Myanmar (Burma) Part One: Yangon

My sister and Me in Greenport

I started off my summer with an amazing trip back home to New York! It was so great to get to see my family and friends… the two and a half weeks went by waaay too fast!!  I was really sad to leave America, but coming back to Asia was a little easier because I had another two and a half weeks of holiday planned touring Myanmar!

At a temple in Yangon

I loved traveling in Myanmar – the people were absolutely the nicest, most considerate, and approachable I’ve ever met.  Since we were traveling during the “off” (rainy) season, we had almost all the major sites all to ourselves (which was really surreal at times).  Since Myanmar was occupied by the British for so long, a lot of people speak English so its much easier to get around then in some other countries I’ve been in.

White Elephants – so sad how they’re chained up 😦

We both started and ended our trip in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the biggest city in Myanmar.  We didn’t spend too much time in Yangon (just a day or two at both ends of our trip), but I was really surprised by how Western-friendly it was (considering the country has only been open for tourism for a short amount of time).  We went to some great Italian and French restaurants, accidentally stumbled upon a popular expat happy hour and street signs were always written both in Burmese script and English.  It definitely wasn’t as developed as some of the other major Asian cities I’ve been in, but flying into Yangon was definitely a great way to ease back into Asia.

Shwedagon Pagoda

By far, our favorite site in Yangon was the Shwedagon Pagoda (the first – and one of the most impressive – out of the hundreds of pagodas we were to see on this trip).  The pagoda is said to be over 2,600 years old, although it’s seen extensive renovations.  It’s a decently sized complex of temples – all painted gold.  It’s said to hold relics of the past four Buddhas within the temple: the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Konagamana, the robe of Kassapa, and hair of Gautama.

Shwedagon Pagoda

In more recent history, the Shewdagon Pagoda was the site of a massive protest in 2007.    The Burmese government denied the monks and nuns access to the pagoda for a period of time.  Massive protests followed – leaving at least five monks dead and many others arrested and taken away to undisclosed locations.

People Praying at Swedagon Pagoda

 

One of the things that I really enjoyed about it was that it’s definitely still a very active temple in addition to being an important place historically.  There were lots of monks and other people paying their respects as we toured.

Inside a temple in Yangon

After a day in Yangon, we were off on our first (of many) long bus rides up to the Bagan!

Tags: Burma, Myanmar, Rangoon, Shwedagon Pagoda, Teaching Abroad, Temples, Yangon