Bagan is an ancient area and major tourist drawcard of Burma that formed the Kingdom of Pagan and dates around the 9th – 13th Centuries. It is located not far from Mandalay, and will take you around 6 hours in private taxi or an hour on a plane. During the kingdom’s height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.
There’s plenty of reasonably priced hotels in the area and there is various travel options to see the temples and plains; balloon ride, bicycle, walking or even horse and cart. The plains are littered with various pagadas and ruins, many of which are just left in fields and by the roads in various states of repair or disrepair.
Here’s a website that explains many of the pagodas. http://www.ancientbagan.com/ananda-temple.htm
*Is it Myanmar or is it Burma ? The military junta says Myanmar, but Ann San Suu Kyi says Burma.
Always Restless Feet 
Thanks for sharing your views of that wonderful part of the world.
That’s ok, I’m glad you liked it.
Thank you, beautiful place. I hope the international world will assist Burma in maintaining those structures that are still in tact, maybe Unesco could designate it a worl heritage site. We need to preserve the places of spiritual and historical significance even if the local population and governments might have moved on and/or can’t see its value, or does not have the means to do it.
Totally agree, though, now that I think about it, I suspect that this area is already UNESCO listed, or perhaps it is in the process of doing so. I’ll have to have a look and report back.
I went to Burma/Myanmar for a month to teach English a while back. I loved it! I didn’t get to go to Bagan sadly! I’m also confused about what to call the country. I usually call it Myanmar, but the people are Burmese and the language is Burmese, so hmm….Nice post!
Excellent, where were you teaching, in Rangoon? (and the name thing is tricky, though, obviously not all of the people in Myanmar/Burma are Burmese, but that’s a whole new conversation really. )
What a magical place! Thanks for sharing these!
It really is ! I’d love to go back.
Wonderful!
Really amazing captures.
An amazing place, well worth a visit!
Reblogged this on Colleen Keener Summary and commented:
An article from the Jakarta Post about travelling in Bagan.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/14/bagan-where-burma-began.html