Yangon, Myanmar

The Great Capital of Burma (Delusions of the Military Junta aside)


Buddhist Heart of Myanmar
The great pagoda glitters reflected in the water of Lake Kandawgyi.
Safe
A young monk poses next to a religious painting in the Shwedagon pagoda.
Colonial Heritage
Partially isolated from the world due to the rigidity of the military regime, Yangon is one of the cities in Southeast Asia with more colonial buildings.
Buddhist court
Monk from Chauk Htat Gyi monastery has his hair shaved with a razor by one another.
Buddha rested
Reclining Buddha from Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda, 65 meters long and 16 meters high.
a moment of faith
Buddhist believers pray facing the great Shwedagon pagoda, the religious fulcrum of Yangon and Myanmar.
The great Shwedagon paya
Faithful and visitors around the broad base of the Shwedagon Pagoda.
good mood on board
A bus assistant has a huge smile at the attention her vehicle attracts from outside photographers.
middle street vendor
Small trader displays his vegetables in one of Yangon's many open-air markets.
Mini Burmese
Baby ventures into one of the many courtyards of the Shwedagon Pagoda where a monk is reading a newspaper.
traveling palmist
A palmist reads a client's hand in downtown Yangon.
In light of Buddhism
Residents of Yangon live the night of the city also illuminated by the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Buddhist curiosity
Baby lurks from inside a room where two Buddhist monks are housed.
the old Yangon
Perspective of Yangon's decaying houses seen from one of the tallest buildings in the city.
private shadows
Young visitors to Shwedagon Pagoda shelter from Yangon's mid-afternoon tropical sun.
In 2005, Myanmar's dictatorial government inaugurated a bizarre and nearly deserted new capital. Exotic, cosmopolitan life remains intact in Yangon, Burmese's largest and most fascinating city.

It was as casual as it was rewarding.

The first time we entered Myanmar coincided with the day of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, The Lady, as the Burmese like to call their savior.

The people of this shackled country, already gentle and warm, lived then a renewed hope and gave long smiles that the urge to sell the services of guides, handicrafts, souvenirs, whatever, did not seem to affect.

middle street vendor

Small trader displays his vegetables in one of Yangon's many open-air markets.

Like the population of Myanmar, Suu Kyi had been kept, for most of the last twenty-one years of her life, under the corsets of the military regime.

Neither international pressure nor the Nobel Prize status acquired in the meantime shortened the sentences to which she had been sentenced.

At the end of the afternoon of November 13, 2010, we passed, in a taxi, right in front of the avenue that leads to his house. The entrance was blocked by the army but we soon learned how the liberation had gone.

The taxi driver could not hide his joy and resorted to acceptable English to express it: “You look younger than ever. It can't have been just my impression.

When I saw the images on TV, I was moved by her beauty, by that suffering dignity that we have always been used to…”

Naypyidaw: The Emergence of the Ghost Capital

Eight years earlier, the military government had once again upset the people it oppressed with another of its crazy decisions.

About 25 construction companies were contracted to build a new capital from scratch.

Among the Burmese, the belief became popular that, as with many other decisions by military dictators, an astrologer would have warned Than Shwe – the former leader of the Junta – that a foreign attack was imminent.

The warning triggered the process of moving away from Yangon and the sea.

Two gigantic military caravans ensured the transport of government ministries and army battalions to the new capital. The hasty change led to a shortage of schools and various other essential infrastructure.

So, while government workers were already working in Naypyidaw, their families remained for an endless time in Yangon.

good mood on board

A bus assistant has a huge smile at the attention her vehicle attracts from outside photographers.

The new capital assumed itself as the biggest urban aberration in Southeast Asia. In exotic and decadent Yangon, since then, little or nothing has changed.

Yangon (or Rangoon): A Stroll Through the True Capital

We fled from the clutches of a terrible jet lag.

From the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city, we admire its assorted houses.

Made of aged buildings, browned by age and by the rust of the tin roofs, in the style of those in Havana or Calcutta, but from which new colored examples stand out here and there.

the old Yangon

Perspective of Yangon's decaying houses seen from one of the tallest buildings in the city.

We went down to the ground level of Sule Paya Street.

In the middle of the low, we strive to exchange dollars at the best possible exchange rate, never the one that appears in international and official tables.

