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Published: October 21st 2011
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Schwe Dagon Yangon
We were up very early to watch the first rays of the sun catch this amazing structure...but it was well worth the effort. This has been our second visit to Myanmar. Our first was 38 years ago as a couple of young backpackers. Burma, as it was known then, allowed us to stay just seven days, so our trip then was very rushed indeed.
This trip was to be at a much more leisurely pace.
Along with a group of 40 fellow travellers we spent 15 days on the Irrawaddy making our way upriver from Prome in the south to the top of the country near the Chinese border, a journey of over a thousand kilometres.
The Irrawaddy is one of the major rivers of Asia along the banks of which live a great proportion of Myanmar's 60 million people.
Our home for this period was the River Vessel 'Pandaw II'. It is a faithful replica of a typical passenger vessel that was part of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company fleet. In its heyday, in the late 19th and early 20th century, this Scottish-based company operated a fleet of over 600 passenger and cargo vessels along the Irrawaddy River and its huge delta.
It didn't take long to drop back a gear and enjoy the slow-paced routine which we felt
Prome - Schwe San Daw Pagoda
This interesting seated Buddha overlooked a large temple complex. was largely unchanged since the British colonial days.
The chocolate coloured river is huge and over three kilometres wide in many sections, with its swiftly flowing current bringing water from its source in the Himalayas.
Our journey started at Prome, a large town 180 km north of Yangong.
There were many different experiences each day but one common sight throughout the trip were the pagodas - there are supposedly more than five million of them. It soon became obvious why Myanmar is known as 'Land of the Pagodas', as there seemed to be a never ending vista of the golden structures of all sizes, clustered around even the smallest villages as well as on mountain sides and peaks.
In this devout Buddhist country the building of a stupa or pagoda provides a good chance of attaining Nirvana or paradise fo rboth rich and poor.
Every day we made regular stops at villages, towns and points of interest. Many villages that we visited had a monastery and saffron robed monks and even novitiates as young as eight years, were a common sight.
We were in the religious and cultural capital of Mandalay on 11th October
Golf Burma style
We didn't really believe our guide when he said we would have a hit of golf in this out of the way colonial town. when the full moon marked the end of the three month Buddhist Lent.
This was a great celebration where everybody dressed in their best and thronged the temples to worship and celebrate with donations of gold leaf to gild the Buddhist statues. It was a little like Christmas and New Year celebrations combined, with plenty of coloured lights and fireworks after dark. We cruised for a few hours in the evening and at one stage passed what was almost like a small island of hundreds of floating candles in midstream.
In many of the smaller villages we visited there was a simple pattern of life that seemed little changed from centuries ago. Life in the fertile riverside fields begins at sunrise and follows a well defined routine, with even the youngest family member pitching in to help.
The Pandaw Company assists locals and we visited a school and old folks home that they support.
We spent two days exploring Bagan, which is undoubtedly one of the two major tourist attractions in the country (Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon being the other.) This was a city on a bend of the Irrawaddy River of half a million
Built to fight the British
This Italian designed fort overlooking a strategic bend in the river was constructed in 1860 at Min Hla to keep the British out - but to no avail. inhabitants and covering 40 square miles when it was sacked by Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
Earthquakes, vandalism and neglect have destroyed 2000 of the original 5000 stupas, temples and pagodas, but it is still an amazing sight to rival even Ankor Wat.
Some of the structures are massive, even by modern standards, and Bagan's classification as a World Heritage site has ensured preservation.
A reminder of British colonial times was obvious in a couple of sleepy towns we visited which had European style residences in various stages of decay. These were the administrative centres for the companies that exploited Burma's teak forests, oil and precious stone mines.
We visited the now decrepit former home of George Orwell, whose "Burmese Days" gives an insight into colonial life in the 1920's.
Travelling inland from this town to a large teak forest we spent a morning seeing traditional logging methods using elephants - a memorable sight.
One lasting memory of our trip will be the friendliness and courtesy of the Burmese people. No matter where we went we were invariably greeted with a smile, a wave and 'mingalarba' - Welcome!
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Mick Garrett
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Sounds bloody good - details please?