Foot and Fire

A vacation to Myanmar is not about food or shopping or art. It is about religion, observing Myanmarese culture and way of life, it is about walking barefoot (and eventually accepting it!) in each house of Buddha. Arriving in Yangon, one is welcomed by buildings, old and new, big and small. But being in Yangon means one can visit Mayanmar's oldest pagoda (and the world's!) called Shwedagon Pagoda.  *** English writer Rudyard Kipling who is best-known for his "Jungle Book" is said to have had set foot in this Pagoda in 1889 and exclaimed that, "Up till that sight my uninstructed eyes could not see that the land differed much in appearance from the sunderbuns, but the golden dome said: 'This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about.'" (Wikipedia) No wonder about that, because the Shwedagon's crown or umbrella is tipped with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies. Immediately before the diamond bud is a flag-shape...

This is the Sule Pagoda. It is in the heart of Yangon. This is an important religious as well as political site for the Myanmarese. Wikipedia says of this pagoda: This is a Burmese stupa located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography. According to legend, it was built before the Shwedagon Pagoda during the time of the Buddha, making it more than 2,500 years old. Burmese legend states that the site for the Shwedagon Pagoda was asked to be revealed from an old nat who resided at the place where the Sule Pagoda now stands. The Sule Pagoda has been the focal point of both Yangon and Burmese politics. It has served as a rallying point in both the 1988 uprisings and 2007 Saffron Revolution. The pagoda is listed on the Yangon City Heritage List. *** The entrance to Sule pagoda. According to Burmese legend the site where the Sule pagoda now stands was once th...