Discovering Ancient Wonders in Bagan

• Helloမင်္ဂလာပါ
  [mingalarbar]
• Goodbyeသွားပါ
  [thwa ba]
• Yesဟုတ်ပါတယ်
  [hote par tal]
• Noမဟုတ်ပါ
  [ma hote par]
• Please/You're welcomeကျေးဇူးတင်ပါတယ်
  [chay zu tin ba tal]
• Thank youကျေးဇူးပါတယ်
  [chay zu ba tal]
• Excuse me/Sorryခွင့်ပါတယ်
  [kwin ba tal]
• How are you?ဘယ်သူ့ကိုယ်သူ့ကိုယ်ဘယ်သာလား
  [be thwar ko su thwar ko be thalarr]
• Fine. And you?ကျေးဇူးပါတယ်။ နင့်ဘယ်သူ့လား
  [chay zu ba tal. nang be thwar lar]
• Do you speak English?အဂၤလိပ်မဲ့သူ့ကိုယ်ရာလို့
  [egale mae su ko yar loe]
• I don't understandကျေးဇူးထားပါတယ်
  [chay zu tar ba tal]

• I'd like to see the menu, pleaseမီနူးကြောင်းကြာရှိရင်တောင်းပါတယ်
  [menu kyar go yar nae tot ngo ba tal]
• I don't eat meatဟမ်းမဖော်ပါတယ်
  [hman ma pe ba tal]
• Cheers!စေးသွား
  [se thwa]
• I would like to pay, pleaseစျေးဝယ်ဘူးပါတယ်
  [se yae bu ba tal]

• Help!အင်းအဝေး
  [in awe]
• Go away!ကြားပါ
  [kwa ba]
• Call the Police!ရုံးလိုင်းပါ
  [yon loe nying ba]
• Call a doctor!ဆရာဝန်ပါ
  [sha ya wan ba]
• I'm lostခြောက်တယ်
  [hauk tal]
• I'm illနှင့်အားလုံးတယ်
  [ning a lone tal]

• I'd like to buy...ဝယ်ယူပါတယ်
  [yae yu ba tal]
• I'm just lookingကြည့်ရင်းပူတယ်
  [chin yar nae pu tal]
• How much is it?ဘယ်ဘက်လို့
  [be ba loe]
• That's too expensiveဒီလို့ချိုင်းရင်ခွင့်ပါတယ်
  [di loe choung na kwin ba tal]
• Can you lower the price?စစ်ထဲ့နိုင်းလို့
  [sat te nying loe]

• What time is it?ဘယ်နာရီလို့
  [be na ri loe]
• It's one o'clockတစ်နာရီ
  [tit na ri]
• Half past (10)ရှေ့ ဆယ် နာရီ
  [se shi tit na ri]
• Morningနန်းတောင်း
  [nam taung]
• Afternoonနေ့လုံး
  [ne lone]
• Eveningနော်စန်
  [nao san]
• Yesterdayမနေ့
  [ma ne]
• Todayယနေ့
  [ya ne]
• Tomorrowမနက်ဖြန်း
  [ma ne prawn]
• 1တစ်
  [tit]
• 2နှစ်
  [hna]
• 3သုံး
  [saun]
• 4လေး
  [lay]
• 5ငါး
  [nga]
• 6ခြောက်
  [hauk]
• 7ခွေး
  [khwe]
• 8ရှစ်
  [she]
• 9ကိုး
  [ko]
• 10ဆယ်
  [shi]

• Where's a/the...?ဘာလေးနဲ့...ဆယ်လို့
  [ba lei ne ... shi loe]
• What's the address?လိပ်စာဆယ်လို့
  [le sa shi loe]
• Can you show me (on the map)?ဒီမြို့နဲ့ကြည့်နိုင်းလို့
  [di mwe ne chin nying loe]
• When's the next (bus)?နော်လို့သော...ဆယ်လို့
  [nao loe sau ... shi loe]
• A ticket (to ....)လက်မှတ်ကြွယ်လို့
  [lak mat kway loe]

According to local legends and historical records, Bagan was founded in the mid-9th century by King Pyinbya. It began as a small fortified city on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and quickly grew into a significant political and cultural center. The establishment of Bagan marked the beginning of the Bagan Kingdom, which would dominate the region for several centuries.

