A photo blog of Friday. Breakfast at the Shwe Yo Vintage hostel was excellent (noodles, soup, cake), setting me up for the day, and the day itself was sunny (and therefore boiling hot), so/but I walked to the National Museum at 10, (it opens at 10, I was about 3km away), headed back to the hostel at 1, and back to the Pagoda for 4ish, so as to see it by day and by night. Walking was hot, crossing the busy roads is a pain, but otherwise it’s highly recommended.
My hostel’s street. Cars park diagonally – quick reverse for them all.
National museum – known for being dark, but not all of it is underlit.
Temple piece. Ground floor of the museum is nice and cool.
Myanmar flag back from space. I saw the Laos one in their National Museum in Luang Prabang the day before.
Picture detail. King in the middle, general to his left. The others are advisors.
Costumes from different tribes – these fascinated me. Keep your weight down and the gents’ tops would look excellent.
National Museum, Myanmar.
Now walking to Shwedagon Pagoda. Beautiful pavements. However, after rain, every decorated piece is an ice (rain) rink. I didn’t quite fall.
Viewpoint, Happy World amusement park – or at least, the park outside it.
Outside the central pillar, temples upon temples.
Buddhas look old… except for the digital decorations.
The Pagoda as sun sets. By now the guide I had accrued had moved on from telling me about temples, to the importance of education.
Stunning as it lights up. The guide had wandered up to me as I sheltered from the rain, and just started to tell me about things. I’d turned one bloke down as I came in – and they respect a no – but Steven was engaging and I stuck with him.
Jade Buddha. Steven was with me for two hours in the end – at least an hour of that berating ill educated compatriots, and the amount they spend on religion, rather than education. I like an anarchist.
From a few spots, the 74 (?) carat diamond at the top of the Pagoda glints, and the colour changes as you move. Steven may have been keen to talk about education, but he knew his stuff here, too.
Recently repainted Buddhas. All the Buddhas are repainted regularly – “Too much money”, said Steven, keen to throw in “$1000”, “$750” as we looked at medium and larger Buddhas.
Fully night-time now, the Pagoda in the dark.
I left, and walked back. I entered by the South-East entrance, which has steps all the way up. The West entrance (carry your shoes in a bag to allow you to exit where you like) has escalators.
