An early morning pickup by the Balloons of Bagan shuttle bus for our long anticipated hot air balloon ride. We watched as the crew prepared the balloon for the thrilling launch. The weather conditions were perfect as we flew over Bagan for one and a half hours enjoying spectacular views of the hundreds of ancient temples. What a wonderful start to our Bagan experience and topped off by a celebratory toast by Javier our Spanish pilot for Ann’s birthday. Our Bagan guide Than and driver Joe picked us up at the hotel to continue our visit to the magnificent red brick pagodas and temples. These included Shwezigon Pagoda, a huge gilded temple from the early 11th century and Gubejaukgyi a 13th century temple, with exquisite murals of scenes from the life of the Buddha. Next stop was the Ananda Temple one of the largest pagodas with a shimmering gold tip. We continued to Nanpaya Temple a unique sandstone monument we enjoyed an excellent local lunch by the Ayeyarwaddy River. After an afternoon rest we continue to Payathonzu and Nanamanya Temples. The ending to our fabulous day was photographing Shepard’s herding their cattle and goats home for the evening as I stood behind a tree in the midst of the herd running past me as I photographed the run...... That pretty much finished up our first full day in Bagan and what a day it was.... almost 1300 photos, have a bit of work to do. We had a wonderful birthday dinner at the hotel and before you knew it, it was time for bed... another big day tomorrow. This day will be in several posts, I’m not sure how many, I’ll let you know when Day 66 is wrapped up.... Here is part 3, the day just continued to amaze... One more part and day 66 for Bagan will be complete....
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