Yangon–Myanmar (Burma)

We landed in Yangon and found a cheap place to stay (cheap by Myanmar standards but not ours!)  Everyone seems to speak excellent English, which is surprising but really helpful.  Yangon formerly Rangoon, was the capital of Myanmar until it was superseded by Naypyidaw in November 2005. Yangon has a population of over 5 million people, the largest city of Myanmar.We decided to spend a day doing a walking tour….

    

Sule Paya is the geographic and commercial heart of Yangon.  It has served as a rallying point in both the 1988 uprisings and 2007 Saffron Revolution.  It is a Mon style building with each side 24 feet long; its height is 144 feet, 9 l/2 inches. Except for the chedi which was enlarged to its present size by Queen Shin Sawbu (1453–1472).  According to legend, it was built during the time of the Buddha, making it more than 2,500 years old.  It is believed to enshrine a strand of hair of the Buddha that the Buddha himself is said to have given to the two Burmese merchant brothers, Tapissa and Balika. 

According to Burmese legend the site where the Sule pagoda now stands was once the home of a powerful nat (spirit) named Sularata (the Sule Nat). The king of the Nats, Sakka, wished to help the legendary king Okkalap build a shrine for the Buddha's sacred hair-relic on the same site where three previous Buddha's had buried sacred relics in past ages. Unfortunately, these events had happened so long ago that not even Sakra knew exactly where the relics were buried. The Sule nat, however, who was so old that his eyelids had to be propped up with trees in order for him to stay awake, had witnessed the great event. The gods, Nats and humans of the court of Okkalapa therefore gathered around the Sule Ogre and asked him the location, which he eventually remembered. (Wikipedia)

                                            

City Hall with Moorish architecture and note the purple peacock under the flag.  Construction began in 1926 and ended in 1936

    

We took a photo of the Independence Monument, an obelisk with a height of 46 meters, which is surrounded by five smaller pillars of 9 meters, although the Lonely Planet does not mention it at all.  Then I had to stop as all these new born little puppies came out of nowhere for a quick pat, then back off to bed.  They were still getting used to their little legs, then onwards to the Inland Water Transport offices (colonial era).

              

Next stop was Myanmar Port Authority building (1920), then we went for a cup of tea at the Strand Hotel, very posh.  Next photo is me standing under the ‘Customs House’ (British Colonial) built in 1915, Andre really liked that one as he used to hang out in the Custom House in Nelson as a teen.  Next photo is just one of the many side streets, so busy.  Then we saw the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, (only one of two in Myanmar) beautiful architecture, the next building we don’t know what it was, but it has a glass room at the top with a gold Buddha in it.

                             

We can’t find out anything about this Pagoda on its own, it’s part of a big complex which is centred around Shwedagon Paya (will be our last post as we didn’t have enough time to see it this time in Yangon, but we will be back in 11 days to see it, apparently if you only see one stupa in your whole SE Asia trip, this is the one to see)  But Sein Yaung Chi Pagoda means reflection of diamonds.  It is one of the only silver pagoda’s I have seen (done in mosaic but the photos really don’t do it justice)

             

The Shwedagon Paya (as said will have to visit in 11 days time) has a compound of over 82 buildings, so we had time to go through one before we had to catch our bus to Mandalay. 

Maha Wizaya Pagoda is apparently similar in architecture to the Saint Peter Church of Vatican in Rome and Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, there is a specially-designed hole on the ceiling that only permits the sunlight to inside, only on a single day in a year, the Myanmar New Year Day.  The Maha Wizaya Pagoda was built on the Dhammarakkhita (Guardian of the Law) Hill which faces the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, in 1980 to commemorate the first successful convening of all sects of the Buddhist monastic order, under one supervisory body. It was built from funds donated by the people across the whole country. An image of the Buddha which was a royal gift from the King and Queen of Nepal is enshrined within the pagoda.

                                                                

As we left we noticed the moat with huge catfish and other assorted fish, and at least 2 types of turtles.  We took a photo of inside the stupa, it’s hard to see, but the walls are decorated with trees and branches of leaves with what we thought were animal pictures on the ceiling, until the little lights went on and we realised it was star constellations. 

    

Zoe, we were walking past a huge water park and saw a zebra boat so had to get a photo for you.  Later we saw a huge sign near the big markets saying ‘warmly welcome and take care of tourists’ nice aye!

              

We got to our bus an hour early so we decided to have a drink at a local cafe/bar.  The boy was amazing and ran to get whatever we asked for, really happy guy, so I got a photo with him.  The colour on his cheeks is insanely popular here.  It is a sunscreen and perfume and just about everyone has it on, men women and children!  And it was a full moon on the night we left, a big festival for Buddhists so they insisted we should take a photo of the moon.  We left after giving the kids some NZ stickers and NZ badges, and I found a paua shell necklace for the teenage girl, they were all so excited (the Dad really really wanted the necklace and almost didn’t let her have it, as soon as he let her have it, her old necklace was taken off and shoved in a pocket and the new one put on, she looked so proud!)