Bagan

The 7 hour bus ride to Bagan goes quickly.  You'd think that all of the people throwing up around us would detract from the experience but oddly it's doing the opposite.  Nicole and I play musical chairs with Toby and get to chat away for the duration, making it all pretty enjoyable despite the increasing temperature.  We are greeted by an eager battalion of taxi drivers and make our way to Nyuang-U.  Nov is waiting for us at the same guesthouse (not entirely by coincidence) and we greet each other like old friends.  His stomach bug has abated but now he is also sporting one of those fancy cold virii that seem to be all the rage.  Nonetheless, seeing him eat for the first time since we've met brings me joy.  We combine forces for Bagan and head out into the heat to enjoy another beautiful Burmese sunset.  Frankly I'm getting sick of this place.  Can't you tell?

Bagan is host to a considerable volume of tourists, and justifiably so.  Featuring a staggering two thousand one hundred and fifty odd temples, this small city is reminiscent of an ancient civilization.  We climb the steps of a popular pagoda near Old Bagan and stake out a spot to watch the glint roll off hundreds of visible temples of various conditions.  Some look like they were built yesterday while others endure the coarse grains of time.  As the sun fades out we see a large storm coming towards us rapidly, but soon realize that it's not rain that erodes these temples but massive dust clouds.  The wind's dial escalates to blinding so we quickly make our escape.

We sleep early to be up in time to rent bikes and check out another temple for sunrise.  We say that all of these temples throughout Southeast Asia are over-saturating us, but Bagan certainly achieves an extra layer of majesty in a world of Wats (temples).  We enjoy a lovely sunrise made even more lovely by the company, new and old.

Going, going, gone.

And after a 5am wakeup... we hop on our bicycles to find this.

Golden sunrise.

"That's all very interesting.  Do go on."

"What are you talking about?  What temples?"

"Wat ever.  ZING!"

So pensive.  And brooding.

Our friend Nov marches up the 70 degree steps after about two weeks of being bed-ridden with Burmese Belly!

We decide that another afternoon waiting for the heat to relent would be in vain as we feel compelled to move on and see more of Burma.  Our bus out of Bagan is slated for 9am, making our duration here less than 24 hours.  We pile into a smaller local bus and move up and over Burma's mountainous glory to Pyin u Lwin.