Soon after, we give in to our anxiety and immediately go to the spiritual heart of the city and one of the most impressive Buddhist temples in the world.

The taxi drops us off at one of the many entrances to the great Shwedagon Pagoda.

We are on sacred ground and, like all visitors, mostly local believers or Burmese pilgrims, we have to enter barefoot.

The great Shwedagon paya

Faithful and visitors around the broad base of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Shwedagon Pagoda: The Buddhist Heartland

Inside, the white mosaic floor radiates the strong light of tropical latitude, and the golden glow of the enormous bell-shaped stupa overshadows any other view.

We quickly adapted to the new light and admire the spirituality of the place.

Around it, dozens of faithful direct their prayers to the majestic symbol, alone or synchronized in large groups.

Monks meditate or socialize with each other and with believers in mini-stupas or harmonious sets of Buddha statues.

private shadows

Young visitors to Shwedagon Pagoda shelter from Yangon's mid-afternoon tropical sun.

Later in the day, female faithful volunteer as sweepers.

They form popular cleaning brigades, walk around the stupa lined with raised straw brooms, and leave the temple immaculate for the next day's devotees.

We left the temple to its religiosity and explored other parts of the city. We soon understand that what makes it even more special is the way it integrates into a dense and contrasting urban setting like that of Yangon.

When the sun starts to set we are strolling along the shores of Lake Kandawgyi.

There, we are surprised by the Burmese architecture of the Karaweik floating restaurant, inspired and shaped like a mythological bird with a similar name and a melodious chirp.

In light of Buddhism

Residents of Yangon live the night of the city also illuminated by the Shwedagon Pagoda.

The Shwedagon Pagoda soon regains our full attention. The sun's ball increases in size and falls over the horizon. Then it melts into an even more exuberant twilight.

Gradually, dusk gives the lake a splendid reflection of the supreme temple and the Karaweik restaurant.

Both golden, both lit against a slightly tropical backdrop under a warm sky dotted with small magenta clouds.

And even when night falls, the huge stupa doesn't stop glowing in the near-darkness of Yangon.

Buddhist Heart of Myanmar

The great pagoda glitters reflected in the water of Lake Kandawgyi.

A Cosmopolitan City where Asia Meets

The next morning, we set out again to discover the city that blesses. Yangon appears in a fertile region of the delta of the homonymous river, in the center of Myanmar.

The more we walk through its damp streets, the more we have the sensation of being in the vicinity of India – which is true – and facing a work of those that was halfway through.

Decrepit buildings succeed each other as private residences or headquarters of ministries. Sometimes interspersed with recent office towers and Hindu temples with gopurams (ornate towers) more eccentric than anything else in the vicinity.

Colonial Heritage

Partially isolated from the world due to the rigidity of the military regime, Yangon is one of the cities in Southeast Asia with more colonial buildings.

Together with the dozens of golden stupas, they form a fascinating urban disorder that shelters the intense life of more than five million people, including Burmese, of the India, Chinese and other South Asian nations.

Around the large covered market building in Bogyoke Aung San, where everything is sold and bought under the blazing sun, side businesses are as or more spontaneous and abundant than in New Delhi or Bombay.

A young palmist reads a lady's hand, installed on her mobile bench, no more than the box of a van marked with large posters that explain the meaning of each line on the palm.

traveling palmist

A palmist reads a client's hand in downtown Yangon.

Markets and Businesses for Every Taste

In the immediate vicinity and all over the place, betel nut vendors keep the stock up to date with the many consumers who frequent their stalls, half-walled with magazines, posters of models and Burmese film stars.

Another of so many streets, this one with shadows lost between centuries-old mango trees and the shutters of windows each in its own color, houses folded clotheslines, a forest of telephone cables and on the asphalt a dazzling street market.

Furniture and ready-to-crack fried crickets, vegetables and fruits of all kinds and fried eggs are displayed in a large form filled with holes to receive them.

street fondue

A street vendor from Yangoon, Myanmar, lures passersby with freshly-fried small kebabs

We walk through this frenetic market through a large part of downtown Yangon, passing by the Botataung pagoda, the many monasteries around, with time to peek at some majestic colonial government buildings.

We only stop at the pier of the muddy Yangon River where part of the population takes boats to Sirion and other villages on the other side, and another relaxes to practice sports or socialize next to the riverside scenery.

