Bagan Myanmar-- a wonderful experience

On the banks of the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar, amid paddy fields shimmer the Buddhist spires of Bagan, an ancient capital city 145 km southwest of Mandalay. Some in sandstone and others in brick, some 2,200 zedis or stupas still chant the song of the seer centuries after the Mongol Kubla Khan ransacked a city that was renowned for its riches and refinement in 1287. The stupas’ cool, vaulted interiors have mesmerising meditating Boddhisattva images and other Buddhist iconography while their rooftops afford an amazing view of ancient domes stretching into the horizon. In the sanctums, priests and the ruling classes prostrated themselves in front of the statues that gleamed in the rays from skylights. One can almost see the city as it once was, a bustling settlement of markets and monasteries, palaces and pagodas.

Tags: Irrawaddy River, Myanmar, Bagan, Buddhist, Mandalay, stupas, Mongol Kubla Khan, Boddhisattva