Going around Yangon 1

It used to be known as Rangoon. The country used to be called Burma. The literature and 19th Century literature would describe this city as a busy metropolis. The romantism of the British Empire was built around Rangoon. The history is interesting and of course when given the opportunity to visit this city, I was more than happy to be so. I guess when you do have work to do in exquisite places, the opportunity to look around should not be missed!

The first thing you'd be surprised to see about Yangon is how big the roads are. It was definitely built before its time, having 2-3 way per side lanes. The best thing is if you are driving, you'd be on the right side of the road. You may think that aha.. just like the Americans but surprisingly most of the cars are not left hand rive but right hand drive! Imagine the confusion if I were to drive here.. haha

 We were celebrated in a local restaurant in the vicinity of Kandawgi Lake, Yangon. One of the 2 artificial lakes that was built with the objective to provide clean water to the residents; obviously duringthe British colonial years. The food was pretty similar to ours, in fact much more similarity if compared to the authentic thai food. The ambience of the restaurant called white rice was also great; in a bamboo shaped dome restaurant.We retired early that night to prepare for the workshop :)

 Of course, after the workshop is done it was being a tourist time! haha we were told to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda at night as the lights would light it up really well. I've been to a lot of Pagoda in recent years but this Pagoda in yangon is certainly the biggest I have been too! We can see how bright the Pagoda is at night, it was the only well lighted place at night! Walking to it from our hotel was a decent 10 minutes and as the weather here is comfortable, it was so much convenient after dinner.

According to legend,the Shwedagon Pagoda has existed for more than 2,600 years, making it the oldest historical pagoda in Burma and the world! Civilization had started here long time ago and i am sure, one way or another the generation of Myanmarese is a matured one. I have always been fascinated by the Indo-China history and comin to these places is certainly an eye opener to see what they have achieved even from then.

The Pagoda complex is SUPER-HUGE! Besar gile! 3 escalators up from the ( ican't remember East or West now.. haha) gate.I've never been to a pagoda with such magnitude and i do respect how they managed to make the place for their locals to visit at night. Most of the visitors were the locals and only a flock of foreign tourists.

 It was very beautiful at night, the contrast of gold vs the dark night sky was just superb. I am truly amazed by the architecture and howthey have planned it. Certainly a strong base history and I am glad to have been here!