Myanmar (Burma) June 2005.

Land of Buddhas, Junta and betel nut Smiles! Yangon- Mandalay- Bagan- Inle Lake- Bago- Yangon. Since you can not enter Myanmar on land the easiest way to get here is to fly to Yangon, the capital with 5 million inhabitants. The city is like the typical Asian capital; large and dirty with a diverse mixture of people from all neighbor countries. The most interesting sight in the city is the Shwedagon Paya, a 98m stupa surrounded by 82 small temples. Every good Buddhist in Myanmar hopes to make a pilgrimage here at least once in their lifetime. The stupa is covered by 53 tones of gold leafs and the spire is encrusted with more than 5000 diamonds and 2000 other stones. Mandalay is the second biggest town in Myanmar and our next destination. The city in itself is not very attractive, but it has some interesting nearby attractions. Mahamuni Paya is the home of a large Buddha whose features have been obscured over the last 100 years by gold leafs brought by worshippers. Mingun Ancient City is located 1hr by boat up the Ayeyarwady River. The Mingun Paya is the massive cubic 50m high base of what was supposed to be a 150m high stupa. An earthquake in 1838 destroyed the ambitious project before it could be finished as well as the giant guardian lions in front of the Paya. The cracked colossus offers nice views of the ancient city, but the barefooted climb on the hot stones was a challenge for our delicate feet. The area has also several other nice payas and the Mingun Bell, the ...



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