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The Legend of the Hidden Temples: Myanmar Edition

This week while brainstorming what to write about, I found pictures on an old phone from our trip to MYANMAR in August 2015! It's truly one of the most unique and untouched countries I've ever seen! Many people haven't even heard of the country, let alone want to travel there, so I hope this post will bring awareness to how awesome Myanmar (used to be called Burma) is!

A little background: Myanmar is next door to Thailand on the left, but it is described as being 40 years behind Thailand (in terms of development). Ever since I moved to Asia in 2012, I dreamt of going to there, but it was closed to tourists and a visa was nearly impossible to get (which made it even more intriguing!). ☹ In 2014, they opened their borders (woohooooooo!), and I knew I had to make a trip ASAP. The visa process also became available online, even better! I'm not sure about now, but when I applied I had to have a Burmese travel agency sponsor/sign off for me. I think this was their way of promoting tourism and sustaining their economy, so I didn't mind at all. The country's infrastructure is very limited also, so again, I didn't mind having help from an agency to make sure we had a smooth trip (think spotty taxis and public transport, undeveloped roads that take forever to get from one place to another, cancelled buses, etc).

The trip:  We usually fly budget airlines, but this time we flew Singapore Airlines (an Asian luxury) due to timing. The agency we used was called Myanmar Shalom (click for website); they were amazing. Our trip was Singapore -> Yangon (the capitol of Myanmar) -> Bagan -> Yangon -> Singapore, all via flights.

Once landing in Yangon, the company picked us up and took us on a city tour. We loved seeing what life was like there and the beautiful historic buildings. We even got to stay at the Shangri-La – what a treat! The best part no doubt was visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is the most infamous and sought-after Buddhist temple in Myanmar, made predominantly of gold. There were more locals than tourists, which proved how serious and sacred they hold their religion and beliefs.

Inside

Excuse me, did you just say something?

more details

The next day we took a short flight to Bagan, an old ancient town filled with over 2,000 pagodas and temples. We spent the day exploring old ruins and climbed to the top of one ---- It was really a beautiful sight. We took a short tour in a pony cart, which was so cute and fun! Here, we stayed at Tharabar Gate hotel, a far cry from "roughing it". 





Up close

They keep going for miles and miles

By this time, I had already fallen in love with Burmese food and loved going to the locals restaurants for their soups and curries. To this day I dream of their lentil soup! The next day we explored a local village. We met a family, and the mother gave me a Thanaka facial: a sign of beauty in the local culture. It is kind of a clay/mud mask that women leave on all day (click here to read more about it). It also serves as sunscreen and made my skin feel great! We also stopped at a huge seafood restaurant and shared a bottle of wine ---- who knew Myanmar had good wine?!?!?! The next day we went back to the Shangri-La in Yangon for our last day. We got massages in our hotel room and rested up before our early flight home to Singapore the next day!

Local lady who gave me the facial!
Local wine! Not bad!

The culture: This trip was very eye opening and fun. I admire their culture and simplicity, and I strive to have similar values as they do. First of all, most of the locals know English. They learn in school, and we had zero trouble communicating there - which is a huge plus when traveling. ☆ The second fascinating thing is that the government pays for everyone to go to college! How amazing - something America can't quite figure out how to do. We met people with all kinds of degrees (law, philosophy, medicine, history). The problem is that their infrastructure can't support the businesses and industries to provide jobs for all these degrees. It's heart breaking, and I can't wait until Myanmar's economy grows and flourishes like they deserve! The last thing is that the locals told us there are no such thing as orphans in Myanmar. Family is highly valued and people go to all lengths to keep their families together... and from what we saw, it was true! A drastic difference from other Southeast Asian countries where orphans and street people are galore. Myanmar really warmed my heart, and I would love to live there! After they find jobs for all the locals, I'll be first in line to move!!

Forever in love with Myanmar!
Labels:
Location: Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 12, 2017 at 6:56 PM

    Enjoyed the blog Katie, your joy and fascination with the country shines throughout the whole piece.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stu KeeperMay 1, 2018 at 11:23 PM

    Hi Dear,

    I like Your Blog Very Much..I see Daily Your Blog ,is A Very Useful For me.

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