Sunrise again

We woke up early again today, as we wanted to catch another sunrise again, in a different pagoda named Buledi paya. This time we rented a bike from the sundry shop next door for 1500 kyats per day, from dawn till 12am. 

It was somehow creepy, cycling in a shanty town in almost pitch dark, as you try to avoid monks, horsecarts and other cyclists; it was freezing cold and I could feel my face  being petrified by the chilly wind. Also, we had to try our best to avoid the horse dung scattered on the road!

Upon reaching Buledi's paya, there were already a few tourists waiting on top of the pagoda. Fortunately, we managed to reach in time as the sun had not risen yet. Buledi paya was easier to climb compared to Shwesendaw Paya, as the steps were less steeper.

Buledi Paya was located to the east of Shwesandaw Paya, hence we were able to see the hot air balloons clearer this time! And every sunrise indeed is different. As more and more tourists arrived, they climbed up and joined us together in witnessing this wondrous event of the day.

We proceeded with our battery of stupa-fying tours around the temples of Old Bagan, visiting the Thatbyinnyu temple, Pahto Thamya complex, Gawdawpalin temple, Mahabawfi temple, Bupaya temple, Shwebugyi paya, Upali Thein temple, Htilominlo temple and finally the Shwezigon pagoda in Nyaung U town. Honestly, we had not purchased the Bagan Archaelogical Zone entrance fees worth USD10 since nobody asked us for it for the past 1 day, and we really had thought we could escape it. Unfortunately, we were ambushed at Htilominlo temple by the government officials and had to purchase one on the spot. Otherwise we would have saved USD10!

Somewhere we came across an interesting sign that showed NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE OVERCOME PAGODA. Hmm... I never knew the military junta build a new pagoda to pray to overcome any imminent nuclear catastrophe. 

Having completed our amazing stupa-fying tour, we ventured Nyaung U's downtown for a quick brunch. Somehow we have got addicted to Myanmar's milk tea, and kept on ordering for it everytime we had breakfast or lunch! Before heading back to our hotel, we made a short stroll to the Thanaka Museum just around the corner. 

As we arrived at the hotel, both of us just dozed off immediately we were within the vicinity of our beds.