11/14-15 Yangon, Myanmar: Churches, Pagodas & Temples

My 'apologies' that there have been no blog posts for about 2 weeks. We just arrived here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday after spending the last 2 weeks in Myanmar where we had basically no or extremely limited internet the entire time. We had so many wonderful experiences there and I hope to update you on as many as I can before we leave for Nepal in 2 days where I anticipate having limited access to wifi as well. I have close to 20 posts in my Drafts Folder which is rather daunting but please know I will get to them as time and internet allow. Annie on 11/29.

Last minute views of our hotel in Vientiane, Laos:

Communal relaxing and breakfast area.

We got a late afternoon flight from the Laos capital of Vientiane to Myanmar’s capital city of Yangon.Many of you may be more familiar with the country’s former name of Burma and its capital city of Rangoon. Built on the site of the ancient Mon city of Dagon which is thought to have been built more than 2,000 years ago, it lies along the Rangoon River and is one of the country’s ports. The little fishing village was given the name Yangon (meaning ‘end of strife) by Ling Alaungpaya following his conquest of the Mon kingdom of Pegu in 1757. In 1986, it was renamed Burma by the British when Burma was annexed as a crown colony.What an exciting time to visit Myanmar as the country’s first free election had been held just days before our arrival and the prospect for real change was afoot.

We noticed immediately after hopping in a taxi at the airport for the drive to our hotel, that there was a huge building boom going on in Yangon. The drive took well over 50 minutes through some of the slowest traffic jams I’d ever experienced. 

View of the incomparable Schwedagon Pagoda en route to our hotel.

Wonder who we thought of when we saw this sign advertising a new upscale housing development!

Thankfully for us but not so for the driver, the taxi fare was a flat rate based on destination and not on the time it took to get there! We were very surprised to see no motorcycles or scooters weaving in and out of traffic as we’d become accustomed to in all the other Asian cities. We learned later that they are banned in the capital region.

We got dropped off at the Royal Star Guesthouse which sounded so delightful but the name belied its actual appearance on a pretty rough looking street with the entrance up an extremely long and narrow set of stairs. Our room for the next three nights was up yet another very narrow flight of stairs. We didn’t mind that too much but having no hot water and internet for 3 nights got old quickly enough! We did though have our own bathroom which was a welcome change from our hotel in Vientiane.

As our hotel was located in the heart of the city, we couldn’t wait to begin exploring downtown Yangon on foot when we got up on the 15th by following a walking tour I had copied from a travel guide. The influence of the British former colonial masters was apparent in the city’s layout; the inner city is organized like a chessboard and many of its Victorian buildings have survived in varying states of preservation.

In Yangon, a wide variety of cultures and religions mingle together and innumerable Buddhist pagodas stand side by side with Hindu temples, mosques and churches. The city center could not possibly be described as a peaceful serene place to visit. There was plenty of hustle and bustle and a constant hubbub of loud voices, honking horns, and street vendors offering their wares. We had to be mindful of every step we took because of crumbling or nonexistent sidewalks and pay close attention for difficult to find street signs to make sure we didn’t get lost or separated from each other in the throngs of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Myanmar writing! Lovely to look at but impossible for us to read.

Photos from our walking tour of Yangon:

Just a few minutes' walk from our hotel was this massive stone colonial structure with Burmese ornamentation. It was the Yangon City Hall and was built by the British.

We stopped in at Immanuel Baptist Church opposite City Hall because we could hear some rousing music as we approached the church.  

Photos from Immanuel Baptist Church:

It sounded like we were back at Life Teen Mass at St. Frances Cabrini with a band playing and young singers leading the Burmese and a few foreigners in the well attended Sunday service. The church was originally built in 1830 though the present building dates from 1885. I confess to being totally unaware of Baptist missionaries spreading God’s word in Myanmar or anywhere for that matter.

Monks coming up to us outside the church with their begging bowls. We soon realized that begging was commonplace here in Yangon as we were constantly approached by people, both young and old, asking for handouts. We hadn’t experienced that at all so far this trip so it caught me at least off guard. 

View of Sule Pagoda in the heart of the city in the middle of a roundabout. We were planning to stop there later so that view would have to hold us for a while.

Photo of Mahabandoola Garden which contained a tall obelisk, a monument to the country’s independence from Britain.

Normal attire for Burmese men all over the country.

A French bakery - of course we stopped!

The currency in Myanmar is kyat and is pronounced chat. The exchange rate was 10,000 kyat to .80 so the cost of the potato chicken bread above was .40.

Cutting up chives as I recall.

Walked next toward the Strand Hotel, ‘positively dripping in opulent colonial-era luxury’ according to my travel notes. 

Photos from Strand Hotel:

I wonder who and when wrote that because the hotel did not appear very opulent to us! Before it was renovated in the mid 1990s, most of the formerly mosquito-infested rooms were cooled by electric paddle fans and serviced by dribbling water pipes. Doesn’t that sound appealing!

One of the more unusual souvenirs I've ever heard of that you could get within a month from the Strand Hotel was a custom carved and colored bust of yourself based on photos, etc you provide. I wonder how many people take them up on it!

I didn't know it when I took this photo our 1st morning in Yangon but sculptures of monks with their begging bowls is one of the most common souvenirs we saw all over the country.

