Mt. Kyaikhtiyo, Bago and the Golden Rock

The next 2 days we stayed around Yangon but went to see the Golden Rock, another religious site about 3 hours drive by car, truck and hike from Yangon. We drove to the "base camp" area at Kinpun where we are crowded onto the back an open bus/truck on benches that are very uncomfortable wooden boards.

These vehicle took us up an 11km very bumpy, narrow , mostly paved road, to a staging area from which we must hike a 4km, steep track that rises 1600 feet to the top. This trek takes about an hour.
You have the choice of riding up in a sedan chair carried by 4 local men for about $10, but that's embarassing so I trudged up. However I must have looked rather tentative as 4 guys followed me up with an empty chair waiting for me to give in. I prevailed as we got to our hotel:

 

That's our porter with our overnite packs in the basket.

On the top is a broad plaza with some monasteries, many vendors with kiosks selling almost everything to thousands of folks who come here. There are also some hotels and restaurant/bars. Many families set up housekeeping and stay overnite at the plaza.

The main attraction. as you can see from the first photo, is a rock with a small stupa on top that is poised precariously on a promontory at the end of the plaza. The rock has been painted gold and the stupa has gold leaf covering it.

The sunset was magnificent:

We stayed overnite and reversed the process the next morning. A hike down that took half the time of the previous day; a harrowing ride to base camp in the truck that was careening down the narrow bumpy road. Here are some of the people we saw on the walks up and down and at the shrine:

After we got down we made a stop on the way back to Yangon in Bago, a former capital, to see the 1,000 year old Shwemawdaw Pagoda which is 376 ft high. It has been added to and rebuilt several times over its lifespan as wear and tear and earthquakes have taken their toll.

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.

Myanmar/Burma has Limited Internet

Internet is absent, intermittent and slow in this country. I have taken hundreds of photos which I will try to uload with commentary as soon as I get good access...which should be in 2-3 days when i reach Bangkok.
In the meantime, you can see some of the photos on my Facebook page: facebook.com/jvangrov

The Erawan Shrine on New Year's Day

The Erawan Shrine has been discussed by me before but it is located at a corner in the main Shopping area and offerings are supposed to give good fortune. It was quite busy on New Years Day as all the shopping venues were open and people were free from school and work.
It is a mixture of serious worshipers, interested tourists and those selling flowers and joss sticks to those making offerings.

Sellers of wares are lined up on the side walk:

 

Worshipers offering incense in the form of Joss sticks:

 

Special favors can be entreated by paying an extra fee for musicians and dancers:

All this is happening at a meeting of 2 busy main streets and 2 lines of the Skytrain swooping overhead. With the smoke, music and people added to the road traffic and the squealing overhead railway this is hardly a quiet interlude.

It is interesting that in much of Southeast Asia they celebrate 3 New Years. 

First there is the traditional one at the beginning of the Western calendar year on January 1.

Second in early February (varying with the lunar calendar) there is the Chinese New Year which is usually the busiest commercial and travel week of the year. Even in Las Vegas that is the heaviest gambling week of the year.

Third there is Songkran April 13-15 which is a rollicking festival at the hottest time of the year during which water is thrown on everyone. Young people in pickup trucks with buckets cruise the streets drenching people on the sidewalk and then throwing flower to stick on the wet victims. For most Thai people this is great fun; however many see this as a good time for a trip out of the country.

A Day at the Beach near Pattaya

A couple of days I went to be very lazy at the beach near Pattaya at Jomtien. I rent a chair under some umbrellas, have a manicure, pedicure, a massage, some drinks and read. It is a nice way to spend a day.
The weather is great! The temperature is in the low 80s with a nice breeze and reasonable humidity

This is my mani-pedi lady. An example why thy call Thailand the "Land of Smiles":

 

The massage guys and the mani-pedi ladies circulate among the chairs along with folks selling fruit, various foods, watches, cheap jewelry, pirated DVDs and pornography. They easy accept a simple "mai krap" (no thanks) and move on. Not really a bother. The massage guys and mani-pedi lady remiembered me from past years. It's like a pleasant reunion.

They often bring their small children to work with them. Some sleep, some of them play.

The massages can be done in your chair or for a more complete massage you can move to the sandy area behaind the chairs:

The umbrellas serve as protection from the harsh sun for those who want it. In general the Asians prefer not to have dark skin and avoid the sun. The drug stores are full of skin whitening products rather than tanning creams like in the states. They think that the westerners who bake in the sun are are truly deranged.

