The sun sets as I’m perched on my favorite lookout spot in Bagan. This temple, unfortunately, was the furthest one out from my hotel which meant a long bike ride out and back. To complicate matters, I managed somehow on this evening to get two flat tires on the ride back to the hotel. Without any air pump or rubber patches to fix either tire, I pedaled mile after torturous mile across sand, dirt, and pavement filled with potholes back to the hotel. My legs were well beyond the “rubbery” phase and firmly entrenched in the “I think I permanently hurt my knee” phase when I finally slumped off my bike back in town.
Still, memories of Bagan and its sunsets are finely etched into my brain and despite some grueling temperatures and repeated flat tires during my days exploring temples, it still rates as my favorite place in Myanmar (Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon ranks a close second).