If you could only visit one place in Myanmar, then I would say it has to be Bagan. This ancient city is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The views of both sunrise and sunsets are forever burned in my memory.

Bagan, although a major tourist destination, still has that untouched vibe that I love. I'm hoping the mandatory $20 fee will help to preserve its temples (though I firmly believe now that these fees are going to straight to the government and are not being used for improvements at all). I'm giving Bagan 3-5 years before it's totally overrun by tourism. If there was a critical time to visit, that time is now. At its prime in the 11-13th centuries, Bagan used to have around 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries. Now you can see around 4,000 of them scattered across the land. Some massive and still active temples, and others that are tucked away and undiscovered.

Arriving by night bus from Yangon around 4am, I had no where to go since I had no hostel booked. Traveling around Myanmar by bus, you start to get used to being dropped off in the middle of the night somewhere random with no idea at all where you are. That, and lack of sleep, make for a fun morning adventure. I thought this would be the kind of place where I could just show up and find accommodation, but this is not that kind of town. I ended up just taggling along with two Canadian guys, Chris and Kurt, hoping that I could find a bed at the Mya Thida Guesthouse. After waiting for 3 hours in a terrible reception area where mosquitoes were eating me alive, someone decided to check out and I quickly jumped on my chance! I tell myself that this is the last time I'm going to show up somewhere without booking a hostel in advance to save myself some stress (not true).

Getting around Bagan is best by bike or scooter. Having never ridden a scooter before, I opted for a bike instead for 3,000 kyat (less than $3). Biking from New Bagan, where most people stay, to Old Bagan, I got to stop at whatever temple interested me. It amazed me just how many there were. I had passed by 20 already within 10 minutes. At one of the temples I was roaming around, a Burmese man came up to me and pointed to the top of a monastery. I definitely wanted to see Bagan from a viewpoint, but this seemed like one of those don't-follow-strangers-into-dark-tunnels kind of situation. I considered this for about 2 seconds— then decided I didn't care and it was probably a good idea anyway (sorry, Amma and Anu). Plus, I had yet to meet a Burmese person who was not friendly or honest.

The view above Bagan is a completely different world from that below. My main goal was to find a secluded temple that I could climb up and watch the sunset from. This monastery wasn't it, so the search would have to continue.

Biking around all day was making me ferociously hungry, so I stopped at a restaurant which had a funny sounding name: Be Kind to Animals the Moon. Odd name, but absolutely phenomenal food. Plus, entirely vegetarian. I went back three more times and told everyone I met to go here. I still say this is the best food I had in all of Myanmar. They should really be paying me for how much I marketed this restaurant. To be fair, I was right, and friends who visited Bagan said they also went back over and over again. Still dreaming about the tea leaf salad and coconut milkshake.

Of course I run into Chris and Kurt at the Moon restaurant, and we decide to go explore some more before hunting for a large hidden temple with a fantastic view. After a leisurely ride to the waterfront, a local tips us off to the perfect sunset temple that isn't explicitly mentioned on the map. It's now around 5pm and we realize we have to book it to make it to this place. With a vague idea of directions, we find ourselves biking 5 miles through mainly tiny dirt backroads and fields trying to find this temple which we are not even sure actually exists. Racing against the sun, we finally see a large temple in the distance with only a few people climbing to the top. This has to be it! Extremely sweat and maybe a little out of breath, we climb up the stairs to the top to be rewarded with an incredible view. This is the Bagan you see in all the guidebooks and postcards.

Unfortunately as it got closer to sunset, the crowd of people thickened and more tour buses came in. What we thought was a secret was definitely not. There were around 75 people crowded around the temple, which was still less than the more popular temples with 200 to 300 people all fighting for the perfect sunset photo. Having so many people around detracts from the overall experience and ruins the mood. This is why it's so imperative to visit Bagan now before it becomes too overcrowded.

The next day I was expectedly sore from a day's worth of biking, so I rented a scooter instead to go even farther towards Nyaung U. I don't know why I was so nervous about using a scooter because it is glorious. Why didn't I do this sooner?! I was able to visit Htilominlo Temple and see so much more. Unfortunately these temples were more modern and overrun by Burmese people trying to get you to buy tourist products.

Disappointed by the crowd of people from the previous nights sunset, I made my through the backroads— only falling off my scooter once— to find a small temple with less than 10 people perched atop. Still not a temple all to myself, but good enough. The real hype though is for the sunrises, not the sunsets. My last day in Bagan was my last chance to see the sunrise. You find yourself telling people how long you've been in Bagan by number of sunrises and sunsets. I had seen 2 sunsets and 0 sunrises. I was clearly doing something wrong. Waking up at 5am, I sped through the dirt to make it to the Shwezigon Pagoda, which was when I was thrown off my scooter into the fields. Worth it. It's surreal watching the sky turn colors and hearing the birds begin to chirp as you see the hot air balloons rising in the distance. The view is breathtaking and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Next time (when I have the money to spend $350), I'll see Bagan from a hot air balloon, not the top of a temple.