Myanmar - Part I
Our first stop out of Vietnam was Myanmar's only real international hub, it's former capital, and long-time nexus of power in the eastern Bay of Bengal, Yangon. Formerly known as Rangoon, this city was at one point the epicenter of British Colonialism during the 19th and 20th centuries, and although it is the most modernized and bustling city in Myanmar, it's not that beautiful looking of a place, as the constant months of rain have wrought havoc on the buildings, giving the whole place a run-down feel. The downtown core is impressive, with numerous blocks of ten to fifteen floor buildings rising in a small vertical city. Outside of the core there are some small hills, with many rolling streets filled with houses and local shops, a few hotels here and there, and the beautiful Shwedagon Pagoda rising from the middle of the city. It has a small but semi-impressive port area, and the jungle has exploded everywhere it's been given a chance.
Yangon has a double face; since the central core is somewhat modernized and developed, things look fairly prosperous as you walk down the street, however, when you find yourself outside the city, the poverty is startling and rampant. Despite that, there are numerous large scale towers, both commercial and residential, going up all over the place. New money is flooding into Myanmar and Yangon is about to blow up in modernization.
Yangon has a double face; since the central core is somewhat modernized and developed, things look fairly prosperous as you walk down the street, however, when you find yourself outside the city, the poverty is startling and rampant. Despite that, there are numerous large scale towers, both commercial and residential, going up all over the place. New money is flooding into Myanmar and Yangon is about to blow up in modernization.
We flew in at 6:30 pm, so by the time we made it across the crazy traffic and to our hotel we had burned another hour and it was dark. We stayed at the "Hotel Grand United 21st Street" that was, non-coincidentally, on 21st Street. It was a fairly new affair, and apart from the room being a little small, it was clean and plenty nice. Comfy bed and nice air-con. And a bathtub!! Bonus points, we didn't even ask for it. That night we wandered a couple blocks down to 19th Street, which is Yangon's most famous night street food zone. Kind of like Jalan Allor in Bukit Bintang, KL. It was really awesome to walk down the street and enjoy all the wonderful smells coming out of the different restaurants. We nibbled a bit, ate some delicious food. We also enjoyed some of Myanmar's namesake beer at the Chit Sayar Restautant (it was really good), and I found myself enjoying the crisp taste a lot. Probably my favorite of any of the National beers [Beerlao, Chang, Angkor, Bintang, Bia Saigon, etc], I ended up drinking a whole bunch on the trip.
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The next morning we leisurely awoke, enjoying our free breakfast at the hotel. The restaurant was on the 9th floor, on top of the building, and was high enough to provide a great view outside over the city. In addition to the Shwedagon Pagoda, the towers of the downtown core, and the surrounding colonial neighborhoods, there was a great view over to the port and into the paddies on the other side of the river.
Our first stop of the day was Sule Pagoda, which is right smack in the middle of a busy intersection. We slowly wandered down the street, popping in and out of shops and markets. It's a crazy, frenetic place, with people roaming around EVERYWHERE. In addition to that, the traffic is insanely crazy, so the resulting mess is extremely dynamic and exciting, Motorbikes were banned in Yangon several years ago so in addition to the taxis and cars, there is a huge number of buses. Most are ghetto, broken down affairs that belch out smoke and roar up and down the streets.
Our first stop of the day was Sule Pagoda, which is right smack in the middle of a busy intersection. We slowly wandered down the street, popping in and out of shops and markets. It's a crazy, frenetic place, with people roaming around EVERYWHERE. In addition to that, the traffic is insanely crazy, so the resulting mess is extremely dynamic and exciting, Motorbikes were banned in Yangon several years ago so in addition to the taxis and cars, there is a huge number of buses. Most are ghetto, broken down affairs that belch out smoke and roar up and down the streets.
Sule Pagoda is an interesting place. Myanmar is a country rich in it's Buddhism. It's very strong, much stronger than in Vietnam and possibly stronger than Lao, Cambodia, or Thailand. They take their Buddhism very seriously. As a result the country is littered with pagodas, stupas, and temples, and you can't throw a rock in Myanmar without hitting one. Sule Pagoda is an example of a pre-existing site that has been swallowed up by the ever-modernizing city around it. Although they don't really know, it is suspected the pagoda was built some time in the past two thousand years, and when the British came to town and set out to colonize Yangon this pagoda was selected as the center of the city. City Hall is located opposite one of it's quadrants, and the pagoda has served as a centerpoint for social activism several times. While it isn't as big as Shwedagon, it's location as the city center (as opposed to Shwedagon's somewhat distant hill top) puts it much more into a daily crossroads of life.
The Pagoda is pretty standard Buddhist fare. Lots of shrines located around the outside of the main stupa, with four entrances at the cardinal directions, and many, many spires. Bells for ringing, and lots of animals walking around and hanging out. (Buddhist worship sites are considered "safe havens" for animals in SE Asia.) In addition to the animals, there was numerous people there as well, doing different activities. Some were worshipping, making a circumnavigation around the Pagoda, others with concentrating on one site or shrine. Many others were also simply hanging out, on their phones or with their lovers, simply enjoying the peace and quiet of the pagoda. This would prove to be a continuing theme throughout our Myanmar trip. I also saw quite an incredible image, when I was able to capture a monk, on a mobile phone, in an ancient pagoda, with office towers rising behind him. It was a great image of Myanmar and where it is right now, with a rich history and Buddhist tradition, but also being pulled through an extremely rapid modernization period after emerging from a period of self-imposed exile from the world.
