The Ayeyarwady is still
Myanmar’s major artery, rising in the
Himalayas and bisecting the country
on its 1,350-mile journey south to the
Andaman Sea. On a bend about half
way along its length is a wide, sandy
plain dotted with neem and acacia trees,
among which stand over 2,000 temples.
This is Bagan, and the temples are all
that remain of around 13,000 erected
between the 11th and 13th centuries
by a succession of rulers. We spent
two days here, exploring the area by
electric bikes, which is a great way to
get off the beaten track. The bigger
temples are tourist magnets, complete
with souvenir stalls as well as the usual
ones selling devotional offerings, but
it’s not hard to find others where there’s
no one else around. Some are little
gems, with lovely frescoes or carvings,
though many have suffered damage
from Myanmar’s numerous earthquakes.
In the late afternoon we climbed up
vertigo-inducing steps to the terrace of
one of the temples and were rewarded
with another glorious sunset as well as a
wonderful panoramic view of the site.
The next stage of our adventure began
with a short flight to the delightfully
named Heho, from where we drove to