We walked east for several blocks just inches from the cars and trucks racing by us on the very busy Strand Road toward Botataung Pagoda, located a little east of the downtown core. 

 Photos from Botataung Pagoda:

It is said that when 8 Indian monks carried some relics of the Buddha here more than 2,000 years ago, 1,000 military officers (botataung) formed a guard of honor at the place where the rebuilt pagoda stands today. We had to have our photos taken at the Foreign Ticket Office, below, before entering the pagoda. 

The pagoda's dimensions!

Above and for several photos below: Seeing the Buddha's Hair Relic.

We walked through one narrow gold covered/painted passageway after another before getting anywhere close to the Hair Relic. This place would not be high on the list of places for claustrophobics!

At last, the hair relic was somewhere in this display but the scrum of people behind us wanting to see it too prevented us from taking the time to try and find it because only 1 person could look through the looking glass at a time!

We had had enough of being cooped up inside so we then walked outside to explore the rest of the pagoda complex.

Runners to protect bare feet from the scorching hot tiles.

Pouring (holy?) water repeatedly over the Buddha shrine.

Still at Botataung above and below: The Buddha's Tooth Relic Pagoda.

Interesting seeing people reading newspapers and lying down in the pagodas.

After spending quite a bit of time wandering through much of Botataung Pagoda, we walked over to the Yangon River, located just behind it.

It was another hot day and we didn’t feel like braving the heat and walking back through heavy traffic toward town so we took a taxi from Botataung Pagoda to the Sule Pagoda that we’d glimpsed earlier. It was certainly worth the 2,000 kyats or $1.60!

Customs House built in 1885.

Photos of Sule Pagoda:

No idea why the truck in front of the Sule Pagoda was so festively decorated.

For centuries Sule Pagoda has been the focus of much of the social and religious activity of the city although much of the current structure only dates from the nineteenth century. The British centered Yangon’s urban area around the pagoda when they structured their Victorian street grid system in the mid nineteenth century. The 48m pagoda is still among the taller structures in the city center.

I'd say that about 90% of Burmese women wear these longyi, i.e. the type of skirt, based on my observations from our 2 weeks visiting much of Myanmar.

Women selling corn to feed the pigeons outside Sule Pagoda.

From the pagoda we walked through the city’s chaotic Indian Quarter down busy Mahabandoola Rd. Before WWII, most of the city’s inhabitants were Indian or Chinese and their influence is still reflected in this jam packed district. 

I had never seen people in our travels paint their faces with yellowish gold paint or powder, which is a very common practice particularly for women throughout all of Myanmar. I was very curious about it so looked into it online and found out the following.

Thanaka is a yellowish-white cosmetics paste made from ground bark and is commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of women and girls, and is used to a lesser extent also by men and boys. Thanaka trees are perennials, and a tree must be at least 35 years old before it is considered mature enough to yield good-quality cuttings. Thanaka in its natural state is sold as small logs individually or in bundles, but it's also available as a paste or in powder form.

Thanaka cream has been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years. It has a fragrant scent somewhat similar to sandalwood. The creamy paste is applied to the face normally in a circular patch on each cheek. Apart from cosmetic beauty, thanaka also gives a cooling sensation and provides protection from sunburn. It is believed to help remove acne and promote smooth skin.

After wandering through the Indian Quarter, we detoured south a few blocks on 26^th St. in order to pay a visit to Moseah Yeshua Synagogue.

Photos of Moseah Yeshua Synagogue:

It was closed because it was a Sunday but we talked with the building’s long term custodian who suggested we return the next day. We learned that there had been many Jewish owned businesses in Yangon but they were nationalized by the Socialist government. Now only a handful of Jewish families remain in Yangon.

Photos from Open Air Market on 26th St:

We didn't understand til we returned the next day why the produce was displayed in the center of the street like this. Just stay tuned to find out why!

 Back in the Indian Quarter, we saw the Sri Kali Hindu Temple.

We retraced our steps to Mahabandoola St. as we wanted to go to Bogyoke Aung San Market, as it was billed as the largest and most interesting of Yangon’s bazaars. 

On the way, we stopped in at the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral where a youth minister was leading the choir in singing ‘Alleluia.’ 

I had never seen this before but wished I had. Karen: I wonder if the religious education teachers at SFC might like this for their students.

As we left the cathedral, I wondered why barbed wire had been put up over its entrance.

We finally reached the Bogyoke Aung San Market where we really enjoyed strolling through it seeing Burmese handicrafts, a wide variety of gorgeous textiles, woodcarvings, lacquerware, etc. Nearly the entire first floor was taken up by jewelers selling gorgeous Burmese rubies. No, I didn't want or need any!

We soon learned the appearance of a truck or in this case, a cart, filled with young men and loudspeakers would be a common AND loud sight in Myanmar.

Above: Our hotel. Below: The staircase to the street from the reception area.

Not easy lugging our duffle bags up these stairs but we did have help luckily!

Then, in case we hadn't climbed enough stairs, we had more to climb from the small reception area to the second floor where our room was. Unfortunately hot water for tea was down these narrow stairs so, needless to say, I didn't have much tea while we stayed at the Royal Star Hotel!

Posted on 11/29 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.