Photo by @kristarossow. // Part of the reason I just recently returned to Myanmar was because on my first visit I was unable to make it to the ancient city of Bagan. I splurged on a sunrise hot air balloon ride which took me over crumbling remains of thousands of pagodas and temples on the 26-square mile Bagan plain bordered by the Irrawaddy River.
An army of balloons took off from Old Bagan in the north and lazily drifted south as the sun rose through a hazy sky. My balloon made it furthest south, passing New Bagan and the Sitana Gyi Paya Pagoda (pictured) before touching down just past a massive area zoned for new hotel development. This amazing site is changing quickly with the influx of tourism and without proper protection will deteriorate even quicker.
This week I read in the news that an announcement was made to ban all climbing on sites in Bagan starting March 1st. Backlash has followed from the tourism industry and the Myanmar Ministry of Culture has now backpedaled to allow sunset viewing on five major temples. Clearly this debate isn’t over, but it is a change that may be necessary in order to preserve this magical site for the future.