Flying out of Bangkok at 9:15 this morning meant a 5:30 AM wake-up call. Our arrival in Rangoon was followed by a flurry of activity, making for a full and tiring but fascinating and rewarding day overall.
First we did what all good tourists are supposed to do immediately: we changed some "walk around" money for local currency at a nearby money exchange ($1.00 instantly became 840 kyat -- not long ago the official rate would have yielded around 7 kyat per dollar instead!).
Our second stop brought us to Burma's third largest Reclining Buddha, incongruously housed under a huge corrugated metal shed and featuring a quite feminized figure complete with painted nails and bright red lips . Like so many Burmese religious statues and structures, this one, dating from 1907, seeks to atone for the donor's shortcomings over a long lifetime filled with various misdeeds and mischief.
During the midday heat we retreated to our hotel (Hillary Clinton was also a recent guest) for lunch and a brief orientation session at the capable hands of our guide. While he prefers to be called "Johnny", his real name, believe it or not, is "Giovanni".
His father was the driver for an Italian Catholic missionary priest, hence he , his seven brothers and two sisters all have good Italian Catholic saints' names! His life story is a fascinating one, and he really knows his stuff. Already our heads are spinning after only a single day ...
Later in the afternoon we walked through the Colonial British neighborhood of classical nineteenth century Western architecture in downtown Rangoon. After the capital official moved into the middle of the country in 2006, most of these buildings were essentially abandoned and left to deteriorate. Although a restoration effort has been launched, hoping to turn the fairly intact area into a tourist attraction uniquely representative of the British Colonial experience, many of the buildings have been condemned and others are in danger of being sold, demolished and replaced with desperately needed new (but uninspiring) housing blocks and tourist hotels.
We're lucky to have visited the area before it disappears altogether or is "restored" into an imagined recreation of past glories. Some of the structures have been at least adequately maintained, illustrating the potential for a lively recreation. However, one never knows what the future might hold: we learned today on the way to Bangkok's new international airport that, due to almost constant political disarray and widespread corruption, it took forty years to complete that entire project!
Walking around downtown Rangoon and our earlier visit to the Reclining Buddha also gave us an easy introduction to local life-on-the-street -- fascinating stuff!
Our final visit brought us to the highlight of the entire tour, the Schwedagon Pagoda complex, just at sunset. Since words can in no way capture the wonder of the place, especially as day gives way to a crescent moon, some images chosen from among the dozens Lee captured will have to do.
The first set illustrates the effect of changing light on the spires that dominate the collection of altars, images and giant stupas. The second set seeks to catch some of the human flavor of the place, full of faithful worshipers, tourists and folks out for a stroll or a picnic under the watchful eye of the divine.
First we did what all good tourists are supposed to do immediately: we changed some "walk around" money for local currency at a nearby money exchange ($1.00 instantly became 840 kyat -- not long ago the official rate would have yielded around 7 kyat per dollar instead!).
Our second stop brought us to Burma's third largest Reclining Buddha, incongruously housed under a huge corrugated metal shed and featuring a quite feminized figure complete with painted nails and bright red lips . Like so many Burmese religious statues and structures, this one, dating from 1907, seeks to atone for the donor's shortcomings over a long lifetime filled with various misdeeds and mischief.
During the midday heat we retreated to our hotel (Hillary Clinton was also a recent guest) for lunch and a brief orientation session at the capable hands of our guide. While he prefers to be called "Johnny", his real name, believe it or not, is "Giovanni".His father was the driver for an Italian Catholic missionary priest, hence he , his seven brothers and two sisters all have good Italian Catholic saints' names! His life story is a fascinating one, and he really knows his stuff. Already our heads are spinning after only a single day ...
Later in the afternoon we walked through the Colonial British neighborhood of classical nineteenth century Western architecture in downtown Rangoon. After the capital official moved into the middle of the country in 2006, most of these buildings were essentially abandoned and left to deteriorate. Although a restoration effort has been launched, hoping to turn the fairly intact area into a tourist attraction uniquely representative of the British Colonial experience, many of the buildings have been condemned and others are in danger of being sold, demolished and replaced with desperately needed new (but uninspiring) housing blocks and tourist hotels.
We're lucky to have visited the area before it disappears altogether or is "restored" into an imagined recreation of past glories. Some of the structures have been at least adequately maintained, illustrating the potential for a lively recreation. However, one never knows what the future might hold: we learned today on the way to Bangkok's new international airport that, due to almost constant political disarray and widespread corruption, it took forty years to complete that entire project!
Our final visit brought us to the highlight of the entire tour, the Schwedagon Pagoda complex, just at sunset. Since words can in no way capture the wonder of the place, especially as day gives way to a crescent moon, some images chosen from among the dozens Lee captured will have to do.
The first set illustrates the effect of changing light on the spires that dominate the collection of altars, images and giant stupas. The second set seeks to catch some of the human flavor of the place, full of faithful worshipers, tourists and folks out for a stroll or a picnic under the watchful eye of the divine.
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