Soul of Myanmar

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Soul of Myanmar YANGON

BAGAN

INLE LAKE

JUNE 2017

ARCHI TRAVELOGUE BY

ANNIE CHA

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Stop 1 Yangon City The Capital of Myanmar Myanmar (Burma) has been on my wish list ever since as I have found out her history and beauty in the travel blog and at a time it was still untouched by tourists. Yangon, located in the southern part of the country on the east bank of the Hlaing River, is the largest city and the industrial and commercial hub of Myanmar. A mixture of cultures, communities, and religions, Yangon is a reflection of Burmese history - at once hectic and chaotic and on the move, but where one can find peace and serenity at the same time.

My first impression on Myanmar is up to my expectations. People were friendly, food, drinks and taxis cheap, and there are some great sights and lots to do to keep you occupied. I loved the chaotic energy, all the delicious food, the bright colors and the old crumbling colonial buildings in the Yangon City. Golden pagodas, colonial-era buildings, traditional shop houses, tree-lined avenues, and wooded parks are in stark contrast to the streets swarming with cars, buses, and motorcycles.

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Yangon City The Street

Thought the first picture in this travelogue should be something authentic of Myanmar, and here's a typical scene on the streets of Yangon. Think streets lined with both vehicles and pedestrians walking down and fighting for space.

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Yangon City Their houses and apartment

Yangon has the highest number of colonial era houses of all South East Asia. Unfortunately most of these grand old buildings and streets appear not in best shape as the socialists left them to decay over the second half of the 20th century. Trees grow out of roofs, rats cohabit peacefully with local tenants. Drying laundry hangs everywhere.

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Yangon City The Pagoda - Shwedagon Pagoda

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Shwedagon is literally translated to ‘Gold Yangon’ and is thought to be the oldest and one the the most holy shrines in the country. It is like a Buddhist Disneyland, a huge compound of hundreds of temples and Buddha’s from the past 2500years all with different meanings.

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Yangon City The Colonial Buildings

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I love how their colonial buildings are rundown but so rustic. They standstill in the capital of Myanmar and used their rustic appearance to tell the public and tourist the life story of Myanmar. It is very refreshing to see the other side of things. untouched since day one.

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Yangon City The People

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Yangon City The Local Food

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7 days in Myanmar, rice is never absent in any meal. Normally, rice is accompanied by a raw salad of leaves, fruit, or vegetables; a soup; and curries of fish, meat, prawns, or eggs. A variety of cultivated vegetables and wild greens are eaten as well as bamboo shoots. Also, there are a variety of ricenoodle dishes. After a meal, it is common to eat fresh fruit.

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Stop 2 Bagan The Archeological Sites of South East Asia Bagan in Burma is one of the most significant archeological sites of South East Asia. In spite of this, it is still relatively unknown because of the isolation the country has been in for decades. Bagan is an ancient city that was the capital of the prosperous Bagan empire that controlled most of present day Burma. pagodas were built.

Today, about 2,200 monuments remain in various states of repair, which makes Bagan one of the most dense concentrations of temples and pagodas in the world. The scale of Bagan can be overwhelming with its thousands of monuments as far as the eye can see. Some are very well maintained and have been restored, while others are neglected and overgrown with vegetation.

For me, the highlight of this trip is Bagan. I was amazed how it look like. This place is like nowhere else in the world. It is a city consisting of thousands of Buddhists temples and that’s about it. It is surreal, mystical, magical, charming and absolutely breathtaking. Life is lived at a much slower pace and the locals are just so friendly.

While cruising on our eBikes, they would drive past us and wave. So happy to have us in their country which in turn, makes me so happy to be here. Happiness is contagious and I wish it spread easier than it does.

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Stop 2 Bagan

Where Ancient Sites Spring up Like Mushrooms

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Bagan The Ancient City

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With over 2200 pagodas remaining – some small, some damaged, others huge and immaculately restored – stand scattered across what seems like a giant field, once the ancient kingdom of Bagan.

Unlike tightly controlled Angkor Wat, here the pagodas are more like our playground. There are few if any fences, and people frequently climb to the top of the taller structures to enjoy the view. I felt so calm while sitting alone on the structure enjoying the beautiful view in front of me. It was the best part of the trip.