Chauk Htat Gyi: New Pagoda, Another View of Burmese Buddhism

New day in Rangoon – as the British settlers preferred to call the city. We dedicate ourselves once more to Buddhism, in the inner parts of the city. We passed the terminal of the old woman train station.

We take a taxi that drops us off at the door of Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda.

More than the interest of the pagoda itself, here inhabits a reclining Buddha 65 meters long and 16 meters high.

“I will go with you and show you everything and take you back to the center. All together I make an irrefutable price!

Buddha rested

Reclining Buddha from Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda, 65 meters long and 16 meters high.

The promotion of taxi driver Nyi Nyi Win leaves us disarmed by what we gladly accept. We ended up admiring the superlative Buddha.

As a special favor to the newly hired guide, we also visited the interior of the adjoining monastery where he himself lived when he was little and socialized with the spiritual leader of the community and several other monks.

Including one who is patiently shaved on the outside with a classic shaver.

Buddhist court

Monk from Chauk Htat Gyi monastery has his hair shaved with a razor by one another.

Only Nyi Nyi speaks English. “the monks of this monastery played a very important role in one of the religious revolts against the regime” he informs us with undisguised pride.

In April 2012, Aung Suu Kyi was elected to the lower house of the Burmese parliament. She was chosen as president of Myanmar in 2015.

Six years later, (2021), the strong men of Myanmar have taken over the country again and face the fury of the Burmese people with tear gas and bullets.

The hated military regime maintains its headquarters in the official but surreal capital of Naypyidaw.

Mandalay ..., Myanmar

Mandalay: the Burmese Cultural Heartland

Built in 1857 by a king determined to rule from his own capital, Mandalay succumbed to bombs dropped by the Japanese during World War II. After independence from Britain, the young city regained its place at the foot of the hill of the same name and in the soul of the Brahmans.
Mount Kyaiktiyo, Myanmar

The Golden and Balancing Rock of Buddha

We are discovering Rangoon when we find out about the Golden Rock phenomenon. Dazzled by its golden and sacred balance, we join the now centuries-old Burmese pilgrimage to Mount Kyaiktyo.
berry, Myanmar

A Journey to Bago. And to the Portuguese Kingdom of Pegu

Determined and opportunistic, two Portuguese adventurers became kings of Pegu's kingdom. His dynasty only lasted from 1600 to 1613. It has gone down in history.
Inle Lake, Myanmar

The Dazzling Lakustrine Burma

With an area of ​​116km2, Inle Lake is the second largest lake in Myanmar. It's much more than that. The ethnic diversity of its population, the profusion of Buddhist temples and the exoticism of local life make it an unmissable stronghold of Southeast Asia.
Inle Lake, Myanmar

A Pleasant Forced Stop

In the second of the holes that we have during a tour around Lake Inlé, we hope that they will bring us the bicycle with the patched tyre. At the roadside shop that welcomes and helps us, everyday life doesn't stop.
u-bein BridgeMyanmar

The Twilight of the Bridge of Life

At 1.2 km, the oldest and longest wooden bridge in the world allows the Burmese of Amarapura to experience Lake Taungthaman. But 160 years after its construction, U Bein is in its twilight.
Bagan, Myanmar

The Plain of Pagodas, Temples and other Heavenly Redemptions

Burmese religiosity has always been based on a commitment to redemption. In Bagan, wealthy and fearful believers continue to erect pagodas in hopes of winning the benevolence of the gods.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Alligator
safari
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Faithful light candles, Milarepa Grotto temple, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 9th Manang to Milarepa Cave, Nepal

A Walk between Acclimatization and Pilgrimage

In full Annapurna Circuit, we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). we still need acclimatize to the higher stretches that followed, we inaugurated an equally spiritual journey to a Nepalese cave of Milarepa (4000m), the refuge of a siddha (sage) and Buddhist saint.
Luderitz, Namibia
Architecture & Design
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Aventura
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Moa on a beach in Rapa Nui/Easter Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Easter Island, Chile

The Take-off and Fall of the Bird-Man Cult

Until the XNUMXth century, the natives of Easter Island they carved and worshiped great stone gods. All of a sudden, they started to drop their moai. The veneration of tanatu manu, a half-human, half-sacred leader, decreed after a dramatic competition for an egg.
Saint George, Grenada, Antilles, houses
Cities
Saint George, Granada

