Waking up extra early is never fun, that is unless you're going to do something very special. Today I woke up hella early to hop on a horse drawn cart and head down to the temples of Bagan to see the sunrise. We were a little later than planned, thanks to a drunken hotel clerk giving us the incorrect information re:time of the sun's rising, so we didn't make it to the very popular temple to see the sunrise but that's ok as this meant we had our very own temple to ourselves. Sure it was smaller, but it was ours!
After spending around a couple of hours or so there, waiting for it to come up, watching it come up, hanging out with the views, we headed to see some more temples. Our guide was great and took us to ones that weren't so busy. Or maybe we were just up earlier than most so they were less populated. He'd give us a little info and history but after a while it all runs together. This king built this one at this time, this other king built that one in this time but also rebuilt or changed the other ones…. etc… etc… The history is important and good to know but the brain can only handle so much information at one time, and just taking it all the beauty of the area fills up a lot of that information space.
One of the temples we visited had a very important stone slab. Sort of like the Rosetta stone, this stone had the 4 languages of the time with the the same writing in each respective language on each sides. It made translation much easier for archeologists in the region and is very culturally relevant.
We saw hindu, buddhist and mixed type temples, respective of what the king of that time saw as the religion of the land. But after a few hours as the sun was coming more and more out, we were taken back to the hotel to get some rest and relaxation and lunch before going back out in the mid day as the sun would start to set. Hence, avoiding the major heat and intense sunlight of the day.
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