Bagan: top spots for photography

I was pretty excited about doing some photography in Bagan. Who wouldn’t be with all those beautiful sunrise and sunset shots circulating on the internet. The experience though taught me a few photography lessons, most to do with preparation and timing. I’d thought I’d share these here, as well as a review of the best places for shots that we found during our 4 days exploring the temples. It took us 2 days just to get orientated, so make sure you give yourself enough time to fully take in this incredible part of the world.

When to go

We went at the end of May, start of June. This is the beginning of the monsoon season so it was much quieter than during the high season (October to February), and meant finding a good spot for sunrise or sunset wasn’t too much of a problem. Don’t get me wrong, it was busy. You still had to arrive early to grab your spot, but it was no scrum. Saying this the clouds of the monsoon rains ruined 7 out of 8 of our sunrise/sunsets. We managed one great sunrise and another okay sunrise. All the sunsets were a wash out. The main issue seemed to be that by about 4pm Bagan would become encased in a cauldron of cloud: bright blue sky up above but a layer of cloud on the mountains that surround the region. The sun would then drop behind the clouds before setting. There were also no balloon flights, these finish at the start of April not running again until October. So, while I think most of Myanmar is great to visit out of the high season (quieter, cheaper, more diverse and interesting weather), if you aim is for a perfect photo of Bagan I would opt to come October/early November time before the crowds really hit. Saying this, if day time long exposures are your thing then the monsoon clouds are what you want.

Where to stay

Old Bagan. There are pretty much 3 options: Old Bagan, New Bagan and Nyaung-U. We stayed in Nyaung-U and while it was a nice place with good restaurants it was a fair few kilometres from most of the bigger temples. This distance is not a major issue, we managed just fine, even with a push bike. But if you stay in Old Bagan you’re much closer, and this makes a differences if you hire an E-bike. You won’t feel like you're wasting 7-9km of the bike’s 45km battery life just to get to the sunrise spot. 

Bring a zoom lens

One thing to be aware of is that, with a few exceptions, many of the larger temples are quite a distance from groupings of temples. Many of the incredible shots on the internet are therefore taken with a zoom lens. My lens is a Nikon 20-120mm and even at 120mm I had to do some cropping. That’s not to say you can’t get great shots without a zoom lens, but it’s beneficial. Another option is to stitch some panoramas if you have a good tripod, I found this difficult though because of the crowds.

Best temples for sunrise

1. Shwesandaw Pagoda

No surprise here because this is probably the most popular temple, it’ll be crowded but for a good reason. The views both east and west are spectacular and the temples reasonably close. You have a good view of both DXX and Sulamani, two of the bigger temples, for sunrise. The top two levels seem to provide the best spots, if anything the very top is a little high putting a bit too much space between the temples. The penultimate level offered a nicer perspective. See the photos in our first Bagan post for an idea of the view.

2. Buledi

This was a great spot. It’s not the highest but high enough, especially as there are quite a smaller few temples close by. You won’t capture many of the bigger temples from here but the major benefit is that there are no tour buses that come here. We shared our sunrise with just five other people. 

 

3. Shwegugyi 

This is great for sunrise or sunset and is usefully located in Old Bagan. We never actually visited for either of the magical hours but during the day the views were amazing with many close temples. Given its location, I would imagine that it becomes quite crowded, especially as there isn’t that much room on the walkways.

 

Best temples for sunset

1. Shwesandaw Pagoda

Again, this is great for sunset, with a lot of smaller temples nearby. The only caveat I have is that because it looks towards Old Bagan some of the larger hotels and the museum can find a way into the shot. That might not bother you, but it bugged me slightly. 

 

2. Pyathada

This was our favourite temple. It’s out the way, fun to get to, and huge. A massive platform gives loads of room for all the tourists and the view is beautiful. When we visited it was far quieter than Shwesandaw, although tourist buses do visit it, so still arrive a little early. The main drawback is the large gap between the temple and the others, making a zoom lens very beneficial. However, this is the place to go if you want an image cattle being herded across the plain at sunset. We saw the cattle head north around 2pm and then cross back just as the sun set. 

 

3. North Guni

Guni is the well known “secret sunset” temple. The one everyone likes to pretend is their own special find. For photography it has some great views of larger temples and doesn’t get too busy because the tour buses can’t reach it. It’s also pretty fun trying to fit through the small turrets on the walkways.

 

  

Sunbeam Buddha at Pahto-thamya

In Bagan you may well come across a picture of a sunbeam shining through a window onto the face or feet of a Buddha. It appears on a lot of the postcards in Bagan, and looks like a superb picture to take. The location for this took a bit of finding. In the end we asked a local photographer who had a stall at one of the Ananda temple and he pointed us to the right place: Pahto-thamya in Old Bagan. There is a man with a key to the temple who lives round the back. He told us that the Buddha is lit up from about 7am and the light gone completely by noon. Sadly we never had a clear day for the sun to beam through, but an example can be found here http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/young-buddhist-monk-in-myanmar-picture-id522726478