Shwe Dagon

  Rangoon, Myanmar
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Things that are the same now vs. 25 years ago re traveling in Burma:
- All the travelers look very tired, slightly grubby, and some are sick. 
- Travelers talk with one another - I guess because the travel is hard, even today.
- No matter where they are from, all the travelers speak English.
- Burmese are very nice - Hallo!
- There is serious poverty here.
And despite the poverty and repression, people here seem to have the most wonderful spirit. No doubt they have the same issues as anyone else - avarice, lust, etc., but they shine in the midst of difficult lives. And beautiful - women and men.

Slept well last night - both of us. Same breakfast - eggs, toast, cake, fruit, fruit drink, coffee - brought by a singing waiter. Took a taxi to Shwe Dagon paya (pagoda). Leslie asked someone what is the meaning of shwe - it means gold. Hiked up the long, long stairs (great photos - will post when we get to Bangkok). Stairs are reasonable, unlike the strange steps and risers in Cambodia - but still a long hike. Getting hot now.

03 Shwedagon

We hired a guide named Lily who showed us things we hadn't seen before and explained things we didn't understand.

Shwe Dagon is beautiful and magical - people everywhere, walking around the platform around the pagoda clockwise, stopping to pray at various places, meditating, sleeping on platforms around the periphery. We saw zero other westerners of any age - much less old-timers like the two of us.

07 Prayer

We left via a newly installed escalator (would that we had ridden it up!). Caught a taxi to Bogyoke Aung San Market - a vast stifling maze of stalls selling every imaginable thing (we skipped the wet market section - arrgh). Then back to hotel about 1pm, very tired.

Just ate "hot and sour with chicken," a tomato-based dish that got better as we ate. Leslie said, "That's not the worst thing I ever had." Tomorrow we head to Bago and then to Moulmein. Oh, a magic land!