We hired a tuktuk and a guide and set off at 7am the following morning.
We had a whirl-wind tour and saw 5 sights before breakfast, including this 55 metre reclining Buddha, which had birds nesting in his mouth and nose!:
We also visited the very impressive Shwemawdaw Paya with its large chunk of old the zedi's spire that was toppled by the 1917 earthquake:
Look at the scaffolding and workmen on this pagoda:
We also went to see an even bigger reclining Buddha. You can just see me at the bottom of the photo:
The massive python bellow, is the reincarnation of a monk and much revered:
We think this is a statue of the monk that is now the snake. Someone had given him a gift of a lighted cigarette:
Our guide took us to one of the biggest monasteries in Myanmar, where he'd actually lived for 5 years. Around 1000 monks live here and there were another 1000 visiting as there was a festival on. At 10.30 everyday there is a free lunch that everyone is welcome to join. We sat and ate amongst the monks and visitors and it was a very enjoyable experience.
At the monastery there is a statue of Aung San. The authorities wanted to relocate this statue but the monks ensured that it stayed put.
After our morning of sight seeing, we collected our bags from the hotel and went to the train station. We'd decided to get the train back to Yangon but we ended up waiting at the station for hours. You don't feel confident about your train arriving when there are cows, goats and dogs wandering around on the tracks!
The train was packed and we were glad that we'd paid extra to get a seat. From the train we saw people living in real poverty and it certainly made us remember how lucky we are. We stopped en route at a small village and the village children stood next to the train looking up at us as. Many of them were collecting plastic bottles. The boy behind me gave his toy car to one of the village boys, which was a very sweet thing to do.
We had a few more days in Yangon and then we flew back to Bangkok.
Myanmar is the most interesting country that we've visited so far and it's been very moving learning about Aung San and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi. We've also enjoyed learning more about Buddhism. People in Myanmar want there kids to get qualifications but they also want them to be good human beings i.e. caring, thoughtful and kind to the poor and the weak. This is how we found the Burmese people to be.
The government has a shocking history of human rights abuses but despite all that the people have suffered they've never given up hope that one day they'll have democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest one year ago, she is in dialogue with the new government and changes are occurring. Today we heard that Hilary Clinton is due to visit Myanmar.
We will watch closely as events unfold and hope and pray that the wonderful people of Myanmar get the country that they deserve.
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