| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | ![]() |
Hints for Bagan temples to visit with headlampCountry forums / South-East Asia Mainland / Myanmar | ||
Hi | ||
There are around 4000 temples. It's a bit difficult to describe how to find the ones that are not already marked on a map. And those on the map are the biggest and most popular. You should engage a local guide. There are plenty of young people who live there who can do this for you. They can help you to find the less-known temples that are open and available to visit and they can also help you to negotiate with the 'caretakers' that many of the smaller temples have. | 1 | |
The temples with paintings will all be marked on maps already, so the chance of finding ones with few tourists at is not very Likely! As the previous post said- a decent guide might be useful or just hire a bike and cycle around to see what you can find. A bicycle can get to some areas that a big coach full of people can't always get to, so at least you might find some temples that aren't overrun with People! | 2 | |
The less visited temples are usually just brick structures. No need for head lamps to see brick walls. | 3 | |
As I remember on the way to Shwesandaw Pagoda (from the main road) to see sunset as other tourists often do, on the left hand side there is a small temple under conservation where you can visit with a torchlight (the old man - the guard inside the temple will give it to visitors to see the wall paint. | 4 | |
Just been an earthquake in Bagan, so you may need to rethink your visit. Cycling around the remoter temples I did come across several that had paintings, not many tourists go them as you have to go by bike or ox cart. The map I had was all in Burmese, even the numbering so was not much use. Its very sandy area, some find it hard to cycle but I had little trouble, watch out for snakes though. | 5 | |
As Herbie just posted- there has just been a strong earthquake affecting the Bagan area. A lot of temples have been damaged so I guess that might make it a no-go area for a While! | 6 | |
Thanks to all for your feedback. | 7 | |
This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 8 | |