DAY 4: FAREWELL BAGAN FAREWELL MYANMAR, 2017.12.26

On the last day of our Burmese trip, we got up early in the morning to take a stroll in the Nyaung-U neighbourhood before heading to the airport. With less than an hour to spare, we decided to find our own way to revisit the Shwezigon Paya, the largest temple in Nyaung-U. Assisted by Google Map, we headed into the peaceful residential neighborhood of Nyaung-U. It was 7 in the morning, the light was soft and the air peaceful in the residential streets. Without much trouble we reached Shwezigon Paya. Vendors were busily preparing their stalls at the temple entrances while local worshipers were already arriving in clusters. Foreign tourists had yet arrived but the temple was already quite lively. Without a guide this time, we had the freedom to wander around the temple to absorb the spiritual atmosphere and take photographs. Keeping our departure time in mind, we headed back to Oasis Hotel via the same route. We had a quick sip of coffee at Oasis before the taxi arrived. At the airport, we soon found out that there was an issue with the incoming aircraft and our 9am flight was delayed until 11:30am. We chose to stay at the airport to write postcards and waited for further news. Fortunately the aircraft did arrive and we had no trouble to catch our connecting flight at Yangon back to Hong Kong.

That concludes the posts on our 3-day trip to Myanmar in December 2017.

At 7am, we walked into a quiet residential neighborhood of Nyaung-U heading towards Shwezigon Paya, the largest temple in Nyaung-U.

Finding our way with Google Map on our phone, we passed by small shops and streets out of the tourist areas.

In the early hours, the town was extremely peaceful and there were hardly any people on the street.

As we approached the town largest temple, we could see much more activities on the street.

We arrived at Shwezigon Paya from a different entrance than where Win Thu , a guide, brought us to two days ago.

Devoid of foreign tourists, Shwezigon Paya appeared to be much more spiritual under the soft light of the morning sun.

At the temple entrance hallway, vendors were starting their busy day.

Stalls selling local snacks in bamboo skewers and bowls of colourful sauces were set up at prominent spots.

Without the tour groups we had a better chance to photograph the locals and entrance hallway at Shwezigon Paya.

Floral offerings were particular popular with worshipers at the temple entrance.

On our way back, we passed by an unused entrance hallway of Shwezigon Paya.

A cute little girl caught our attention on our way back to the hotel.

The short walk also led us to pass by less known stupa in the quiet neighborhood.

Some locals were burning trash at a street intersection.

Beautiful morning sun led our way back towards Oasis Hotel.

We passed through the sleepy Aye Nyein Thaya Park on our way back.

This short morning walk gave us a more domestic look at Nyaung-U, the commercial hub of the Bagan area.

At Nyaung-U Airport, we were told that our flight was delayed for two hours.

Before noontime, we were finally up in the air over the arid plains of Bagan towards Yangon. Two days of temple and pagoda hopping provided us a memorable introduction to the spectacular wonders of Bagan.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at Yangon International Airport and transited to our return flight back to Hong Kong. Although short, the trip to Yangon and Bagan gave us a remarkable getaway from the often commercialized and overwhelmingly busy Christmas scenes of the city.