Our next stop was at the Kan-daw-gyi Lake, located in the center of town. We went looking for the Aquarium, but apparently the Aquarium (as well as a whole host of other attractions, offices, and buildings) were moved to the new capital city of Nay Pyi Daw, about 500 km north. So we walked for a little while around the lake, enjoying the nice boardwalks they had around it.
Shwedagon Pagoda
Our next stop was Shwedagon Pagoda, the marquee pagoda in all of Myanmar and possibly one of the greatest in Southern Asia. With the central stupa reaching 325 feet / 99 meters high, and plated in gold leaf, the Pagoda is composed of the gigantic central stupa, numerous other shrines, relics, and smaller stupas covering the top of a hill. There are four large entrances to it, at each of the cardinal directions. Each one of these is covered by large roofs, and are filled with peddlers selling all manner of religious (and some non-) souvenirs.
As with the Sule Pagoda, the area has become not only a major destination for worshippers and tourists, but also with many people looking to simply be in the presence of the great monument. When we arrived it started to rain and so everyone was seeking shelter within the various temples and shrines. While we have seen some really good temples and wats across SE Asia, Shwedagon is different enough from the rest of them in it's own unique ways. One of the most obvious but spectacular is the chinthes (or leogryphs) that stand guard out front. For a 14th century peasant they could be quite terrifying!
One of my favorites out of the whole complex was a small white elephant hanging out (behind a rather Hindu looking temple) in the back between the buildings. White elephants are extremely rare, and Burmese history is rife with several stories involving the near-mythical creatures, for better or worse. White elephants have also been considered by many to be large omens, signs of a coming change, good or bad. It was nice to see one in amongst all the other sites of the complex.
After that we headed back to the hotel for a rest. The rain came down pretty hard during the afternoon so we hung out in the air-con, watching Burmese TV and being lazy. That night our plan was to go visit a "reclining" or laying-down Buddha, supposedly the biggest in Burma. Things took a comical turn when our friendly taxi driver (who had brought along a friend to ride along for fun) got rear-ended by the taxi behind him, moments after talking about no accidents. They got out and sorted it out while I took photos. Thankfully there was no damage so we kept on cruising, but it was quite humorous.
After that we headed back to the hotel for a rest. The rain came down pretty hard during the afternoon so we hung out in the air-con, watching Burmese TV and being lazy. That night our plan was to go visit a "reclining" or laying-down Buddha, supposedly the biggest in Burma. Things took a comical turn when our friendly taxi driver (who had brought along a friend to ride along for fun) got rear-ended by the taxi behind him, moments after talking about no accidents. They got out and sorted it out while I took photos. Thankfully there was no damage so we kept on cruising, but it was quite humorous.
The reclining Buddha was pretty neat. There isn't much to the site itself, just a gigantic statue located under a roof. There is a small row of parables on one wall but otherwise it's completely empty, as compared to the much more developed Sule & Shwedagon. It was quite large, perhaps 100 feet / 30 meters long.
The next day was our last in Yangon, as we had to catch a 6:00 pm overnight bus to Inle Lake. We slept in late, and when we finally got up and checked out, we took our luggage (two small bags each) and headed for the market and the railway station. The market was pretty standard; some nice areas and some cheaper areas. Whilst we were there we saw something interesting that one notices when traveling in SE Asia- a KFC right next to a Hindu temple. In a Buddhist country. While sitting at a Malaysian shopping mall. It was all a bit surreal but a nice reminder of why we travel. And many places we went we saw yet more colonial buildings- all reminders of the British colonial times.
After some lunch we made our way slowly across town, starting our epic "cross city adventure" to make our bus, a classic 3rd world adventure. The first part involved going to the railway station and getting two tickets for the "Circle Line", the local intra-city rail line, in a country where the rail system doesn't feature much in the way of any English signs at all. Fortunately between some feeble attempts at Burmese, some friendly locals, and ultimately matching up the symbols on the ticket with the symbols on the signs, we were able to go where we needed. Riding the rails was pretty incredible; some of the neighborhoods right next to train station were incredibly poor. There was streams running through the area that were littered with trash and filled with garbage. Houses were literal tin shacks and shanties. It kind of makes you feel subdued in a lot of ways.
After leaving the train line, we walked to the Gem Museum, which had some pretty impressive specimens in it. Many of the good ones had been carted off to the new Museum in Nay Pyi Daw (again, argh), but overall there was some really good pieces. Myanmar is very geologically active, and possesses lots of minerals and gems, so there was a good variety of specimens. After that we had some late lunch, and then tried to get to the bus station by way of a taxi. I say "tried", because it turned out to be a wild goose chase across rural Yangon. Our taxi driver had a good idea of where he needed to go, but due to a closed road, we ended up detouring around through lots of small villages and on many small back roads. There was lots of uncertainty whether we would make it on time, but in the end we pulled up only a few minutes late, and within a little bit of time, were on the bus to Inle.
On to Part II - Inle Lake....
All photos copyright Kit Davidson, unless otherwise cited.