If you are interested, there is practical information about this trip at the end of the post.
I feel like I just spent 17 days on another planet (not my words but they fit!)
My trip to Myanmar began and ended in Yangon. My first and last impressions of this wonderful city were very different, proof that one’s perception can change in as few as 17 days. As I was driven from the airport to the hotel in a 20 year-old taxi, I wondered at how “traditional” everything looked. I was amazed by the number of people who still wore traditional clothes; many men and women wore longys (wrap-around full length skirts) and button down shirts. The vehicles on the roads all seem to have had a previous existence in another country and another century; small shops are the general rule and I saw one small supermarket and no shopping center.
Further exploration, confirming what I had read, showed that there are no ATMs, that my GSM phone who worked everywhere else in the world does not work here, that none of me three e-mail accounts seem to be accepted and I have no idea how to exchange money.
As we were driving back into Yangon at the end of the trip, I was surprised to see so many men and women in ‘western’ clothing; I saw the largest supermarket I had seen in the whole country, and a shopping center I had not even noticed the first time through. I was surprised to see so many relatively new cars and buses.
The first two days were rainy and therefore we started pur visit of Yangon in a downpour at the Shwedagon Pagoda. There is a “special entrance” for foreign visitors with an elevator to get us to the right floor. Even with the rain, the place is a hive of activity. Our leader is quick to point out that we need to be extra careful not to slide on the slippery floor (wet from the rain and we are not wearing any shoes).
I took this picture just before falling flat on my side. I was able to protect my camera, but not my hip which a few days later became blacker than ink.
The best view of the Stupa itself I took at the end of the trip, when the light was better as it was a very sunny day.
However, there are many activities that go on in the complex. There are Buddha statues for each of the eight days of the week (Yes, Wednesday is actually split into two days…) If you were born on a Tuesday, or if your planet is currently in the Tuesday portion of the sky, you pray to the Tuesday Buddha
Many places where people pray
A group of weavers had set up their looms in one corner and were making wool in the back of these
We went to visit one of the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world – 70 meters long. We later went to see a 90 meter Buddha, and there is a 120 meter one in Myanmar that we did not get to see. Are you not glad that you do not need to buy shoes for these feet…
We later took a drive through the center of Yangon before going to the airport. The architecture reminded me of many other countries in South-East Asia with a mixture of English Colonial and local buildings. This is probably better preserved than most – actually more older buildings still exist, but they are in worst condition than other cities. Especially now, a lot of buildings seem to be abandoned since the government had recently moved its capital to a new city 100 km North of Yangon.
We stayed a very short time in Yangon. Immediately, we took a plane to Mandalay, the last capital of the Burmese Kingdom before the English invasion. This is one of the places that gave me a real taste for Myanmar when I read the book called “Glass Palaces” which details the last days of the Burmese Kingdom and the history of South East Asia up to WWII.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
If you want to see the best pictures of this trip to Myanmar, please go to www.twimpg.net and choose “Destination”. The photos are available in several slide shows.
The trip was organised by Peregrine Adventures – it is the first time I travel with them and I was very pleased about the trip. The trip is called “Burma – The Golden Land” – trip code ‘PABG’.
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That definitely looks like a different world.
I’ve been thinking a lot about different worlds. I had written a research paper about different economic paradigms: agricultural paradigm, industrial paradigm and service paradigm, where the latter is very much the domain of computers and mobile phones.
Much of the friction that I see in the 21st century, at the macro level, has been between the service paradigm versus the industrial paradigm. However, in your visit to Myanmar, it seems that an agricultural paradigm continues to persist, and the country has maintained this pattern of living by keeping its doors somewhat closed.
Without placing a value judgement about whether a closed door is or is not a good thing, it certain changes the feel of the place.
P.S. To give you some feedback on separate slide shows, I surfed over to your gallery for a look. I’ve only published my travel photos on my blog and haven’t generally given access to the full photos, which are higher resolution and larger in size.
Now that I’ve had the experience of looking at your photos, I have to say that I like reading the blog better. The combination of text and photos does something that the photos alone don’t. This could be because we come from a society where we’re accustomed to reading newspapers and magazines that combine both images and words. I think that there’s something deeper, though. While it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, a series of images usually doesn’t approach a full narrative. Human beings understand narratives and like them (e.g. bedtime stories!)
You’ve got great photos, and you’ve really developed a great blog.