My second day in Bagan I decided I wanted to explore a little further out, so I rented an e-bike.
I’m not sure I got the manliest looking bike though.
Me: it’s yellow.
Owner: Yeah, yellow. Good colour, you like?
The customer service is pretty good. If you have a low battery or a flat tire they can come and give you a new bike on the side of the road and take this one back to be repaired. Right now the rental is $8 per day, which seems resonable.
They are made in China and all the gauges are in Chinese. They travel about 40 km/h and you get about a 30 km range on them. After that you have to peddle until you find a phone to call for assistance!
I found a few unique temples. Kyansittha Umin is very close to the famous golden stupa, Shwezigon. What is unique about Kyansittha though, is that it’s built into a cliff face. Tunnels are dug through the rock. I think many people skip it because I was the only one there. It’s locked and no pictures are allowed. However, a nice woman living next door had the key and she walked me through it in broken English. She had a flashlight too, which was handy. There are many murals inside of when Mongolians where in Burma. The Burmese say it was an invasion, but there seems to be a difference of oppinion from scholars. The images seem to show Mongols shooting pigeons along side the Burmese, not shooting at each other.
The other one was supposed to have a great view from the top. Dhammayazika is about 3km outside of New Bagan and you could climb to the top. Unfortunately, they are doing renovations and it’s closed. It was still interesting to see how they use bamboo scaffolding and no safety gear!
I ended with sunset at the top of one of the taller ones with many other tourists and many touts selling paintings and T-shirts. They kind of mob you on the way down. Even still, most vendors seem friendly, if a little pushy.