King Anawrahta, who ruled from 1044 to 1077, is often credited with unifying Myanmar and transforming Bagan into a major center of Theravada Buddhism. Anawrahta's reign was marked by numerous military campaigns that expanded the kingdom's territory. He also initiated a series of religious and cultural reforms, including the construction of many of Bagan's most iconic temples and pagodas, such as the Shwezigon Pagoda.

The period from the 11th to the 13th centuries is considered the Golden Age of Bagan. During this time, the city became a thriving hub of commerce, culture, and religion. Thousands of stupas, temples, and monasteries were constructed, showcasing the architectural and artistic achievements of the Bagan civilization. This era also saw a flourishing of literature, with many religious texts being transcribed onto palm leaves.

In 1287, Bagan faced a significant threat from the Mongol Empire. The invasion, led by Kublai Khan's forces, resulted in the sacking of the city and the eventual decline of the Bagan Kingdom. While the Mongols did not occupy Bagan for long, their invasion disrupted the political and economic stability of the region, leading to the fragmentation of the kingdom into smaller states.

For centuries, Bagan remained largely forgotten and neglected, with many of its temples falling into disrepair. However, in the 19th century, renewed interest in the site emerged during the British colonial period. Archaeologists and historians began to document and study the ruins, leading to a gradual restoration effort. Today, Bagan is recognized as one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Bagan is accessible by air, road, and river. The nearest airport is Nyaung U Airport, which has regular domestic flights from major cities like Yangon and Mandalay. You can also take an overnight bus or private car from Yangon or Mandalay, which takes approximately 9-10 hours and 4-5 hours respectively. For a more scenic route, consider taking a river cruise on the Ayeyarwady River from Mandalay to Bagan.

Once in Bagan, you have several options for getting around. E-bikes are a popular choice for tourists, offering a convenient and eco-friendly way to explore the area. You can also rent bicycles, hire a private car with a driver, or take a horse cart for a more traditional experience. Taxis are available but may be more expensive. Public buses are limited, so renting a vehicle or bike is recommended.

The official currency in Myanmar is the Myanmar Kyat (MMK). While some hotels and high-end restaurants accept credit cards, most local establishments prefer cash. ATMs are available in Nyaung U and some major hotels, but it is advisable to carry enough cash for day-to-day expenses. Currency exchange services are available at the airport and in major towns.

Bagan is generally safe for tourists, but standard precautions should be taken. Avoid walking alone at night in poorly lit areas and keep your belongings secure in crowded places. There are no specific high-crime areas targeting tourists, but it is always best to stay vigilant. Be cautious of pickpockets in busy tourist spots and markets.

In case of emergency, dial 199 for police assistance and 192 for medical emergencies. The closest hospital is Nyaung U Hospital, which is equipped to handle basic medical issues. For more serious conditions, you may need to travel to Mandalay or Yangon. It is highly recommended to have travel insurance that covers medical emergencies.

Fashion: Do dress modestly, especially when visiting temples and pagodas. Avoid wearing revealing clothing. Religion: Do remove your shoes and socks before entering religious sites. Be respectful and avoid touching religious artifacts. Public Transport: Do be polite and give up your seat to elderly passengers. Don't eat or drink on public transport. Greetings: Do greet people with a slight bow or a traditional 'Mingalaba'. Avoid touching people on the head. Eating & Drinking: Do try local dishes and accept food offerings graciously. Don't refuse hospitality, as it may be considered impolite.

To experience Bagan like a local, visit the morning markets in Nyaung U where you can buy fresh produce and traditional Burmese goods. Engage with locals, as they are often friendly and willing to share stories about their culture and history. Don't miss the opportunity to watch the sunrise or sunset from one of the pagodas for a truly magical experience. For an authentic taste of local cuisine, try the traditional Burmese breakfast dish 'Mohinga'.