Moving on to Pattaya for a few days

Today I went 2 hours southeast of Bangkok to Pattaya, the beach town. Pattaya has evolved over the last few years into a more family friendly resort city. No, the sex sleaze is still there but there is a different kind of peerson traveling there. There are more Asian tourists from China, Japan and Korea. The Russians visiting are not so much the ill-dressed rude, drunk, exploiters of young beauties. There are more sophisticated Russian couples and families. Western...American and British are fewer.
In addition, there is an effort to present a family friendly shopping destination. This is evidenced by a few more 4 and 5 star hotels and several new or remodeled shopping malls.

The ride down to pattaya from Bangkok was a bit different. I used my taxi driver from the airport for the 2 hour drive. Mr Vilai was my assigned taxi driver at the airport queue when I arrived. I noticed his cab was immaculately clean and he was wearing a pressed shirt with epaulettes. As well, he was a careful driver. We were talking about my trip and he offered to take me to Pattaya for 40% of the usual limo price I usually use. It was a good trip with accompaniment by Mr Vilai's personal burned CDs of American country music; not the usual wailing of Thai regional music.
Another interesting thing on the ride was a big effort by authorities and volunteers to discourage drunk driving during the holiday period....at the expressway toll booths they were giving away several bottles of mineral water to each car. "Drink water not alcohol"
We arrived and I went poolside to read in the very lovely weather..low humidity (for Thailand) and temperatures in the high 70's.

The Neighborhood

 The other day I took a walk around the neighborhood. There are 2 parallel large roads, Sathorn and Silom that are very busy with crushing traffic and very noisy and active. They are connected by several quiet side streets. I walked from Sathorn Rd up to Silom Rd on Soi Convent, named for a Catholic orphanage and church on the street hen I walked down Silom Rd and returned to Sathorn Rd via Soi Sala Daeng. Toward the Silom end there are several areas where the local office workers eat their lunches from vendors on the sidewalk. The famous tasty, cheap and ubiquitous "street food."

 The people line up to buy their food from the vendors which is very fresh and inexpensive.
It is 99.9% safe and clean since it is sold and consumed quickly and does not sit around.

Then they sit at small tables on small plastic chairs or stools to eat and talk.

Many of the vendors bring their younger children to work with them.

There must not be much daycare in Thailand as this is a very common sight. Often the grandmas accompany the vendors to help watch the kids.

There are quiet areas on these tree lined side streets just away from the hustle and bustle of the the office and business areas.

On one side street/alley seemed to be the home of a an entrepreneurial medical center:

One stop shopping!!

I did go to the Hannukah party with my cousin at the 25th story apartment of her Israeli friends. Friends of hers thru her book club. The building was on the riverside with a great view of one of the bridges spanning the Chao Praya river.

Settling into Bangkok

Since I've been here in Bangkok so many times, I don't have a lot of new things to photograph. I got here on Thursday morning after a 17 1/2 hr flight in the Premium Economy section of the nonstop THAI Airways flight. I took a short nap that afternoon and went to bed for the nite at a bit later than my normal bedtime since I went out.
I'm staying in a different neighborhood than I have before. I tried a type of accommodation that is common in BKK- a serviced apartment. It's the price of a nice hotel but with separate living area, bedroom and a kitchen; it's for usually longer stays of businessmen. I'll be here 11 days.

I met my Cousin Jean the second day for lunch at a nice French restaurant. I brought her a load of nutritional items and spices from Trader Joe's that she had requested. I transfered the goods to her and we had a nice lunch and visit. She invited me to a Hannukah Party this week that a group of Jewish expatriates are having; I accepted because it might be interesting to see how the Jewish community in Bangkok celebrates. That will be tomorrow.

Getting Ready for New Adventure

After a quiet summer and fall with "routine" trips to timeshares in Palm Desert and Hawaii I am leaving again for Southeast Asia. I will take the 18 hour nonstop THAI Airways flight from LAX to BKK and stay in Bangkok area for a while.
The highlight of this trip will be a planned 11 days in Myanmar/Burma. In Myanmar internet access is rare and ATMs nonexistent. And credit cards are not accepted. It's like SE Asia 30-40 years ago.
But it is a beautiful place.
So get ready for some photos of the next month.