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 Continue reading “Myanmar 1 – Yangon” →
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