Paul Strachen from Pagan: Art and Architecture describes this region so beautifully (and this is a wonderful book to have - no longer in print in the US, but it was available everywhere in paperback while we were in Bagan).

"Pagan is a spectacular ancient Buddhist centre of over 2,000 temples, monasteries and pagods scattered across a seemingly endless plain that spreads out from the banks of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwaddy). The first imperial capital of Burma, Pagan was by the start of the 12th century AD a world centre of Theravada Buddhist life. Successive kings and their subjects chose to glorify their faith through the lavish and ambitious construction of monuments often filled with fine wall paintings and sculpture."

Here are the pictures I've chosen to publish online of what we saw and experienced in Bagan. You won't feel the dust and brick beneath your feet or hear the clip clop of Minthu's horse Soo Soo as we traveled from one monument to another, but I hope you get some idea of the magnificence of this place by looking at these pictures and maybe even learn a little bit.