Yangon and Bagan

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Hello,



Where to start? Mingalabar from Myanmar, or Burma as it was formally known. It is a wonderful country filled with beautiful pagodas, super friendly and charming people, and tasty food. Women walk around with yellow tree paste in their faces (used as a moisturiser and as sunscreen) and many of the chaps need some teeth whitening due to chewing too much beetle nut. Mynamar has had a difficult history, which is still far from perfect. Having spoken to our guides it appears that things are changing for the better with primary school children having free education, improved social and welfare provision and opening up for foreign investment, with improving tourism and construction. Officially, military rule was over in 2011 but it appears the military personnel hold sway in top government positions, they have simply changed uniforms, but there is hope that the 2015 elections will see a democratically elected government and things should change even further.



We started in Yangon, the biggest City in Mynamar (formally Rangoon and previous capital) which has definite evidence of a country opening up to trade and tourism with new buildings and hotels popping up everywhere - with apparently no health and safety provision. As a result, traffic was horrendous and spending an hour in a traffic jam for a 5km drive was normal. It's full of amazing street markets with Chinese night markets serving bbq meats, Indian street markets with amazing produce that had been picked from the field the previous day - star fruits, dragon fruits, mangos, papayas, pomelos and something called a Durian fruit that smells of drains... Not so pleasant.



The British colonised in 1824 (not nicely of course) and Burma finally gained it's independence in 1948 after being bombed in wwii after being colonised by the Japanese during the war. There is a real colonial influence in Yangon with British built hospitals, government buildings and The Strand Palace Hotel - where we had afternoon tea. Unfortunately, like most buildings in Yangon, they have been poorly looked after and look like they are just about to fall down (and held up by bamboo scaffolding).



The most amazing thing in Yangon is the Shewdagon Pagoda or "golden palace of Dagon". It was apparently built in 600BC and said to contain one of the Buddhas hairs. It has been added to and is now 325 foot high and covered in gold leaf. As well as the pagoda itself being enormous, the domain is like a small town. There are hundreds of temples and golden Buddhas - so many that they aren't allowed to add anymore. It's very peaceful apart from the noisy Korean tour groups!



We have spent the last two days in Bagan, which is just the most magical place I have ever seen. There are 2200 temples and another thousand monuments to add to that. The first temple was built in 11th century on the banks of the river and the last was in the 18th (I think). They are filled with beautiful murals depicting the life and teachings of the Buddha, most of which have been lost due to erosion, smoke damage and acid from people touching them. UNESCO were here prior to the military dictatorship and some of the restored murals are awesome but after they left Myanmar, unfortunately the quality of the workmanship was poor and many have been ruined. I do hope this becomes a World Heritage Site soon as it needs to be protected.



It's a deeply religious area with lots of novice monks / monks taking photos of each other on their iPhones! We were lucky enough to have wedding number three and were blessed by the chief monk in the village and sat at his table while he wished us a happy and fulfilling life. We were also able to see some of the relics found inside monks bodies after they were cremated, which signified that they had attained Nirvana (read up about this if interested....). It is a fascinating religion which seems to promote a peaceful population.



So - enough of the chat. It's off to Mandalay tomorrow and will write more then.



Loads of love m&m

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Photos

Reclining buddha
Yangon
64 metres long

Wedding ceremony number 3
Blessing by chief monk on monastery in bagan

Comments

[Cho45]

Re: Yangon and Bagan
Mingalar bar, I enjoyed reading your blog, thanks for posting. Myanmar is my homeland, and Yangon my hometown. I was also in Bagan, but a long time ago. I live in the United States now but my heart is still in Myanmar. Look forward to reading your Mandalay blog.

[Ann Bates]

Yangon and Bagan
Fascinating. I am loving the photos and the commentries. Thanks for giving your time to share your journies with us!