Myanmar Is Not Another Asian Country. It Retains Its Purity.

If you want to understand what “Buddhist country” is really mean, go to Myanmar.  People are devoting their time, energy and effort to build, worship and mediate for the religion.  Myanmar is near to Bangkok, you've to take a little more than one and a half hour of flight to get from Bangkok to Yangon.  Local people had retained their purity as the change in Myanmar is not so much overwhelming. Since most people are Buddhism advocates, they believe in living a peaceful and simple life. They sleep early and wake up early. People get along with each other peacefully and people are rarely fighting or arguing. Even though many people are living in poor, there are few beggars on the street.  They would prefer to make and sell some handicrafts to earn money.

Shwedagon Paya

The Shwedagon Paya is one of the landmark in Yangon, is located west of the Royal Lake on 114 -acre Singuttara Hill.  It stands closed to 110 metres, highest stupa in the world.  Shwedagon Pagoda is build by the soil, protected by bronze foils and covered with hundreds of gold plates.  At the top of stupa is wind wing mounted with 1100 diamonds and 1380 precious gems (both ruby and emerald).  The stupa's top point is covered with 4531 diamonds and the largest of which is a 72 carat diamond.  You can visit at clockwise direction and find hundreds of beautiful temples and statues that reflect the Myanmar heritage of architecture, sculptures and arts.  The best visiting time is in the early morning or by twilight as you will feel not so hot under the red hot sun.

Kandawgyi Palace Hotel is pretty good.  Its location is near to Shwedagon Pagoda. The design of the hotel is spectacular like a tropical garden with the backdrop of lake and lush gardens. The construction was built by Myanmar traditional golden tweak rendering the hotel as an oasis of tranquility and aesthetic beauty. And if by chance the little squirrels come to wake you up at the window in the early morning, just leave some fruits for them to pick. It is so much fun to see them moving closer, rub its face and pick the fruits to eat.

Street and Market

Many big buildings are appeared to look like colonial-style design with trees growing along the river. This may give you the impression that it did look like Singapore in twenty years before or like Ipoh in Malaysia, embrace with sense of tranquility and peacefulness.  Feel comfortable to take a short walk to street market shopping for handmade arts and crafts.  There are many interesting and inexperience stuffs such as vine basket knitting by silver-like material, beautiful lacquerware and longyi.  In Myanmar, there are not many cars on the road. The number of vehicles per 1000 people is about 38 (the statistic may change in recent year). Therefore, the sky is clear embrace with bright blue color and millions of stars can be seem at night.  But the recent news reported that the influx of tourists to Myanmar had come at the cost of the local environment.

The Ayeyarwady River

The Ayeyarwady River (also known as the Irrawaddy River) is the longest river in Myanmar which flows from north to south connecting the famous cities of Mandalay and Bagan with Yangon.  “National Geographic” (journal) and “Unforgettable Journeys to take Before You Die” (BBC book) had introduced the Ayeyarwady voyage as one of favorable and unusual trip which is never short with amazing experience.  The cruise trip will take you through the jungles of the north, forgotten villages and ancient towns; and discovery on the beauty of Myanmar’s great river visiting temples, pagodas, palaces and monasteries along the way.

Local Food

"Lephet Thoke" can be represented as one of the local food in Myanmar.  The basic ingredients are pickled tea leaves mixing with peanuts, deep fried beans, garlic, shrimps, sesame, green lemon, fish sauce, dry onions and chili.  People eat lephet thoke as snack or as appetizer.  In Myanmar, the typical desert of caramel banana and milky coconut cake are also very nice. Is there any other special food in Myanmar? You can try the deep-fried cricket or tree worms (Tik Kuang Poo). You may feel it tastes like fried cheese for Tik Kuang Poo if you don’t think it is disgusting.