Just ten years ago, Burma, or Myanmar as it is now known, was an almost unknown country, closed to tourism and with many internal conflicts. But since 2010, and 2015 in particular, things began to change.
Although back in 1989 the military junta decided to change the name of the country to Burma, Myanmar is also recognised, place names like Rangoon, Pagan, Bassein and Arkan were also accepted and seen as being more inclusive (it’s trendy now to recognise the use of all names). Both have the same etymological root in the Burmese language, Burma is the spoken name of the country, while Myanmar is its written, literary name. Nevertheless, nobody would dream of calling the locals Myanmar people and they continue to be known as Burmese to this day.
These people, men and women, children and the elderly are the ones who make this great country so unique. Apart from the precious and mysterious Bagan pagodas, the incredible colours of the Inle Lake, the imperial majesty of Mandalay, the sheer size of the mountains to the north or the appealing mayhem of Yangon, we also have the real jewel in the crown – the Myanmar people with their eternal smile, composure, innocence and kindness who make Myanmar someplace very unique.
The men, dressed in the traditional longyi Burmese skirt, the women with their faces almost completely covered with thanaka and carrying umbrellas to protect them from the sun and monsoon rain and the children trying to sell handkerchiefs, bags or a lac box (they never ask for money) surround travellers and happily pose for their photos. The country’s real treasure lies in the people themselves. Mingalaba is the typical greeting, which means “hello/goodbye and it’s a blessing”.
Myanmar has much to offer. This is our selection of the country’s top ten charms:
The colonial city where Pablo Neruda lived
One of the secrets that Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, the largest city in Mayanmar, holds is the house and neighbourhood where the Chilean, Pablo Neruda lived in the 1920s, after taking an honorary consulship at the age of 23. Here is where he wrote his “Residence on Earth” book of poetry in which he displays his most genuine romanticism, nocturnal, solitary, challenging and passionate side. Some of his poems were also inspired by his Burmese lover Josie Bliss. But, he’s not the only famous writer tied to Myanmar. In many places, you can buy ‘Burmese Days’ by George Orwell in several languages, even in Spanish, and references are made continually to ‘Mandalay’ by Rudyard Kipling. But little remains of this colonial city, just a few colourful houses full of cables and balconies with clothes hanging on them. Today, the heart of the city, crammed with cars, although not as many as in other Asian cities, and strangely enough without motorbikes or bicycles, is where we find the Maha Bandula Garden and heritage buildings such as Yangon City Hall, the High Court and the Independence Monument. Families gather near the obelisk and the surrounding chinthes (half-lion, half-dragon deities).
Almost all the women and some men and children have a large part of their faces covered with thanakha, a yellowish-white paste ground from the bark of a tree similar to sandalwood. Apart from cosmetic beauty, it also protects from sunburn and is believed to help remove acne and promote smooth skin.
It’s very cheap to buy, and you can find it everywhere. A great way to see a cross section of life in Yangon is to take a ride on the Yangon Circular Railway. This old train connects satellite towns and suburban areas to the city and takes about three hours to complete. Still, we recommend just visiting three or four of its 38 stations. Onboard the train you’ll see people carrying huge bags with food or clothes and sellers trying to earn some extra money during the journey may offer you apples, mangos, oranges, watermelons, eggs, etc.
The dazzling Shwedagon Pagoda
This is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in the city and all of Myanmar. The 99 metre high pagoda’s official name is Shwedagon Zedi Daw, and it includes many relics, including eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama. The pagoda is covered with 27,000 kilos of gold plates (side question: If Buddha, Moses, Christ or Mohammed lived in poverty and preached austerity to their followers, why did the churches they founded insist on covering their pagodas, synagogues, cathedrals and mosques with gold and precious stones?). The crown of the stupa is tipped with 5448 diamonds, 2317 rubies, sapphires and other gems, 1065 golden bells and, at the very top, a single 76-carat diamond (1 carat = 0.2 grams).
As with all pagodas, barefooted visitors admire the devotion of the worshippers who spend hours in front of the more than 1000 buddhas believed to exist there. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see people reading the Tipitaka on their mobile or iPad. This collection of Buddhist scriptures written in the Pali language forms the doctrinal and foundational body of Theravada Buddhism. Devotees offer them flowers and sweet, there are even some street sellers who offer live birds as offerings to Buddha, and women spend an eternity cleaning the statues. Each of them seems to have their favourite Buddha.
