Myanmar - Yangon & Bagan
Instead of doing a day by day summary for this country I'm going to just sum it up in a few paragraphs and share my pictures. I want to start off by saying that I have wanted to go to Myanmar for a very long time so finally making it there was extremely special for me. I chose to come on the spring voyage over the fall simply because Myanmar was one of the stops. I had some very high expectations for it and of course my expectations were blown out of the water. There were three main things on my checklist for places to see and things to do in Myanmar and they were to see the Shwedagon Pagoda, watch the sunrise over the temples and to hot air balloon over the ancient temples in Bagan. I was fortunate enough to be able to not only do all of the things on my checklist but so much more.
The first two days in Myanmar I was able to explore the city of Yangon and go see the Shwedagon Pagoda. The Shwedagon Pagoda is known for being amazing but actually walking up to it in the late afternoon and watching the light change off the gold paint at sunset blew me away. The entire complex, including the pagoda, was spectacular. I've heard stories of people going to the Taj Mahal for the first time and crying because it is so beautiful, I'm pretty sure this pagoda is going to be a very close second for me. Walking around and taking in the entire environment was indescribable. There were all types of people there ranging from tourists to local monks practicing evening worship. I was fortunate enough to have a long conversation with one of the local monks (by the way, almost all monks can speaking amazing english because they are taught it in the monastery) who was kind enough to explain the meaning behind not only most of the structures on the complex but the worship rituals also. Through out my entire time in Myanmar I was able to interact with so many amazing people. The amount of hope these people have for the future of their country after experiencing years of military oppression is insane and the kindness they show to everyone is so humbling. My entire visit to the pagoda was way above any expectations I had.
The remaining four days of my time in Myanmar were spent in the city of Bagan. I don't even know where to start when it comes to the describing amazing time I had in Bagan. The first day there was spent temple and pagoda hopping. We explored a good amount of the temples and pagodas in the archeological site of Old Bagan before the sun set, where we climbed one of the popular pagoda's to watch the sunset. Because I traveled to Bagan through a field program we had a set itinerary but one thing that wasn't on our itinerary was to get up early and watch the sunrise over the temples which is something that I came to Bagan to do. I found two girls in my program and we found a taxi driver to drive us to one of the pagodas at 5 am so we could watch the sunrise. I am so thankful I got up early to do this separate from my field program because watching the sunrise from the top of a temple is a memory I will cherish forever. The rest of the time that day was spent at an orphanage (which was SO much fun, the kids we're so excited to practice their english and play games with us plus I had an amazing conversation with the orphanage's english teacher who was an 85 year old Burmese woman) and a local village and market.
Our last full day in Myanmar was the morning we got up early to hot air balloon over the temples at sunrise. This is the only time that I have ever been totally speechless in my life. There is no way to describe the scene that unfolds in front of you as you rise up over the temples and watch the sky change colors. It was so quiet and calm floating over the temples, words just cannot describe it. All I know is that I will go back to Myanmar and do this again before I die. I spent most of the rest of the day processing the experience of the morning so a majority of the things we did the rest of the day seemed so insignificant. Later in the day we hiked Mt. Popa then took a short river boat ride to watch the sunset over the Irrawaddy River. The following morning we flew back to Yangon (I almost cried in the airport because I didn't want to leave) and had a police escort back to the ship to get there on time because my field program arrived a day later then everyone else. We were granted an extra night in Myanmar because we were a Semester At Sea program, even though the rest of the ship had to be back early due to an early departure time as a result of the tides. Overall, Myanmar was the most amazing place I have ever been and I am going to do everything in my power to go back again. If you're ever presented with the opportunity to travel there, take it because Myanmar will blow your mind.
(Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset in Yangon, Myanmar.)
(A monk stops to snap a photo of a pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A man makes his way through a market with a bundle of wicket baskets in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(The sun begins to rise over the Massive temple in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Early morning hot air balloons make their way over the thousands of temples and pagodas located in the archeological site in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Early morning hot air balloons make their way over the thousands of temples and pagodas located in the archeological site in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A young girl helps her mother make small palm leaf mobiles in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Shwesandaw Pagoda in early morning light in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A woman starts to put together a bouquet of flowers at a local market in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(One of the thousands of flower offerings to the gods left on the top of Mt. Popa in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(An elder woman of one of the local villages in Bagan works out the cotton for the many handmade goods from her village in Myanmar.)
