Meandering in Myanmar: Ananda Pahto in Bagan

Ananda Pahto is one of the bigger temples in the plains of Bagan. It is found on the Anawrahta Road linking Old Bagan and Nyaung-U. As with most of the other big temples, it is still a fully-functioning temple, and people flock there to perform their religious duties.



This temple is in a very dusty part of the land, and the walls surrounding the temple is just full of dust. I can only imagine what this looks like when the rainy season is here, with the dust being converted to mud all over. I went inside, took my shoes off, and wandered around.



One thing that captivated me here was the numerous statues of the Chinthe, or the half-dragon half-lion animal that is featured in plenty of Myanmar's religious and traditional imagery. This temple has plenty of them, as seen in my photos above. It also has some other interesting statues, which I show as well.

I spent about 20 minutes lingering here, and then I moved on, on to the next big temple in the area. Bagan just has chock-full of them!