August 20, 2010

The holiest shrine in Myanmar- the Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon

Location: Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon, Myanmar (16° 47′ 54.37″ N, 96° 8′ 58.07″ E)
Date: 11 December 2000; 5.15pm:
Canon EOS 500N (analogue) on slides and scanned

The cat is out of the bag, so to speak, as the Myanmar military junta has decided that the so-called general election will be held in November. It will not be much of a real election as the rules of the election are heavily biased towards the military to retain power, without the uniform. Even if the process does produce a non-military winner, it is doubtful that the winner is allowed to take over. Anyway most tourists including myself will try to avoid going to Myanmar closer to the election. I would love to revisit the country again soon as I really enjoyed my time there many years ago. The people are so incredibly friendly and hospitable and so eager to talk to foreigners. Some of Myanmar’s pagodas are just simply exquisite- like the holy Shwedagon Pagoda pictured here. I could imagine that much has changed as the country has opened up considerably since to foreign tourists. One thing for sure- we will not be forced to spend at least US$200 each; in the past foreigners must change US$200 into kyat at the airport and is not allowed to bring the kyat out or changed back to US$ on departing.

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1 comment:

jim said...

Myanmar is a country I would love to visit, i have heard a lot about the pagodas. Is it a safe country to travel to these days?