Yangon

After starting the day in Inle Lake where we had an extremely cold ( even for Canadians) boat ride, we finished up in Yangon in the afternoon where it was 34 degrees and very humid. The first time we have felt really tropical weather on this trip. We did a walking tour of downtown viewing some of the old colonial buildings, many of which are in a poor state of repair. The city is mixed with some very modern North American hotels and shopping malls and some old buildings with mildew growing all over them and being quite run down. Lots of street vendors selling all kinds of foodstuffs, street food and bits and pieces. After a walk around for an hour we visited some other sights by car. The first was a very large reclining Buddha surrounded as ever by many smaller images all housed in a large covered space.

The main attraction is the Shwedagon Pagoda which is very impressive indeed. The main pagoda is surrounded by multiple smaller pagodas. The main dome is covered with gold plate and the lower levels with mere gold leaf. At the top is a kind of umbrella which is filled with people’s jewelery which they donate. The final spire is crusted with diamonds and at the top is a 76 caret diamond- so much for poor monks. Actually all these things are donated by individuals all trying to buy their way to a better reincarnation. People here are very generous to their religion. While we were at the temple, we saw about 100 people organised in teams sweeping and mopping the floors. Our guide said people just show up to do this when they have a bit of spare time on their hands - mostly people who cannot afford to give money, so they volunteer their time.

The variety and style of the lesser pagodas was also amazing. Many of them have specific purposes, ie pray here for a male baby, pray here for a female baby , stick a bit of gold leaf on this Buddha on the part of his body where you hurt, and you will be healed, etc etc. We stayed until sunset when the light on the buildings made for some terrific photographs. All the time we were at the temple, a monk was chanting over a loudspeaker. Apparently they chant all day from 5:00 am until 10:00 pm in a language that no one outside of the monks understands!

For dinner we found a genuine Italian restaurant, so got a break for orientalist food - how North American of us! We will be back to eating lots of noodles and rice as we travel further into Thailand, Laos and beyond.Read more