Day 8 January 4th Yangon

Today was Liam's birthday and he got to spend it sight seeing around Yangon. After an impressive breakfast spread we met our guide, a beautiful young Chin girl and headed out to face Yangon traffic. We had actually chosen to be here on Independence Day inadvertently which was a pity as it meant some of the highlights such as the market and national museum were closed. The public holiday is to celebrate independence from the British in the 1950's however there was very little fanfare in Yangon and the only indication that it was a public holiday was the shops were closed.

We headed out firstly downtown to see where the British had primarily left their mark in the form of some very impressive colonial buildings. What struck as being very innocuous was the 1000 year old gold stupa Sula Paya sitting in the middle of the main round about next to the old town hall, now a government administration building. We walked a few of the streets where there were some prime examples of colonial architecture, many looking somewhat dilapidated. Presumably with the government moving camp to their new capital in 2005, the upkeep of these buildings is now considered less important.

Small vendor stalls were being set up outside the buildings for food and selling bits and pieces. Luke went into shopping mode finding an essential item in the form of a large fake fur hat, very useful for a 30 degrees day and another pair of aviator sunglasses. The day was starting to heat up as we ended back at the only park in downtown, that appropriately for the day sports the statue of independence. Locals were starting to hang out in the park.

We then headed off to one of the significant Buddhist temples Botatoung Paya that reportedly houses 6 of Buddhas hairs. Being full moon and independence day, a large number of locals were paying their respects and the place was full of people, especially queuing up to see the temples inner sanctum where Buddhas hairs where enshrined in a gold casing covered in diamonds and rubies. Piles of money were littered around the room within from all the donations. Around the courtyards there were further rooms housing images of Buddha as well as figurines of the Nats who people also still worship just to be on the safe side. Further donations of fruits and flowers were also all around the temple. A large pond housed a huge number of tortoises and catfish. Apparently people set them free in the pond, although looking at the state of it, I'm not sure they were doing them any favours.

From there we switched religions and visited the beautiful Catholic Church of St Mary's built in red and white brick. I'm not sure what some of the previous British priests would have thought of the neon life size Santas sitting at the entrance playing music. We then passed by another huge colonial building, the Ministers office, where General Aung San was assassinated in1947 and has been closed since 1962. Rounding off the morning we visited a fabulous shop Pomelo for a great shopping experience for Mandy where they sell goods made by locals, including minority groups made out of recycled materials. We met the Gardes there and had lunch downstairs in what looked like a traditional colonial restaurant from the past.

To round out our religious experience we visited the largest Chinese temple before heading up to the largest lake in Yangon where the city's wealthy reside including Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the NDP. We stopped outside her house but not surprisingly it has huge security fences and gates and nothing can be seen from the outside. Apparently the house inside is not as large as one would expect. The lake was busy with young people and we went for a short stroll before finishing the day with a suite of Buddhist temples. The first was the Chaukhtagyi Paya, known as the reclining Buddha which is an impressive 65m long with a very happy face. This was then complimented by the 46 foot tall Ngahtatgyi Paya Sitting Buddha a few minutes away. We unfortunately just missed the annual festival of the locals giving donations of food and money to the monks. From there we finished the day with the Mynamar Mecca of Buddhist temples the Shewdagon Paya which boasts a stupa of 323 ft, covered in 26 metric tonnes of gold leaf ( unfortunately covered in bamboo as it is currently being renovated) with the entire complex covering 46 hectares. We met the Gardes there along with thousands of other people for sunset and took our time walking around. It was a bit overwhelming with all the mausoleums and other temples in the complex. We each found our birth day of the week planetary post and either lit a candle, to receive wisdom, or incense for fame (guess who). We all had to where longies to cover our legs (basically wraps) which the boys looked particularly smart in.

We were pretty tired after this, so said our goodbyes of sorts to the Gardes and headed back to the hotel. Given the success of the previous nights meal we headed back to the same restaurant before having a reasonably early night as we had a 6 am flight to Bagan. A very quick visit to Yangon!

Location:Yangon