Joe Louis at the sunset temple
Bagan is the town of 2000 temples and many of them are picturesque. Many of them offer amazing views of the surrounding landscape. And many of them are easily accessible. But only one temple is known as the “Sunset Temple” and that is the Shwesandaw Temple.
Shwesandaw stretches tall with several layers of stairs climbing upward on each side. The stairs get narrower as you get higher, but they aren’t difficult to traverse. I got to the temple about two and a half hours before sunset, simply because I had free time. I met two others at the top and we chatted for a while in broken English, sitting in the shade on a very sunny day. People started to trickle in over the next hour and then at an increasing rate afterward.
I staked out a nice corner location facing westward. This let me sit in the shade of the short wall in front of me, but get an excellent view of the sun as it set. As people filled the upper level, the jockeying for spots began. Some people took over swaths of real estate with unwieldy tripods and large lenses. Others, realizing that no good spots remained, climbed up on the back wall of the temple to get even higher. I was comfortable in my spot, and was glad I didn’t have to stand and maintain position like a game of capture the flag. Looking down I saw the lower levels were also full of tourists. I suddenly realized that it would take much longer to leave than it did to arrive, like trying to get out of a sports arena stadium after a game.
The sunset was in fact beautiful. The sun was red as it lowered down in the sky. The duration of the sun set lasted quite a while as the sun slowly lay itself to sleep. I, along with the masses, clicked away taking photographs that resembled a flip book of the sun at various points in its descent.
Eventually people, satisfied with their captured images, began to leave. The upper level of course had to wait for the lower ones to clear out first. It was mostly orderly, even if time consuming. Older people should be careful as they go down the stairs, which is always trickier than coming up. I was pleasantly surprised that my bicycle was still intact and waiting for me (it took some time to find it though). After declining several crafts peddlers, I peddled myself back home. Fortunately I was smart enough to take my headlamp with me as the streets get dark at night.
See what other blogs are saying about sunsets in Bagan:
“But after peddling through some tough sandy spots we arrived just in time before the large coaches full of tourists began to arrive. Quickly climbing to the top we claimed our spot and waited for the sun to start setting. It was unbelievable how many people turned up just to see the sunset. It’s definitely worth arriving at least an hour before sunset starts, we got there just in time to claim the perfect spot, so allow yourself plenty of time including time to climb up the steps.”
–The Wandering Wanderluster
