About a millennium ago, King Anawrahta, Myanmar's unifier, brought the best builders from around his empire to establish a capital on the Ayeyarwady River. Two centuries of construction later, Bagan rivaled Cambodia's Angkor Wat in grandeur. But foreign invasions spurred the city's abandonment and, like Angkor, it was left to the mercy of the elements. In contrast to Angkor's jungle setting, Bagan's open spaces emphasises ones solitude. It feels surreal to bike up to an intricate stone pagoda, only to see that it is dwarfed by a forest of other even grander temples behind it. Or to bring out a flashlight, shining it into the darkness of an inner sanctum to gaze at an Uffizi-load of statuary and murals, with only ones' steps breaking the ancient silence.

This is without doubt, one of our traveller’s favourite places along the route. A great selection of restaurants with good food and without a doubt, the most scenic of places in Myanmar. Even if you dine at any of the Lonely Planet’s $$ restaurants! It would be so easy to spend a week here getting up in time for sunrise, returning to your hotel for breakfast or leaving with a packed-lunch for the day. Snoozing through the early afternoon after a tasty snack somewhere and then back out to chase the sunset; and with so many amazing places to view it, a week will fly.

One request though; please don’t join the throng of people that think it fit to climb religious monuments to get that “once in a life time” picture. This is history and this is Myanmar’s history. Don’t ruin it for the others. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but foot-prints and Kyats. Or in Elli’s case, paw-prints.