🇲🇲Magnificent Myanmar

Spending five days in Myanmar was absolutely fabulous. The country is gorgeous in all aspects: people, culture, sights and language.

Myanmar is the land of golden pagodas and deeply rooted in Buddhist practices. The first day I spent touring around Yangon where one of the most popular pagodas sits at the city center, the Shwedagon Pagoda. The rest of the week I spent in Bagan, which has over 5,000 golden pagodas sprawled throughout the city.

While in Bagan, I got to see a small portion of the 5,000 golden pagodas by way of a horse-drawn carriage ride through the rural parts of the city. Our carriage trotted through the brush as I snapped pictures along the way of the golden pagodas strewn among the greenery and fields. I also got to experience one of the most breathtaking sights ever. I got to hot air balloon over the golden pagodas and city of Bagan during sunrise. This was my first time hot air ballooning and the feeling was indescribable.

As the sun peeked it’s head above the horizon, I was floating through the sky and looking down at the gold and green city of Bagan waking up for the day. There were over 40 other balloons floating over the city with us and people down below waved good morning to our balloons as we passed overhead. There were children chasing after our balloons and yelling up at us with the biggest smiles on their faces until they could no longer keep up with our balloon. If you know me at all, you know very well that I am not a morning person… but waking up before the sunrise and watching the early rays of sunlight cast glowing beams of warm, soft yellow light over the golden pagodas and the temples of Bagan had me appreciating my 4am wake-up call. This unique experience brought me so much joy and amazement for many years to come.

If you come across Myanmar during your future travels, do spend some time with the people of Bagan. They are some of the most genuine and lively people you will ever meet. I shared so many laughs and stories with my new friends of Myanmar.

Below are some great shots from my adventures in Myanmar.

Jaiden Lynn 🙂

Next stop: Vietnam🇻🇳