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Bagan The Detail

Bagan is noteworthy not only for the sheer size and number of religious edifices, but also for the astounding architectural achievements that these buildings represent.Their significant contribution to overall Burmese temple design, demonstrates the skill and talent of these traditional craftsmen. The construction and shape of each building in itself, takes on a highly significant spiritual meaning for the followers of Buddhism.

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Bagan The Pagoda Arc The arc door as one of the main feature of the ancient pagoda in Bagan.

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Bagan The Buddhism

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Strong Buddhism elements in every part of Myanmar as Buddhism in Myanmar is practiced by 89% of the country's population, and is predominantly of the Theravada tradition. It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population .

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Bagan The Sunset

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Awake before dawn at 4am, a gong whispered across the wind and shortly after Buddhist chanting from one of the monasteries began. Before the sun crept up behind one of the largest temples at around 7 am, we quickly took the rent ebike heading to the famous ‘sunrise pagoda’ - Shwesandaw pagoda, we climbed up to the top of pagoda to find the best spot for the sunrise.

The sun rises, and ancient pagodas rise from the darkness. I can honestly say it was one of the most magical mornings I’ve ever experienced…

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Bagan The Traveller Bagan is one of the spot where you can meet all the different kind of people from all over the world.

Here is my new friends from Canada, Japan, Vietnam and Myanmar. We met and we shared our own country’s stories and culture.

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Stop 3 From Kalaw to Inle Lake In order to delve deeper into this country and get a glimpse into the lives of the locals, we did a trek through the countryside of Kalaw to Inle Lake. The trek was 2 days, and we spent the night in a rural village in a homestay. A journey of 24000m from Kalaw to Inle Lake.

We passed men hard at work corralling their seemingly uncooperative buffalo, and women setting fire to their fields in preparation for new crops to be planted. We saw, if only for a few moments, how these people spend their days working hard under the steamy sun in order to provide for their families. And when we passed by, they often waved or smiled.

We had a great time discovering local village life, living the rural culture and seeing some amazing Myanmar landscapes. The trek as such was quite tiring at times, especially during the hot and dry season. Yet, it was definitely worth the effort and we loved it.

Min-ga-la-ba. Hello.

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From Kalaw to Inle Lake The Journey

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We walked through fields of ginger and chili peppers. Mustard seeds, garlic and corn. The beautiful Bamboo garden. We climbed up to top of hill and pass through the rural villages made up of different tribes of Myanmar. We slowly discover the inner beauty of Myanmar by walking.

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From Kalaw to Inle Lake The Locals

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During the trek, everyone we met is kind and friendly, from the ladies weaving on handlooms, to the school kids showing off their skills with a skipping rope, to the guys playing chinlone after work seemed genuinely happy for us to be there. The women’s shy smiles, with their tulle hats and their tanaka-painted face, the traditional made-up made of powdered bark and aloe, which keeps their skin fresh.

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From Kalaw to Inle Lake The Locals

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Staying in the homestay hosted by the locals, we got some idea of their lives and got to know them as people. This felt much more like a walk through a safari park.

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Inle Lake The Intha People

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The final part of our journey to the town of Nyaung Shwe by long-tail boat across the famous Inle Lake. I’ve never been so pleased to sit down. We took a boat to Inle Lake, which is the central Myanmar: a shallow lake where the locals have for eons lived by fishing. The Intha people of Inle Lake use the unusual technique of rowing with their legs. They stand up in their boats and paddle with one leg to keep their hands free for their nets. It’s a spectacular sight: they stand erect and move with astonishing grace in a serpentine full-body undulation.

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Inle Lake The Floating Village

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Another fascinating part of life on Inle lake is the maze of villages and floating gardens. Most of the locals reside in villages and towns on the lake’s edge, but some live in simple houses made of wood and woven bamboo, raised up on stilts, over the lake itself. There they fish and tend their floating gardens.

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Inle Lake The final destination

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Fulfilled, happy and very dusty, we finally arrived at Inle Lake. It had only been three days of walking, but it felt like we had traveled to the heart of rural Myanmar and back. Into the lives, landscapes, and many moments that will remain lost in translation, we embarked on our trek from Kalaw as strangers in a unknown land but arrived in Inle Lake feeling like a small family, having peeked just a bit longer into local life than people had told us would be possible. My three days trekking Kalaw to Inle Lake in the northern mountains of Myanmar is the best hiking experience that I ever had.

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Soul of Myanmar The End