On to lunch at the Sunset Garden Restaurant, very pretty, but fairly mediocre food. We found this fairly often- there would be lovely flowers, beautiful views, and not very interesting curries. The most interesting thing about the restaurant is that in the off season it is used as a hospital for volunteer surgeons repairing cleft palates, and there were several photos in the entrance showing the work they do.

By now we were getting a little tired, it was getting hot, and Harry’s cold had really set in, and so we went back to the hotel for a rest.

By 4, we were back at work, to the Htilominlo temple, from 1218. Very interesting plaster carvings and traces of murals, especially for those of us who are more used to mediaeval frescoes

Shwezigon Paya – big and beautiful, and gilded. Most interesting for the very tall pre-Buddhist Nat, and for us, for a very old woman smoking a very large cheroot!

And to end the day, we drove up to Shwesandaw Paya, Bagan’s most famous ‘sunset pagoda, which attracts hundreds of tourists waiting to see the sun set over Bagan. We were quite appalled to see how many tourist buses were lined up, but at this point Zor informed us that we were actually going to a much smaller temple, Shwe nan yin myaw, which was rather like a pyramid, with a long/steep internal staircase. However, once we got to the top, it was all worthwhile, as the view was amazing – and there were only a few other people to share it with.

Home for a drink by the edge of the river at our hotel.