Eva's final thoughts on Myanmar

Having wanted to visit Myanmar for many years, I wondered if I’d be disappointed when I finally got there but It was quite the opposite.  I was awestruck by the beauty and gentleness of this country and its people despite all the difficult times they have had and continue to have.  There are far too many things that I could mention so instead I will recount my highlights accompanied by a few photos.

Pagodas

It was the stunning golden pagodas that had grabbed my interest in visiting Myanmar and they were indeed the most beautiful sites to behold.  Golden pagodas can be seen everywhere in Myanmar from the big cities to townships to tiny rural villages and more are still being built.  The most stunning by far is the enormous Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon which we rushed to visit on our first full day.  The heat was sweltering and we found it hard to cope with the change from 6 degrees in UK to over 30 degrees here in Yangon.  The trickiest part was hopping in bare feet on the burning floors and trying to find the odd bit of shade to retreat to.  This is truly the most amazing site and sums up Burmese golden pagodas for me.

Temples

There are plenty of temples around the country and the best place to see lots of temples in one go is in Bagan. There are apparently over 2000 Buddhist monuments in this area.   Never having quite mastered riding a bike, I was at first embarrassed to be exploring the temples in a horse and cart but this in fact turned out to be both practical and relaxing especially in the middle of the hot day and we were the envy of many bike riders who were struggling across the uneven sandy terrain.  Bagan is also the best place to see the sunrise and sunset from the top of a temple.

Other than in Bagan my 2 favourite temples were the glass temple in Kalaw which particularly sparkled at night time and the Hsinbyume white temple in Mingun near Mandalay which looked
rather like an iced wedding cake to me.

Exploring Myanmar by Water

My favourite days were exploring the stretches of water by boat.  Firstly the 12-hour river boat cruise from Bagan to Mandalay which after getting over the original shock of having to board the boat by precariously balancing on a narrow gang plank with my backpack on my back in almost pitch black at 5 am in the morning – scary, I then relaxed into watching the world go by along the Ayeyarwaddy river.  Breakfast boxes, a curry lunch and afternoon tea consisting of eggy break arrived at welcome intervals to keep us going until we reached the city of Mandalay.

The motorised long boats on Inle Lake were a real highlight for me.  These narrow boats were fitted out with wooden chairs for 4 people, comfy blankets to keep us warm as we whizzed around the lake and large umbrellas to protect us from the sun and rain – how civilised was this!  We spent the day on the lake jumping off at various points to visit, temples, local villages, markets, various workshops e.g. weaving, boat making and blacksmiths.  It seems incredible that people live in this watery land in their houses on stilts and with the only means of transport being either a motorised boat if you are rich enough or a boat and paddle if not.  We saw all life here from mothers taking babies and toddlers on small canoes to men carrying materials for their industries to folk selling their wares on floating markets and the amazing fisherman whose one-legged fishing style is a true performance in itself.  Even some of the gardens here are floating.  I tried hard to imagine what it would be like living this sort of existence and although the simple life and beauty of Inle Lake has its benefits, it struck me that it would be a hard life and I felt lucky and privileged to have this opportunity to experience it for one day.

Other highlights of Myanmar include the overnight train journey that John has written about, the delicious food but most of all the amazing gentle and beautiful people of Burma.  I dedicate this blog to them and also our travelling companions who made this trip and especially New Year’s Eve such fun.  New Year’s Eve 2016 was a somewhat unusual night involving dancing around bonfires with the locals, setting off fireworks from bottles, drinking Myanmar rum and bringing in the New Year to Justin Bieber music with a bit of Auld Lang Syne thrown in for good measure.  A night I will remember fondly for some time.