However, they are not the only ones obsessed with cleaning. Every ten metres, rows of 15 sweepers follow one another non-stop to make sure the large terrace is always spotlessly clean. Cleanliness was one of Siddhartha Gautama’s obsessions.
The city of 5000 pagodas
Some people say there are 2000, others 4000 and the more optimistic speak of up to 5000 small and not so small pagodas in Bagan. Almost all are from the 12th and 13th century, most are made from bricks, only a few are gilded, and many of them were damaged by the earthquake in 2016 but are now being restored. It’s the largest religious complex in the world, and Marco Polo once said the pagodas and stupas of the Bagan plains, which at the time totalled more than 13,000, “shone like one thousand fires and made up one of the most beautiful paintings in the world”. The city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. The largest temple is Dhammayangyi, which was built during the reign of King Narathu in the 12th century. Narathu is said to have built the temple to atone for his sins after killing his father, his brother and his wife. The insides of the temples in Bagan are not richly ornamental, as they are seen as spaces to meditate without distraction. You can sometimes find altars for the nats (spirits of nature) and shrines to pray in front of protective symbols of the days of the week, just make sure to find out which day you were born on beforehand! Bagan is spectacular at sunset, the temples towers rise above the red earth, giving the feeling they are hidden among the tropical vegetation. This marvellous spectacle is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
Depending on the time of day and the temperature, the sky fills up with hot air balloons, making it a sight to behold whether you’re ballooning high above more marvelling from a temple top on the ground. If you have the time, try to make it up to the top of Mount Popa, a sacred place for the Myanmar people crowned by a Buddhist monastery which can be reached after climbing up the stairway of 777 steps to the summit of Taung Kalat.
Lacquerware
Myanmar is an authentic shopper’s paradise; the handcrafts are original, varied and sold at reasonable prices. The temptations, made with woven lotus or bamboo-strip, range from silver pieces and jewellery to silk handkerchiefs, but perhaps the puppets are the most original. These are an artform in Myanmar and often used for puppet shows in Bagan. The lacquered yun pieces (round and rectangular boxes), whose origin dates back to the 12th century are equally impressive, and there’s an entire neighbourhood in the city dedicated to this art. They make bowls, vases, boxes, bags here, and the process is long and complicated. The process begins by creating the container with bamboo; it is them cut, softened and worked into the shape of the desired object that is very strong when finished. It’s then tested for strength, with one of the craftspeople standing on a box the size of a cup to check that it doesn’t break, if it passes the test, it’s then polished to give it a beautiful shine. At least seven layers of lacquer are then applied by hand to check for impurities, and the colour, which is usually black, is added to the last layer. Engraving is done freehand, without a template, entirely from memory, using a stylus and a brush. While some of the largest pieces can take up to six months to complete, lacquerware is virtually unbreakable can maintain their beauty for many years.
Anawrahta, collector of relics of Buddha
Anawrahta is one of the most famous kings in Myanmar’s history. He was the founder of the Pagan Empire in 1044, and also the architect of the secrets that still surround the city today, which make this place with the Myanmar people. Inspired by the teaching of Buddha, his mission in life was to acquire relics of the master. He managed to get a tooth several hairs, which according to legend, he placed inside a case to be carried by a white elephant, which he later released. The elephant stopped in four different places, and the king ordered a pagoda to be built in each of these places, which still keep these relics today.
These temples are the most visited in modern-day Bagan, and it’s said that if you meditate in all four of them on the same day, your dream will be fulfilled. His chief monument was the Shwezigon Pagoda, the second most important in the country after Shwedagon in Yangon. Shwezigon is the main pilgrimage centre in Bagan.
It has increased the aura of mystery of the pagoda complex, which holds many enigmas still waiting to be unravelled. The pagoda is located in the centre of a large octagonal platform, with other sanctuaries and smaller pagodas built around it. After seeing so many white and gold-covered Buddhist temples, we recommend a walk along the Irrawaddy River, especially at sunset, to see the mango and banana plantations, rustic huts and the inescapable pagodas among the vegetation.
