As I sat waiting for my final sunset in Hpa An, I felt it to be most befitting to have my last sunset in Burma. In this trip I had the most sunsets and sunrises combined in I dare say my life.

5 sunrises and 10 sunsets to be exact.

Yes somehow Burma is the place for sunrise and sunset. The epitome place for it was of course Bagan, having the sun set and rise over thousands of temples dotted across as far as the eye can see. My favourite was the first sunrise here, being it a somewhat quiet and
secret spot with a nice feeling of coming of dawn, with the temples slowly rising into view and then cap off with hot air balloons flying over it.

Among 10 sunsets? I cannot decide which is the best. Maybe sometimes too much of something is not such a good idea. But overall I enjoyed all my sunsets in Burma, it just seems the most natural way to end a day here, sitting at one of the gazillions of pagoda or stupa or temples, with exception of one at the hill in Kalaw and one in a boat slowly cruising by Inle Lake. I almost wanted to say Inle Lake as my favourite sunset but I can’t help but remembering how when the sun is near to setting in Bagan, it will cast a golden hue across the thousands of temples creating a magical golden empire of the lost world, so ya I could not decide.

From my sunsets experience, the sun disappear over the horizon at 5.40pm in Bagan (north of Burma) while it is 5.45pm in Hpa An (south of Burma). Extra trivia is that it takes 2 minutes once the sun touch the horizon to when it disappear completely. Hah, now I feel like an expert! The sun here in Burma during winter is also always surprisingly huge and perfectly round, with nary of clouds to block it.

With this I must say come to Burma in winter for your sunrise and sunsets fix. Now my last sun had just disappeared over the horizon, and so marks the end of my Burma journey, somewhat. All I can say is, I’ll be back!

Ming-guh-la-ba and jay-zu-de-hma-le. 🙂

Hpa An, Burma
21 January 2013