Guest Post: Tim Goes to Myanmar, Part 3

One more Myanmar post... a few weeks after the fact:

When in Yangon, Tim had the chance to visit some of the major sights, including the Shwedagon Pagoda, a large, golden, Buddhist pagoda with several relics of the Buddha encased inside. It's the most sacred of all Buddhist sites for the people of Myanmar, and sits high above the city.

The pagoda has also been the site of many anti-colonial and pro-democracy rallies throughout Myanmar's history.

Over eight thousand gold plates cover the buildings, and reflect the sun as it rises.

The top of the pagoda is supposed to be encrusted with over 4500 diamonds with a 76-carat diamond at the top.

Best time to visit was the early morning or sunset for purposes of catching the best lighting, and also because it gets extremely hot during the middle of the day, which is unbearable because there is little shade and you have to walk around barefoot. Tim sweated through several shirts the day he visited...

Tim saw some monks sitting in the shade, speaking to a visitor. He was told many families have their sons join monkhood when they're teenagers because they cannot afford to raise them.

The Pagoda contains a specific statue for each day of the week- a "planetary post" also associated with a planet and a specific animal.  You are supposed to leave an offering or undertake a devotional act at the statue associated with the day of the week on which you were born, including pouring water over the head of the Buddha statute.  Tim and his companions poured water over the head of their respective statues, as did Hillary Clinton when she visited a few months ago.

Tim said that he heard that the government had pointed a CCTV camera at Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday statue to keep track of her when she visited the pagoda while on house arrest.  Not sure if it's true, but wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Women placing offerings and using fancy umbrellas to get shade from the strong sun.

Tim noticed many of the local people around town had a white substance rubbed on their cheeks and noses, as seen in this photo.  Apparently it's thanaka, a local, natural sun protectant and coolant of some sort, made from a special tree bark.  Tim got me some, but I've yet to try it out.  Maybe it wouldn't appear so white on my bule cheeks, but I think I would still get some funny looks here in Jakarta.

The Maha Tissada Gandha Bell replaced the Great Bell of Dhammazedi, believed to be the largest bell ever cast, but stolen by the Portuguese and lost in transport.

Many offerings (including a flaming one) left at the Pagoda.

Guest Post: Tim Goes to Myanmar, Part 2

Street scenes from Yangon:  Tim got the opportunity to wander around Yangon.  Here are some of his shots: 

 

Tim hit up the Bogyoke market, originally built in 1926 as Scott's Market. 

Tim said everyone wore "slippers" everywhere- flipflops, essentially.  These shops had a lot of slippers for sale... bedazzled for the ladies. 

Lots of tailors selling cotton and silk fabric that is custom-made into the Myanmar version of the sarong- the longyi- as you wait.  Tim said the government representatives at his conference were all wearing the longyi as their uniform, with a short-sleeved button-down top in rough cotton, typically.  Tim had one made for himself and is wearing it around the house.  Ha.

People walking around in their longyis, with umbrellas to protect them from strong sun and wicked heat. 

Tim was super hot and was offered some fresh juice from this stand.  He ordered some avocado juice from the fruit stand (look how big the avocados are!!) ... turned out to be this strange, but refreshing chunky avocado mixed with sweetened condensed milk. 

The road-side markets in Yangon encroached on the streets. Tim said it was hard to walk on the sidewalks because of all the wares that were spread out everywhere.  This shot shows all of the old cars driving around Yangon, too.  It's been hard for the country to import new cars into Myanmar because of economic sanctions...

 Roadside vendors selling produce.  Dudes in longyis.

Historic, but dilapidated colonial architecture.  All of these buildings are running on generators at least half the day because of inconsistent electricity supply. 

More colonial architecture, plus the tri-shaw - a three wheeled rickshaw, essentially.  Tim says this guy on the left was selling betel nut- commonly chewed by folks on the street in Myanmar.  It makes people's mouths turn red and they spit big red loogies everywhere.

More colonial architecture- this one from 1914.

Another tri-shaw in front of colonial buidlings - this one's carrying a full load of beer!!

Tim took a cab ride in a taxi with the driver on the right-hand side.  Cars in Myanmar drive on the right hand side, like in the U.S., but sometimes the driver is on the right side of the car, sometimes the left.  Scary!  Tim says they also use miles-per-hour, not kilometers, which is pretty strange. 

Guest Post: Tim Goes To Myanmar, Part 1

This week Tim got the opportunity to go to Myanmar (those of you that like to kick it old school may remember it as "Burma") on a business trip... His trip was to attend a conference in the administrative capitol city, Naypyidaw, a bumpy 6 hour bus ride from the larger, more well-known original capital, Yangon (or Rangoon for those of you who spent summers there as children).  However, he also got to spend some time bumping around Yangon along with all of the other foreigners that have recently swamped the city in droves in order to take advantage of the newly opening markets...

View from Tim's bumpy bus ride to Naypyidaw.

Coincidentally, his trip happened at the same time as the historic elections in Myanmar in which pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 40 out of the 45 legislative seats up for grabs.  A super exciting time there! 

Here are some of his photos and observations... he wouldn't type, so these are my interpretations of his narration... he he:

First, Naypyidaw...not many shots, as Tim said "there was literally nothing to take photos of."

Tim says it's a strange city... built in the middle of nowhere 7 years ago, surrounded by a bunch of dusty, arid flatlands, with several large, empty 6-lane highways leading to it.  Apparently moving the capital was a strategic move on the part of the government because of the central location of Naypyidaw.  Only government workers seem to live there, but most have left their families to stay in Yangon.  

Empty road to nowhere in Naypyidaw.

Everything is under construction in the city in anticipation of it becoming a much larger city.  The SEA games (remember when we went to the SEA games soccer finally here in Indonesia in the fall?) will be hosted there next year, so hotels and sports complexes are popping up.  Tim says all of the hotels are located in one location and the one he stayed in was strangely incomplete, but the service was over-the-top:

Tim loved his disco pillow and towel swan.

Naypyidaw: your perfect choice!

Lonely mall in Naypyidaw.

As part of his conference, there was a elaborate dance show put on by the Ministry of Culture meant to highlight the dances from each of the ASEAN countries, as well as a large banquet that was interrupted by the season's first rainstorm.