In the midst of this country that is regarded as one of the poorest in Asia, there is a temple that is made of "tonnes of gold, thousands of rubies and sapphires and a 76-carat-diamond". It is located in the city, visible in every direction by its genuine gold pagoda gleaming in the hot sun. Yes, it is none other than the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
This temple is believed to be built 2500 years ago. It is regarded as the most sacred temple in Burma which says a lot because there are literally thousands of temples in this country as it hold the relics of four Buddhas.
Part of the norm as respect for the temple is to take off our shoe before entering. Be prepared to bring some plastic bags with you or you will be harassed by kids shoving plastic bags at you for your shoes at exorbitant price. Best time to visit the temple would be in late afternoon after the rage of the sun has mellow down or your feet will suffer in the hot tile floor.
Throngs of locals come to this temple to pray everyday but on the 1st and 15th of the month, which is consider to be 'holy' day by Buddhist in general, more people will come. Big corporations in Burma takes the opportunity to set up stall in the temple compound to give out free foods and drinks to locals. As for foreigners, the entrance fee is USD5 per person.
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| I think this ritual or parade only happens on 1st and 15th of the month. I'm not sure what the small boys are supposed to represents but they are cute. |
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| According to a tourist guide, this is the original stupa / pagoda. Measure about 50 metres high. |
There are four entrance to the temple, the main entrance however is the North Gate or so I presumed from the crowds that goes as far as your eyes can see.
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| Road leading to North Entrance of the temple. |
There are many small temples within the temple and so either you are a local who are quite familiar of where to go or you definitely need a guide. After walking around for an hour or so, a guide spotted us and came to tell us about the temple. Apparently in the Burmese calendar, there are 8 animals in the zodiac sign. You need to know which zodiac sign you are (from your date of birth) and go to the right 'station' to bath the statue 7 times to tame the fire of angry, jealousy etc (very much like the concept of the 7 Deadly Sins) and gain peace. So he took out a small guide book and told us our zodiac sign. Apparently I'm a Garuda. As a Christian, I of course politely abstain myself from doing that. My two other travel buddies are both Tiger and they went ahead to bath the animal after paying some donation for the ticket to do so.
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| The Tiger 'station' Hope you gals are blessed with peace and tranquility |
That basically sums up my trip to Yangon. I'm glad to be home and bringing with me some good, some bad memories of this country that has just awaken from its slumber.
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| Sunset in Yangon |
Location : Yangon, Myanmar
Date of travel : March 2013
