Myanmar | The land of pagodas, monks and dirty feet

Our first days in Myanmar were there for the visit Yangon (Location here). Here we immediately met the very friendly people of the country. The thing is that the people don't speak English, but otherwise you would certainly be addressed. Now people are also trying hard and we communicate back in that way, but whether we understand everything they say to us (and we to them) is of course the question. 

Yangon

The first day we visit the train station to get acquainted with the daily life of the Burmese and the first pagoda is also on the program. This pagoda is located on a busy roundabout in the middle of the city and is visited by few tourists. It is not the most spectacular pagoda we will see during our trip through Myanmar, but it is a nice warm-up for what is to come. 

The next morning it is time for one of the highlights of Yangon: the Shwedagon Pagoda (Location here). This temple is the most important temple in the country where it was extra busy with the locals due to a holiday.

All around us we see people praying and many monks walking around. Those monks also walked around the monastery we visited later that morning. We were here around lunchtime and all the monks, as well as the nuns, lined up with their food bowls to collect their lunch. These monks only eat twice a day (breakfast and lunch) and the amount of food depends on the donations made. It was a beautiful sight to see the many monks and nuns in their robes and it certainly made an impression on us when they sang prayers before dinner. 

In the afternoon it was time for local life with a visit to the market, the old center and the harbor. At the market we noticed what a fertile country Myanmar is because many types of vegetables, fruit and potatoes were sold, as well as fish and flowers. Because we spent quite a bit of time at the market, there was only limited time to visit the old city center and the harbour. However, we did not find this a problem, because we enjoyed having more time for the normal daily life of the Burmese.   

Golden Rock Pagoda

A drive of about 4 hours brought us to the Golden Rock Pagoda (Location here), a large gold-colored rock with a small pagoda built on top of it. The story goes that the rock stays in place because there is a hair of Buddha under the rock that prevents the rock from moving.

At the rock there were several tourists who were creatively capturing the golden rock on paper and there were some very beautiful creations among them.

After our visit we visited 2 more reclining Buddhas, a temple where we saw monks and a potter. The monks are as always friendly and sometimes willing to pose for a photo.       

Mindat

Our first real long travel day took us to the tattooed women Mindat (Location here). These women used to be tattooed on the face because the area was previously known for its beautiful women. This also came to the king's ears and every year since then he came to collect the most beautiful women to add to his harem, but he never brought them back. The population came up with a trick and started tattooing the women's faces so that the king's interest disappeared.

For some time now it has been forbidden to tattoo women and it is therefore increasingly older women who have tattoos. For really old women, the entire face is covered in decorations so that you can no longer see normal skin. The younger women have patterns in their faces. These patterns are also not always easy to see, because the tattoos are never updated after being placed and because the women already have tanned skin.

We found it impressive to meet and photograph these women, especially because this tradition is, literally, slowly dying out. Besides the women, the men were equally impressive. How beautiful they looked!

Also read: Itinerary Myanmar 2 to 4 weeks | Hints and Highlights

Pagan

From Mindat we headed towards Pagan (Location here), a temple complex with the largest collection of Buddhist shrines such as temples, ruins and stupas in the world.

There was a major earthquake here in 2016, which caused a lot of damage to the complex and caused 300 monuments to (partly) collapse, but that does not make it any less beautiful for us.

Everywhere you look you see temples around you, each more beautiful than the other. Only the most important temples have been given a name, the lesser known ones are only given a number, but for us they are also beautiful.

What we definitely wanted to see here was the sunrise, because then many hot air balloons rise to fly over the temple complex and that gives a fairytale image. We also looked inside a number of temples and were amazed at how well everything has been preserved over time.

Even though Pagan is the tourist capital of Myanmar, we were surprised by how many tourists you see here. At some temples you don't see anyone at all and you are therefore completely alone, something that makes our visit to the complex even more special.    

Mandalay,

Mandalay, (Location here) was our next destination. Here too we saw beautiful things, with the highlights being: U-bein bridge and the Mya Thein Tan Nan Oo Pagoda.

The U-bein bridge

The U-bein bridge (location here) is, at 1,2 kilometers, the longest teak bridge in the world. Here we quietly enjoyed the sunrise and then the daily life that started: the fishermen who cast their nets, the men who headed to the market with a fully loaded moped or the women who went to work on the land.

The Mya Thein Tan Nan Oo Pagoda

Also at the Mya Thein Tan Pagoda Nan Oo Pagoda (location here) we arrived early in the morning to be able to take pictures in peace. This is possible here beautifully because of the different shapes in the white temple.

What else we saw in this area were temples, monasteries and a monk school. The monks had a day off here and so we saw them as a child, playing or watching a movie.

When we think of monks we often think of older men, but there are also a lot of young monks in Myanmar. Because you often see them in their serious role as monks, you can sometimes forget that they are often (young) children who simply have the need to play.

Closing comments

We are now halfway through our 4 week trip through Myanmar. The next part of our report will follow soon.

Some facts about Myanmar

• At every temple you visit you have to take off your shoes and socks to enter the temple. If you come back a little later and check your feet, you will see how incredibly dirty they are. So we washed our feet a lot during this period. 
• The people of Myanmar are extremely superstitious. Some examples: traffic in Myanmar drives on the right. However, the steering wheel is also on the right side. This is because an astrologer determined that right stands for good and therefore all handlebars had to remain on the right after independence from England. They have now come to the conclusion that this does not benefit road safety and all new cars must have the steering wheel on the left. 
• Depending on the day you were born, you may/may not marry someone. If you were born on a Sunday and your partner was born on a Wednesday, then that is not a good match and marriage is not recommended.  
• A pregnant woman has to forgo a lot of things: for example, she is not allowed to visit a cemetery or accept gifts for the unborn child because that brings bad luck. 
• The people of Myanmar have no surname. They can also exchange the first name they receive at birth for another first name. It is important that they stick to the letter that is common for their day of birth. For example, if you were born on a Thursday, you will be given a name with the initial letter B. This must therefore remain the case if you want to change your name. 
• All school children must wear white (top) with green (bottom) school clothes. They can choose the clothing items themselves: skirt or trousers, blouse or T-shirt.
• The universities in Myanmar are always located in remote places and there is a reason for that. Students are often the first to rebel when they disagree with something. By placing them far outside a city/village, their dissatisfaction is less likely to reach other residents of the area and the protest is also less likely to spread throughout the country.