Magical Myanmar


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Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon
January 15th 2012
Published: February 2nd 2012
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M - Last time Kate went gallivanting around the world Myanmar (Burma as it was know under the British) was on the no go list as the west were boycotting them because of their oppressive regime. As such Kate like many others didn’t travel there and this and the boycotts mean that Myanmar has been pretty isolated from the rest of the world for many years. Things look to be changing and no doubt the influx of foreign tourists has already begun increasing significantly. Currently though Myanmar receives a fraction of South East Asia’s tourists.

In April Myanmar holds probably its first open elections since Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won the last one in 1989. As you may be aware she was promptly put under house arrest after these elections and then the world began to pay attention to events in Myanmar culminating with the sanctions in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest in August 2010. During her time under arrest she received the Nobel Peace Prize.

She could be thought of as the Asian equivalent of Nelson Mandela.

Earlier this year she announced that her party would run in the next elections. Her picture is posted on the walls of many shops in Myanmar and there is a kind of muted excitement about what may happen in the elections and after them.

The current rulers, the military junta, have been making serious moves to improve relations with the outside world. Senior US and UK politicians visited Myanmar at the end of 2011 and both countries are restoring diplomatic ties.

What is the motivating factor for this other than the noises being made by the Junta? Myanmar sits on the largest oil and gas reserves in Southeast Asia! There were as many oil worker types queuing for Visas at the embassy as tourists.

Time to make a trip to this little country before it changes forever!

Of the many places Kate and I have visited/will visit during our year-out we were particularly looking forward to our trip to Myanmar. Kate was hoping to re-experience a little bit of the less ‘tourist tracked’ Asia that she remembered from her visits in 2002 and me, well I was just excited about seeing a developing country in such a state of flux.

Internet access in Myanmar is spotty and very slow and as such we are way behind on our blogs. Hence the next few blogs will be a rapid catch up and may duplicate photos etc. Sorry.

In a nutshell Myanmar has lived up to its billing. Myanmar and its people were Magical and we are already thinking of how we can return in the coming years to see how the expected changes will impact it. Hopefully the changes will benefit the people not trample them.

First stop Yangon. Previously known as Rangoon and once the capital of Myanmar it was recently dethroned but it still has a few left-over bits of colonial architecture that are of interest. In my opinion the best preserved were the Law Courts (see picture). These colonial buildings are of some interest, as are the many, many large gold plated stupas that catch the eye around the city but the main attractions are the golden Sule Paya and Majestic Shwedagon Paya.

The Sule Paya is a 2,000 year old golden temple that is probably one of the oddest roundabouts in the world. It really is the city’s main traffic circle! People are literally darting across lanes of traffic circling the temple to enter and pray and leave offerings.

The Sule Paya is pretty impressive, and was literally right outside our hotel so we saw all lot of it! The other main landmark is the Majestic Shwedagon Paya. It is truly worthy of the Majestic element of its name. The Majestic Shwedagon Paya is 322 feet high and sits atop a large hill and as such is visible from most of the city.

Sit yourself down for the next few facts. It is made of over:

· 60 tons of Gold/Gold Leaf;


· 5,000 diamonds weighing over 2,000 carats with a 76 carat diamond on the top!

and just for good measure there are another 1,300 rubies and other precious stones on the tower.

The main stupa sits on a 12 acres site and is surrounded by 68 smaller stupas and similar number of Buddhas. The main platform is then surrounded by another 60 temples of varying shapes and sizes. This isn’t quite the Taj Mahal but it is pretty damn impressive and probably worth the trip to Myanmar in its own right. Many people just sit for hours on the steps of the surrounding temples watching the golden stupas as they seem to change colour as the sun rises and falls over the scene. An unusual scene just before sunset is when the army of cleaners sweeps the stone floor surrounding the main stupa.

In the same way that the roadsides of Sri Lanka were littered with images of Buddha, Yangon and its surrounding countryside have hundreds if not thousands of golden stupas of varying sizes. They are literally everywhere. We took a day trip on a local truck (see the various pictures of me hanging out of the truck, or of Kate and I squeezed into it).

Once we got into the countryside we were seeing 100 feet high stupas every mile or two, often in the middle of farmland, and smaller stupas at what seemed to be every crossroads. We took a trip to the Floating Temple which was ok but nothing compared to the two main stupas in Yangon. The highlight of the day though was the trip itself.

We didn’t see another tourist all day. The only people we saw were either locals going about their Sunday business or devotees visiting the temple. Wandering round the local village that borders the river was like a trip back in time for us with the local farmers selling their wares on the floor in the market.

For for the villagers, they had a new attraction – us! Their reactions to us were odd at first. Many of the older generations merely smiled and didn’t make a fuss but the youngsters reactions ranged from embarrassed giggling and shyness to wanting to walk up close and stare and potentially grab my arm. A great travel day!

Next up Mandalay. Scroll and Page down for more photos.


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A little girl in her sunday bestA little girl in her sunday best
A little girl in her sunday best

Note the the yellow face make-up/sunscreen (made from bark) that most of the women wear and some of the men.
The Majestic Shwedagon PayaThe Majestic Shwedagon Paya
The Majestic Shwedagon Paya

60 tons of gold and over 5,000 diamonds!


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