Myanmar (Burma) June 2005.

Land of Buddhas, Junta and betel nut Smiles!
Yangon- Mandalay- Bagan- Inle Lake- Bago- Yangon.

Since you can not enter Myanmar on land the easiest way to get here is to fly to Yangon, the capital with 5 million inhabitants. The city is like the typical Asian capital; large and dirty with a diverse mixture of people from all neighbor countries. The most interesting sight in the city is the Shwedagon Paya, a 98m stupa surrounded by 82 small temples. Every good Buddhist in Myanmar hopes to make a pilgrimage here at least once in their lifetime. The stupa is covered by 53 tones of gold leafs and the spire is encrusted with more than 5000 diamonds and 2000 other stones.

Mandalay is the second biggest town in Myanmar and our next destination. The city in itself is not very attractive, but it has some interesting nearby attractions. Mahamuni Paya is the home of a large Buddha whose features have been obscured over the last 100 years by gold leafs brought by worshippers. Mingun Ancient City is located 1hr by boat up the Ayeyarwady River. The Mingun Paya is the massive cubic 50m high base of what was supposed to be a 150m high stupa. An earthquake in 1838 destroyed the ambitious project before it could be finished as well as the giant guardian lions in front of the Paya. The cracked colossus offers nice views of the ancient city, but the barefooted climb on the hot stones was a challenge for our delicate feet. The area has also several other nice payas and the Mingun Bell, the second largest bell in the world (90 tones).

The impressive thing about Bagan is the sheer number of stupas and temples in the area (more than 3000!). Wherever you look you see ancient places of worship (most from AD 1057-1287). Most of the buildings are solid stupas which you can not enter, but there are plenty of large temples to explore. Inside you see Buddhas in all positions and sizes and some contain remains of old murals. We rented bikes for some days and enjoyed just driving around.

After waking up at 4am and spending 12 hrs in a less than perfect bus on a less than perfect road we arrived in Nyaungshwe, a small village situated north of the idyllic Inle Lake. We got together with some friends from the bus and rented a boat to spend the day (5:30-17:30) on the lake and its many canals. The local market at the very south of the lake was interesting, not necessary for the items being sold there, but more for the atmosphere and the Shan people in their traditional clothes. We passed several floating villages, observed daily life in the canals and watched the locals paddling their boats by standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other around the oar. At the Nga Phe Kyang Monastery the monks have trained their resident cats to jump through loops. The trip also included stops at various manufactories/shops like weaving, blacksmith, cigar, silver and rice paper. After getting up early two days in a row it was time to be lazy and we had a Burmese massage that included the masseur "walking" on your body.

On the way back to Yangon we stayed one night in Bago where we visited the big local market, the big Kha Khat Wain Monastery (1200 monks), the big Shwethalyaung recling Buddha (55m long) and the big Shwemawdaw Paya (112m high).

Back in Yangon we eventually found the Nar-Gar Glass Factory before we flew to Bangkok the next morning.

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Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Myanmar
• burma
• Yangon
• Mandalay
• Bagan
• Inle
• Lake
• Bago
• travel
• asia
• buddha

[bellesme]

These are lovely images. It's a travesty the Karen people are not permitted to be part of their beautiful homeland.

[cleo1994]

In support of our incredibly brave friends in Burma: may all people around the world wear a red shirt on Friday, September 28. Please forward!