Myanmar – An Odyssey of Discovery

Neha Mantri

Through the clouds, and into a pagoda.  Your breath echoes in the background, it tastes like incense sticks in your mouth, you hear loud chants and your eyes can’t seem to believe the images drawn upon them, when suddenly you are tête-à-tête with a young lady dressed in white.  “Mingala ba” she smilingly whispers out, and drifts away chanting her prayers.  This has to be the Golden Land of Myanmar.  A country not very open to others, but once here, it becomes hard to leave.

Myanmar – ‘myan’ meaning quick or fast, and the latter ‘mar’ meaning strong or tough.  Combining them together we would get a country which is quick-witted and has the strength to build up upon that.  The Golden Land is Asia’s most famous for opium trade, as well for its untamed natural resources.  This is the reason tourists do not want to miss an enchanting experience of exploring the South-east Asian beauty, Myanmar.

This contribution is mainly for those who want to travel to Myanmar, and explore nature at its best.  Traveling Myanmar is best during April, their four-day water festival in early spring.  The festival is quite close to the Thai four-day festival of Songkran, so be prepared to face the heat as well as some splash!  The time that should be spent in Myanmar depends on your schedule, however the minimum should be around two weeks.  Accommodation in Myanmar is not a hard task – you can get a 4-star hotel for as cheap as USD 77 per night. 

As a tourist, there are a number of ways to get to Myanmar, however if one does not want to take a flight from Bangkok to the capital of Myanmar, Yangon – they could instead catch a flight from Chiang Mai to Yangon for only 85 USD.  This way one could cover up spectacular Chiang Mai, and then move on to their next destination. 

Your first challenge would be Yangon, literally meaning “end of strife” which is located in the southern part of Myanmar.  The not-to-miss attractions here are the Shwemawdaw Pagoda, Shwethalyaung – reclining Buddha, Shwedagon, Kyaik Pun Pagoda, and Sule, the heart of Yangon.  It is also recommended to travel on a one day tour to the village of Twante, generally known as the ‘Pottery Town.’  In order to get there, just hop on to one of the innumerable public ferries crossing the Yangon River; this takes around forty five minutes.   

Upon covering Yangon, it is advisable to move up towards Inle Lake, and make a tourist loop back to Yangon, whilst covering several other points of attraction.  This eases traveling to other countries as the major airport is in Yangon.  The ideal route for a tourist from Inle Lake would be to travel to Mandalay (visit Mingun, Sagaing, and Amarapura all close by to Mandalay), then to Bagan, and lastly to Mt. Popa and back to Yangon

The outrageously picturesque Inle Lake is a beautiful resort area.  Here you will be able to see floating gardens, fishermen with huge conical nets – an ideal place to start off a journey towards some peace away from home.  Boats can be hired as well to see the Ywama floating market.  On the west banks of the river is the wooden monastery famous for its collection of Buddha statues, the Nga Phe Kyaung, built on stilts over the water. 

Your third destination: Mandalay, home to more than 700 pagodas which serves as a rich source of cultural and religious centre for Buddhism.  A sight not to miss here is the famous Mandalay hill, which has a total of 1700 steps, and a shrine or a temple at every 100^th step.  Once you reach the top of the hill, you will be able to view the beautiful Ayeyarwady river, as well as the ‘world’s largest book’ or the Kuthodaw Pagoda which consists of 729 small temples, each containing a marble slab with writings from the Buddhist canon, surrounding a central pagoda.  Make sure you also visit the remains of the once-colossal Royal Palace situated nearby the hill.  However, the Royal Palace was destroyed in World War II hence you would only be able to see the ruins of it.  After this, make sure to visit the local Zegyo market, sprawling with busy vendors and shoppers.  Although you would not find any souvenirs here, it would still be one of the best experiences, as you engross yourself into the ‘dirty-street and friendly-vendors’ environment.  Other must-see towns such as Amarapura, Sagaing and Mingun which are all within 10 km radius of Mandalay.  Pack your bags and get ready to depart towards the south-west, to Bagan.

You can catch a nine-hour ferry from Mandalay to Bagan, or take the more relaxing and enjoy the spirit of Myanmar by taking the fourteen-hour boat down the Ayeyarwady River.  Bagan was once the center of an empire which stretched across from Tibet to Bangkok.  The ruins of almost 3,100 temples are scattered throughout the villages.  As you walk through villages, walk through some of the still-standing temples, and you start to feel as if the effect is surreal.  Despite numerous earthquakes in this region, the exterior of the temples might have deteriorated but the interiors never fail to fascinate tourists.  Be sure to climb to the top of one of the temples to view the breath-taking sunset of beautiful Myanmar.  From here, you will be able to appreciate the true splendor of Bagan, as the sun sets on the Ayeyarwady River; the temples blend in to the sunset, as if bowing their heads, by changing from orange-brown to a deep red-violet color. 

Your final breathtaking destination would be 50 kilometers southeast of Bagan – Mt Popa – a classic way to end a memorable journey.  Mt. Popa is actually the remains of a dormant volcano, and is also an important Burmese pilgrimage site.  A museum here contains thirty-seven ‘nats’ or spirits, which serve as the objects of a pilgrim’s devotion.  The pagodas located at the peak are reached by seemingly endless stairways; however you can rest at several shrines along the way.  Upon reaching the summit, you can once again enjoy the cool air as well as the aerial view of the countryside below.

One could keep traveling as they would never get bored with Myanmar’s diversity, however the limiting factor is time, and your two-weeks would have come to an end.  Leaving behind your distant memories will prove to be hard, especially with a country as serene as Myanmar.  As you look back, you remind yourself of the lady dressed in white but this time she has tears in her eyes and weary smile on her face to bid you farewell.  After all you think to yourself “it is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”