Our next stop was Bagan, known for its thousands of pagodas.

We got a night bus from Yangon. The bus was very nice and we managed to get some sleep but that was disturbed when we arrived in Bagan at 5 am!

We hadn't booked any accommodation but luckily a girl on our bus had read about a cheap place to stay so we followed her there on our horse and cart...A popular mode of transport in Bagan.

After a little nap we thought we would venture out to explore the area but it was raining. We grabbed some lunch with the hope that it would stop...it didn't! After waiting and waiting we thought we'd brave the rain and go for it. Big mistake! The rain got harder and harder so after an hour we were back at our guesthouse soaking wet and I was questioning whether it was even worth coming to Myanmar in their wet season!

The following day my question was answered.
We set our alarm for 4 am with the hope of no rain so we could see the sunrise over the pagodas.
With our delight when we woke there was no rain!
We rented electric bikes and headed for the pagodas. After a few wrong turns we finally found the one we were looking for and climbed straight to the top. The views were incredible! You could see right across Bagan and the plains were full of ancient pagodas! The sunrise did not disappoint either, unlike Angkor Wat we were only joined by another 15 people or so which made it even better!

When the sun had rose we jumped back on our E-bikes and started to explore the hundreds of pagodas, soaking up buckets of Burmese culture as we went!
Again unlike Angkor Wat you could explore properly. We climbed all over them and had free reign with no other tourists in sight. It really was the experience we were looking for!

After Jazz's reassurance and an amazing day yesterday I was certain that coming here was not the wrong decision and we are both loving it!