2nd January 2015 Rangoon MYANMAR (BURMA)

Rangoon - Myanmar (Burma) 2nd January 2015

First day in Burma was very interesting ! We packed is as much in as we could.

Rangoon is a mixture of luxury appointments, derelict British Colonial Architecture and slums all mixed up with wide boulevard type roads.

Yangon (or Rangoon) is built in British colonial style with wide roads, large impressive buildings and some beautiful lakes and gardens to keep the city green and cool in the heat.  

We started off with a visit to Kandawgyi Park and Lake where there is a long wooden bridge which goes around the edge of the lake which has some beautiful waterjets and a spectacular replica of the King’ boat.

 Kandawgyi Park and Lake 

 Kandawgyi Park and Lake 

The "Peoples Park" was originally a reservoir built by the British in 1948 to supply water to the city

A Myanmar family enjoy the famous bridge that go around the lake on a lovely January day (temp about 33 degrees)

Question;What can you do if you are a corrupt businessman with friends in the military?....Answer, the biggest floating restaurant in the middle of the lake serving European food only modeled on an ancient kings royal barge.
Obviously we were not going to eat hear as it was government owned.

As if you needed to be warned - sign says "No Swimming"

Weather here is hot and sunny (33 degrees) so it was a good idea to do this early in the day before the temperature rises and it was just lovely.

Then is true travel style, our vehicle got stopped for a paper search which clearly was causing a problem as the driver did not appear to have any....The temptation to photograph the event was immense but here, the photographing of the military is punishable for sure

  

The old buses here are payment from Japan for war crimes committed during the second world war - the ride on them is just as bad a punshment!!

Then on to the Kyaukhtatgyi Pagoda to see the reclining Buddah which is 70 metres long and an impressive sight.  Myanmar seems to have mastered understatement and there is another one south of the country that is 137m long although we are not going to see it.

 Staggering size Buddha laying down.

 The problem here is that its so rediculously large that you cannot see it.  I guess if they stood it on its end, you would see it from 50 miles away but all you can do here is walk around it and ponder on how much gold leaf is on it - tonnes for sure

Comfortable position for a snooze

From there we went to a typical Burmese tea house where the men gather to talk. The tea here is black tea powder mixed with sugar and condensed milk. Very sweet and an acquired taste ! They also drink lots of green tea (fortunately…). We had pastries which turned out in fact to be puff pastry sausage rolls and Horlix cakes ! You can tell the Brits were here…

All very bizarre…

I've no idea what it is so I will take a picture and find out later

The Chai shops are meeting places for everyone including monks and nuns.  It was funny in that here we are in a country with hardly any westerners had been and everybody treated us like they knew us or we were regular.  We were falling in love with the Burmese people and they we so good to us.

 Next on to the Shwedagon Pagoda which is one of the 3 most sacred sites for Buddhists.  It is true to say that non of us were really prepared for what we saw next...

We had read about this and all the books said it was impressive but the reality just blew us away ! We have never seen so much gold and so many Buddahs !

The Main (South) entrance to the siter

The most religious site is also where scholars can by their books and scriptures

The entrance to the complex is via a series of covered stairways entering from the 4 points of the compass. All the way up the stairways were small shops selling religious artifacts flowers for offerings to the Buddah. When we stepped out of the walkway into the sunlight and the marble complex we just stood and stared!.  We know we would probably never see anything this spectacular again and the sheer scale of the intricate gold and lattice work was breathtaking.
The main stupa is where the 3 hairs of Buddha are kept. It dominates the complex and is of solid gold leaf. It is renovated every 5 years and every Buddhist visiting the site buys a piece of gold leaf and donates it to the restoration. It is currently under bamboo covers and the far away sound of hammering can be heard as they apply the new gold leaf. It takes 3.5 tons of gold to complete the job, quite remarkable and thats only one small part of the site.

The whole site was full of local people and people from the regions coming to pray and pay their respects and there was hardly a foreigner in sight ! In fact having gone from us taking photos of cute local people on the rest of the trip we found ourselves now being photographed as a tourist attraction. A mite disconcerting ! 
Lots of children staring openly and more discreet adults giving us sideways glances at the 4 white weird people and giants at that.

Hot, humid and very gold.  This is small part of the circle of temples

The monks chants all day and night every day of the year - he must be tired

Local leave money in their wills or just donate and they will get a plate engraved at the top.  Right on the top is an unbelievable 74 carot diamond

After this we went to the spot on Inye Lake where you can see Aung San Suu Kyi’s house and is also the spot where the American swam across the lake to her house, was arrested and ended up having her house arrest extended by 5 years. 

Mother Suu's house on the lake, scene of 15 years house arrest and total armed security.   Looks like a nice house in Kent !!

Local people revere her for having sacrificed her life for the good of the country by spending 15 years under house arrest and call her the lady or Mother Suu. Her husband died and her children grew up without her as she couldn’t leave the country or they wouldn’t have let her back in, quite a remarkable story. We then went to the street side headquarters of the movement for National democracy which is her party. All the profits from these roadside stalls are used to educate poor children so we came away armed with Aung San Suu Kyi calendars and notebooks to help the cause !.

Janette joining yet another freedom movement - there are not many people with a 2015 calendar from here I bet!!.  Mandy was also a compassionate donor to the cause.  Our wives are all revolutionaries !!

There are elections due in 2015 and the people want her as their president but because she was married to a foreigner the current constitution will not allow her to take office (even though her husband has unfortunately died). They are campaigning to change the constitution but the view of the people is that it won’t happen as the current government don’t want it to as they fear her influence with the people. Fascinating stuff…

NOTE: SINCE WE VISITED, AUNG SAN HAS SUCCEEDED IN BECOMING A PROXY LEADER OF THE COUNTRY - WE FOLLOW  THE PROGRESS WITH INTEREST

From there we went to a local food area for lunch where there were just dozens of curries to choose from, so we picked a couple to share settled down with the locals & our guide and tucked in. All very good !

On then to Bogyoke Aung San…….. Market which was previously Scott’s Market in colonial days but was renamed to honour the father of Aung San Su Shi’s father who spent much of his life in prison.

Fascinating place for a wander round. Lots of gems and we hadn’t realised that Burma produces a lot of gold, emerald and rubies as well as Jade.

Lots of carved wood and pretty fabrics for traditional dress. 

We were just window shopping here as all the items are produced in the areas we are going to visit so we will wait and buy there from the local people making the items instead.

The defunct municiple offices where Bog Yok An San, father of the freedom party and father of Aung San Suu Kyi, was assassinated.

Vietnamese women traditionally paint their cheeks with "Thanakha"  cream which is made by grinding the bark, wood, or roots of a thanaka (limonia) tree with a small amount water on a circular stone slab called kyauk pyin which has a channel round the rim for the water to drain into.  It is now seen as make up.

INSTRUCTION FOR USE... MIX WITH WATER AN APPLY WITH ARTEX BRUSH.

The regime need western money which is paid directly to the military generals and leaders. There is no money except if you are corrupt and there is certainly no normal Myranmar that could afford a yacht or stay in a hotel.  50 yards from our hotel was the UK embassy and 10 yards past the embassy, children were sleeping on the street.  Having said that and as has always been the case here in Indochina, everyone has been fantastic, friendly and funny.

We are off on the plane from Rangoon to Inle Lake tomorrow and we say goodbye to our lovely hotel and butler !!!.....the journey continues into the more rural regions of Burma but with the fondest memories of this city.