A Caribbean History Detonation

The peculiar Saint George spreads along the slope of an inactive volcano and around a U-shaped cove. Its abundant and undulating houses attest to the wealth generated over the centuries on the island of Grenada, of which it is the capital.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Lunch time
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
capillary helmet
Culture
Viti levu, Fiji

Cannibalism and Hair, Fiji Islands' Old Pastimes

For 2500 years, anthropophagy has been part of everyday life in Fiji. In more recent centuries, the practice has been adorned by a fascinating hair cult. Luckily, only vestiges of the latest fashion remain.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
on this side of the Atlantic
Ethnic

Island of Goreia, Senegal

A Slave Island of Slavery

Were several millions or just thousands of slaves passing through Goreia on their way to the Americas? Whatever the truth, this small Senegalese island will never be freed from the yoke of its symbolism.”

sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Zambezi
History
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwee

Livingstone's Thundering Gift

The explorer was looking for a route to the Indian Ocean when natives led him to a jump of the Zambezi River. The falls he found were so majestic that he decided to name them in honor of his queen
Cauldron of Corvo Island, Azores,
Islands
Corvo, Azores

The Unlikely Atlantic Shelter on Corvo Island

17 km2 of a volcano sunk in a verdant caldera. A solitary village based on a fajã. Four hundred and thirty souls snuggled by the smallness of their land and the glimpse of their neighbor Flowers. Welcome to the most fearless of the Azorean islands.
Masked couple for the Kitacon convention.
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

An Unconventional Finland

The authorities themselves describe Kemi as “a small, slightly crazy town in northern Finland”. When you visit, you find yourself in a Lapland that is not in keeping with the traditional ways of the region.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Transpantaneira pantanal of Mato Grosso, capybara
Nature
Mato Grosso Pantanal, Brazil

Transpantaneira, Pantanal and the Ends of Mato Grosso

We leave from the South American heart of Cuiabá to the southwest and towards Bolivia. At a certain point, the paved MT060 passes under a picturesque portal and the Transpantaneira. In an instant, the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is flooded. It becomes a huge Pantanal.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Cliffs above the Valley of Desolation, near Graaf Reinet, South Africa
Natural Parks
Graaf-Reinet, South Africa

A Boer Spear in South Africa

In early colonial times, Dutch explorers and settlers were terrified of the Karoo, a region of great heat, great cold, great floods and severe droughts. Until the Dutch East India Company founded Graaf-Reinet there. Since then, the fourth oldest city in the rainbow nation it thrived at a fascinating crossroads in its history.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
UNESCO World Heritage
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Correspondence verification
Characters
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
conversation at sunset
Beaches
Boracay, Philippines

The Philippine Beach of All Dreams

It was revealed by Western backpackers and the film crew of “Thus Heroes are Born”. Hundreds of resorts and thousands of eastern vacationers followed, whiter than the chalky sand.
Miyajima Island, Shinto and Buddhism, Japan, Gateway to a Holy Island
Religion
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
On Rails
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
cowboys oceania, rodeo, el caballo, perth, australia
Society
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

Texas is on the other side of the world, but there is no shortage of cowboys in the country of koalas and kangaroos. Outback rodeos recreate the original version and 8 seconds lasts no less in the Australian Western.
Visitors at Talisay Ruins, Negros Island, Philippines
Daily life
Talisay City, Philippines

Monument to a Luso-Philippine Love

At the end of the 11th century, Mariano Lacson, a Filipino farmer, and Maria Braga, a Portuguese woman from Macau, fell in love and got married. During the pregnancy of what would be her 2th child, Maria succumbed to a fall. Destroyed, Mariano built a mansion in his honor. In the midst of World War II, the mansion was set on fire, but the elegant ruins that endured perpetuate their tragic relationship.
Asian buffalo herd, Maguri Beel, Assam, India
Wildlife
Maguri Bill, India

A Wetland in the Far East of India

The Maguri Bill occupies an amphibious area in the Assamese vicinity of the river Brahmaputra. It is praised as an incredible habitat especially for birds. When we navigate it in gondola mode, we are faced with much (but much) more life than just the asada.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.