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Published: March 16th 2007
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Shwedegon Pagoda
The most famous pagoda in Myanmar. Myanmar, or Burma as the United States refers to it, is a very interesting country. For those who do not know, the country is a military dictatorship. The elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for the majority of the years since her election in 1990. The United States and the EU (I believe) have implemented full economic sanctions against Myanmar pending the release of the elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The current government is known for forced labor of its citizens, imprisonment and execution of political dissidents, and rampant corruption. However, they encourage tourists and it is a rather safe country for tourists. Using my guidebook I traveled as much as possible with non-government owned means. All trains and boats are government owned and some guest houses. The bus system is mostly privately owned. Even so, I still paid a number of taxes to the government.
When I arrived in Yangon I was quite impressed with the airport and the cleanliness of the the city. Coming from India, this was a welcome thing. Although I had read about it beforehand, the first thing I noticed was that while everyone drove on the right,
Surroundings of Shwedegon Pagoda
Small pagodas surrounding Shwedegon pagoda. most vehicles had the steering wheel on the right. This made for interesting passing. These cars were either from before 1970's (when they switched driving on the left to the right), or imported used cars from Japan (Japanese drive on the left). Even the "new" buses had steering wheels on the right. Also, most vehicles were equip with massive suspension, for the absolutely horrible roads.
Yangon is the largest town in Myanmar and the former capitol. Many buildings appear to have been built in the 1920s. There are a few new office buildings springing up, but not many and they do not look very occupied. The key attractions in Yangon are two famous pagoda (Buddhist religious buildings). As you might have guessed, Buddhism is the majority religion in Myanmar.
The most famous stupa in Myanmar is Shwedegon Paya. Legend has it, it was built 500 B.C. however, the latest version was built in 1769. The stupa at the center is covered with gold, precious gems and in particular, many diamonds. The diamonds total about 2000 carats, including one 76 carat diamond. Surrounding the main stupa are many smaller stupas and several Bhodi trees which were grown from cuttings
Making Gold Leaf
Flattening stacks of gold leaf with a mallet. of Buddha's Bhodi tree in India.
After spending several days walking around Yangon (all sights in Yangon can be seen in 1 day), I took a bus to Mandalay. This is the second largest city in Myanmar and home to the last royal palace of the Burmese king. The center of the city is dominated by a large palace surrounded by a moat. The palace itself was rebuilt using forced labor of the inhabitants of Mandalay. While I walked around the palace I did not go inside and had not met anyone else who had. On the second day in Mandalay I hired a share taxi with a number of other tourists to see the nearby tourist attractions.
First we were taken to a gold leaf factory. Gold leaf is an important part of Myanmar culture. To show devotion at Buddhist temples, the devote press gold leaf onto the Buddha's image. This factory was quite interesting, all parts of the manufacture was done by hand, the gold is initially flattened (to a degree) and then placed in between layers of bamboo paper. A stack of gold and bamboo paper is then pounded with a mallet until the gold
Making Gold Leaf 2
Hitting bamboo paper with sticks in preparation for gold leaf manufacture. has flattened a certain amount, then the gold is cut into small squares and the process is repeated. This is done until the gold becomes incredibly thin. Throughout this process, the person with a mallet is continually beating the gold/paper stack (see picture). This however does not appear to be the worst job. The paper they use is a very special paper, so that it does not stick to the gold and such. They make this paper out of bamboo. Once the paper sheets have been formed, they must beat the sheets with sticks until they become translucent. In one tiny room, about 20 women sit constantly hitting the paper with a stick in each hand (see picture). The noise would drive anyone nuts and the monotony. As far as we could tell, the women work in that room for 3 hours at a time (or maybe they meant that the paper was beat for 3 hours).
Next we saw a few pagodas in ancient cities, a hand woven silk factory and the worlds longest teak bridge (I'm not sure how many teak bridges there are in the world).
After Mandalay, I took a bus to Inle Lake
Hills Covered with Pagodas
Every hill has its pagoda. which is in the mountains east of Mandalay. The lake is famous for its floating gardens, interesting people, great mountain hiking and peaceful atmosphere. Inle lake is quite large, about 20 km long by about 1 km wide at its widest. The lake is fringed with a bog on all sides. This floating plant material is cut into 1 by 10 meter strips and paddled out into the garden area. The strips are then ancord and piled with dirt. It is this which is planted and forms the floating garden. There are many villages in these floating garden areas.
After Inle, I went to Bagan which was the center of a powerful civilization at about 1200 A.D. During their heyday, they built an incredible number of pagodas. Only 2000 of these pagodas remain. Most pagodas are within a few feet to a few hundred yards from each other and a great number still have their original frescoes. This site is an UNESCO world heritage site and the place to see in Myanmar.
The people of Myanmar are very nice and very poor, but the country is very rich in natural resources. The people are so nice that on
Silk Weaving
Hand woven silk. This job looked a bit better than making gold leaf, but also would be incredibly tedious. multiple bus rides, a friendly local offered to by me dinner and many occasions they would come up to me just to talk. Only on two occasions did I hear the locals talk about their situation. One man told me that many Myanmar citizens love Americans because we are fighting China and Russia in the UN Security Counsel to have Myanmar declared a serious concern. And on another occasion an old man approached me on the street and pleadingly said, "please tell New York to bring the money back". This was in reference to the full economic sanctions imposed against Myanmar.
Next Cambodia!
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mom and dad
non-member comment
Wow!
Terrific experiences you're having. We really got an education about Myanmar and know that's only a tiny part of what you've been learning. Love your shots - the one of the sunset from the top of the pagoda is fantastic. Chris read your blog too. Hope you get some more comments on it. We gave the address to Uncle Wendell and Aunt Bonnie and a few others.