Closed to the outside world for decades, Myanmar is how you might imagine southeast Asia before mass tourism. What kept Myanmar in a time capsule was massive government restrictions.  Cars were not imported until 2012 and cell phones not widely available until 2015 election. But now the Burmese people are catching up fast.

When Glen and I traveled to Myanmar in March of 2019 for a month as volunteers with the American Red Cross, I placed a local sim card in my iPhone and voila—no problem. The Wi-Fi in our office and hotel was speedy enough for all our devices to connect (well, most of the time). And there were so many taxis that traffic was constant—we needed an hour to get to the airport, only 20 miles away.

Our work in Myanmar required involved traveling to remote areas to conduct training, and when one of our classes was cancelled due to travel restriction for that area, Glen and I knew how to fill those unscheduled days.  Hiring a car and driver, we headed to Bagan, the ancient city that's known for 2,000 ninth century temples.

Such high numbers of something so rare seemed hard to believe, but skepticism faded as our car drove around Bagan looking for the last-minute hotel we booked online.  Pagodas dot the countryside—there were three on the grounds of our hotel on the Ayeyarwady River.  The temples varied in size, shape and design—some grand and intricate, some crumbling, others glinting with gold.

Our driver was not licensed to drive among the temples and were relieved a sign at the hotel desk said, “E-bikes for rent”. At home Glen and I love to ride bikes in the forest and an e-bike seemed the perfect way to navigate among the grass and dirt roads among the countless pagodas.  The next morning, we were met by a local guide with some English who walked us out to the…. “There must be a mistake, we want to ride e-bikes. These are motor scooters.”

“These are electric motorbikes,” said the guide. “They are fully charged and should last all day.”  With no helmets and lacking good judgement (medical care is not as robust as the Wi-Fi), we nevertheless climbed on and drove through unmarked dirt paths, fields, and shrubby groves among ancient temples, parking the bikes to explore passages within. After a while, the lack of throngs at those world heritage attractions seemed more amazing than the temples themselves. Other than paying $25 fee upon entering the Bagan Archaeological Zone, the entire area was open to roam—there weren’t many signs, and very few paved roads. We were free to explore the interiors of temples at will, then get on our bikes and scoot to the next one.  A guide said that at one point the surrounding area had over 10,000 temples, stupas, pagodas, and shrines scattered throughout the hot, dry region. Its long history, earthquakes, and neglect has taken its toll and only 2,200 structures remain today.

Caked with dust and dirt we arrived back at our hotel without incident, in time to shower and watch the sunset over countless fields of pagodas.  I suspect that sooner rather than later, that ancient city will experience mass tourism. But for now visitors have unaccountable freedom to experience an ancient culture like nowhere else in the world.