Instead of doing a day by day summary for this country I'm going to just sum it up in a few paragraphs and share my pictures. I want to start off by saying that I have wanted to go to Myanmar for a very long time so finally making it there was extremely special for me. I chose to come on the spring voyage over the fall simply because Myanmar was one of the stops. I had some very high expectations for it and of course my expectations were blown out of the water. There were three main things on my checklist for places to see and things to do in Myanmar and they were to see the Shwedagon Pagoda, watch the sunrise over the temples and to hot air balloon over the ancient temples in Bagan. I was fortunate enough to be able to not only do all of the things on my checklist but so much more.
The first two days in Myanmar I was able to explore the city of Yangon and go see the Shwedagon Pagoda. The Shwedagon Pagoda is known for being amazing but actually walking up to it in the late afternoon and watching the light change off the gold paint at sunset blew me away. The entire complex, including the pagoda, was spectacular. I've heard stories of people going to the Taj Mahal for the first time and crying because it is so beautiful, I'm pretty sure this pagoda is going to be a very close second for me. Walking around and taking in the entire environment was indescribable. There were all types of people there ranging from tourists to local monks practicing evening worship. I was fortunate enough to have a long conversation with one of the local monks (by the way, almost all monks can speaking amazing english because they are taught it in the monastery) who was kind enough to explain the meaning behind not only most of the structures on the complex but the worship rituals also. Through out my entire time in Myanmar I was able to interact with so many amazing people. The amount of hope these people have for the future of their country after experiencing years of military oppression is insane and the kindness they show to everyone is so humbling. My entire visit to the pagoda was way above any expectations I had.
The remaining four days of my time in Myanmar were spent in the city of Bagan. I don't even know where to start when it comes to the describing amazing time I had in Bagan. The first day there was spent temple and pagoda hopping. We explored a good amount of the temples and pagodas in the archeological site of Old Bagan before the sun set, where we climbed one of the popular pagoda's to watch the sunset. Because I traveled to Bagan through a field program we had a set itinerary but one thing that wasn't on our itinerary was to get up early and watch the sunrise over the temples which is something that I came to Bagan to do. I found two girls in my program and we found a taxi driver to drive us to one of the pagodas at 5 am so we could watch the sunrise. I am so thankful I got up early to do this separate from my field program because watching the sunrise from the top of a temple is a memory I will cherish forever. The rest of the time that day was spent at an orphanage (which was SO much fun, the kids we're so excited to practice their english and play games with us plus I had an amazing conversation with the orphanage's english teacher who was an 85 year old Burmese woman) and a local village and market.
Our last full day in Myanmar was the morning we got up early to hot air balloon over the temples at sunrise. This is the only time that I have ever been totally speechless in my life. There is no way to describe the scene that unfolds in front of you as you rise up over the temples and watch the sky change colors. It was so quiet and calm floating over the temples, words just cannot describe it. All I know is that I will go back to Myanmar and do this again before I die. I spent most of the rest of the day processing the experience of the morning so a majority of the things we did the rest of the day seemed so insignificant. Later in the day we hiked Mt. Popa then took a short river boat ride to watch the sunset over the Irrawaddy River. The following morning we flew back to Yangon (I almost cried in the airport because I didn't want to leave) and had a police escort back to the ship to get there on time because my field program arrived a day later then everyone else. We were granted an extra night in Myanmar because we were a Semester At Sea program, even though the rest of the ship had to be back early due to an early departure time as a result of the tides. Overall, Myanmar was the most amazing place I have ever been and I am going to do everything in my power to go back again. If you're ever presented with the opportunity to travel there, take it because Myanmar will blow your mind.
(Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset in Yangon, Myanmar.)
(A monk stops to snap a photo of a pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A man makes his way through a market with a bundle of wicket baskets in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(The sun begins to rise over the Massive temple in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Early morning hot air balloons make their way over the thousands of temples and pagodas located in the archeological site in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Early morning hot air balloons make their way over the thousands of temples and pagodas located in the archeological site in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A young girl helps her mother make small palm leaf mobiles in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(Shwesandaw Pagoda in early morning light in Old Bagan, Myanmar.)
(A woman starts to put together a bouquet of flowers at a local market in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(One of the thousands of flower offerings to the gods left on the top of Mt. Popa in Bagan, Myanmar.)
(An elder woman of one of the local villages in Bagan works out the cotton for the many handmade goods from her village in Myanmar.)
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