Yangon, Myanmar and the Schwedagon Pagoda

I am back in Bangkok with good internet access at my hotel, so let me tell you about my tour of Myanmar.

On Wednesday January 4 I flew to Yangon, formerly Rangoon, which was the Brtish colonial capital of Burma (the British name for the country). We visited downtown and lunch after being picked up at the airport by my guide- I took a guided tour of the country because of wanting to steer clear of political problems and the primitive nature of the infrastructure. Many of the buildings are in the colonial style.

 

We went to the riverside and took the ferry boat to the other side just for the ambiance...there are no bridges across the Yangon River:

 

Monks being taken across the river while protecting themselves from the sun:

The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Schwedagon Pagoda. It is one of the few sites that actually lives up to its reputation. It is spectacular with its 60 tons of solid gold of the main stupa glistening in the sunlight as you can see in the first 2 photos of this post. It stands on a hill in the northern section of the city in a 12 acre park filled with monasteries and landscaping. The central shrine is 320 feet tall and there are 4 covered walkways leading up the hill from each direction. The are leading to the very top of the gold stupa is festooned with 1100 diamonds totaling 278 carats and 1300 other jewels- rubies, emeralds. The very top has 3,350 diamonds totalling1800 carats and it crowned by one 76 carat diamond! On the plaza surrounding the main stupa on the top of the hill are over 70 other religious shrines. What is also notable is the atmosphere on the plaza as this is one of the main Buddhist religious sites so there are a variety of visitors- tourists sightseeing and solemn religious pilgrims with their families.
One of the covered walkways leading up the hill:

Some the shrines on the plaza surrounding the main stupa:

We were lucky to have bright clear weather to accentuate the gold.