See the most vivid image of Buddha… covered in gold
The next stage of the journey takes us to Mandalay and, of course, we start with a new pagoda, that of Mahamuni, which according to the locals, represents the most real image of Buddah, the most worshipped, and one of the most important places of Buddhist worship in Myanmar. The image of Mahamuni is enshrined in a small chamber with a roof covering made up of seven pyatthat (tiered roofs). Just like many of the other pagodas, it’s also covered in gold, and the thickness of this treasure regularly increases as male devotees typically apply gold leaves to the Mahamuni image. Unfortunately, women are prohibited from accessing the temple. It’s believed that the image now has a layer of almost 20 centimetres which has given a shapeless contour to the original image. Every day at 4am the veteran monks wash the image in a ritual that lasts for over an hour. In contrast to so much gold, the Shwenandaw Monastery, which was originally part of the Royal Palace, is well worth a visit. The monastery is known for its intricate teak carvings of Buddhist myths, representing mythical creatures, animals, dancers and flowers. Some of the best-preserved panels are protected from the weather and sunlight inside the building. A number of carved panels also depict scenes from the Jakata tales about the previous lives of the Buddha. The most prominent Buddha image is mounted inside the main room in the centre of the building, with Nat spirits worshipping it. Here also, women are excluded from going inside to worship the image.
Crossing the bridge of a thousand pillars
Its image has become famous for appearing in many in advertisements. It’s also one of Myanmar’s top tourist attractions. The U Bein Bridge, located in Amarapura, just a few kilometres from Mandalay, is the world’s longest teak footbridge, which was built in a curved shape crossing 1200 metres across the shallow Lake Taungthaman, and today, is one of the most photographed spots in Myanmar. Surprisingly it has endured more than 200 years without hardly any of the pillars needing to be changed. The reflection of more than 1000 wooden posts on the water is an imposing spectacle, especially if you rent one of the small row boats and sail around the lake at sunrise or sunset when hundreds of villagers and monks cross from one side to the other. Many young girls work hard to sell their wares on the shores of the lake, but they don’t insist too much if you tell them you’re not interested in their bags, lacquerware boxes, handkerchiefs or fans.
Discover the fishermen who row with one leg
Inle Lake is another of Myanmar’s icons. It’s an enormous serene lake bordered by dams, floating orchards and gardens, villages with wooden stilt houses and Buddhist temples that rise above the water. The landscape around the lake could very well remind you of Asturias or Cantabria, with high mountains covered with vegetation. Everything is exceptionally picturesque when you visit the lake by boat with their long tail outboard motors that skilfully avoid the floating vegetation, but the lake’s big attraction is the Intha (sons of the lake) ethnic group, who practice a distinctive rowing style with one leg wrapped around the oar, while they manage a funnel-shaped net with their hands. While going along the lake, you’ll sometimes come across intricate canals where it seems the boat is going to get entangled with water lily, lotus or hyacinth plants.
This is where you’ll also see houses, restaurants, silk looms, shops, monasteries and schools that are built on stilts of almost rotten bamboo. Travelling down the twisty canals, you’ll find a group of Buddhist pagodas in the village of Indein. These pagodas, built of brick, are mostly abandoned, but curiously enough, the village people, when not bathing in the murky brown water, go to a lot of effort to restore them by uprooting the plants covering them and restoring the low walls around the pagodas.
Enjoy original and cheerful cuisine
Myanmar food has a unique identity, even though the food has been influenced by various cuisines of neighbouring countries, in particular, China, India and Thailand. A typical Myanmar meal is based around rice with dishes of meat and fish cooked with onion and garlic sauce. Soups can be clear, creamy or bitter and are sipped during the meal to cleanse the palate. Salads are a popular side dish and some, like the pickled tea leaves called lahpet are eaten as snacks. Mohinga, a rich fish broth with thin rice noodles that’s usually eaten for breakfast,is considered by many to be the national dish of Myanmar. It can be bought on street stalls for about €0.25. Another delicious option is the popular Ohn-no khao swé, a chicken broth cooked with coconut milk and wheat noodles.
