Photos

Bagan, bordering the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River, was once the glorious capital of the First Myanmar Empire.

Bagan is now a 42 square kilometer area dotted with thousands of ancient pagodas, stupas, shrines, and monuments. It is one of the richest archaeological sites in Southeast Asia with 2230 monuments still standing and some 1000 in ruins, there were originally about 4500. The majority of its buildings were built in the 1000s to 1200s, when Bagan (Pagan) was the capital of the First Burmese Empire.

This was taken from atop one of the temples looking down on the dotted ruins. The sun was setting in the opposite direction which had an amazing effect on the cluster of clouds visible here.