lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

40YANGON IN…YANGONTwo DaysStart the morning with a traditional Myanmar breakfast of mohinga (soup of thin ricenoodles and fish broth). Before the heat becomes oppressive, take a walk around thecity centre following our suggested walking tour. Allow yourself plenty of time to play inthe markets, dawdle in the temples and fawn over the rickety architecture. Rest your feetbefore the day’s highlight: the Shwedagon Paya at sunset. End your day with dinner at anearby restaurant such as SK Hot Pot.Dedicate your second day to exploring the sights outside the city centre. After ateahouse breakfast, take the ferry to Dalah, on the other side of the Yangon River, toprovide a taste of delta life. Back on dry ground, the Botataung Paya near the jetty isthe next logical stop. For lunch, take a taxi to Aung Thukha and try authentic Burmesefood. Spend the remainder of the afternoon cruising around temples north of the citycentre, including the Chaukhtatgyi Paya and nearby Ngahtatgyi Paya. Then, if timeallows, take a stroll around Kandawgyi Lake, and maybe stop in for a drink at one of thelakeside restaurants or hotels.Four DaysThe sensible should try to give themselves more time to devote to the city, and if you’reone of the lucky blighters able to do this, Yangon has some treats in store! Spend the firsttwo days following the Yangon in Two Days suggestions and then, after another teahousebreakfast on day three, head to the National Museum to swoon over treasures thatwould make Aladdin jealous. Wander around the embassy district until you arrive atyour lunch destination, Feel Myanmar Food. In the evening, hit up Chinatown and theincense-clouded temple Kheng Hock Keong, and finish with a streetside grilled feaston 19th St. By day four you’ll probably feel the need to stretch your wings a little, sochoose from one of three easy day trips out of the city. The first involves floating templesand off-beat adventure around Thanlyin and Kyauktan. The second involves more waterwith a slow ferry ride and temple tour of Twante. The third is for those for whom oneBuddha is never enough: temple-packed Bago is where you’re off to today.means leader, usually in a military sense, andtataung means 1000). For one six-month periodthis paya is said to have harboured alleight strands of the Buddha’s hair beforethey were distributed elsewhere. It’s not asbreathtaking as the Shwedagon, or as strikingfor being so out of place like Sule Paya,but Botataung’s spacious riverfront locationand lack of crowds give it a more down-toearthspiritual feeling than the other two.Its proximity to fresh air and the Yangonwharves were less fortuitous when abomb from an Allied air raid in November1943 scored a direct hit on the unfortunatepaya. After the war the Botataung was rebuiltin a very similar style to its predecessor,but with one important and unusualdifference: unlike most zedi (stupa), whichare solid, the Botataung is hollow, and youcan walk through it. There’s a sort of goldleaf-coatedmaze inside the stupa, with glassshowcases containing many of the ancientrelics and artefacts, including small silverand-goldBuddha images, which were sealedinside the earlier stupa. Reconstruction alsorevealed a small gold cylinder holding twosmall body relics and a strand of hair, saidto belong to the Buddha, which is reputedlystill in the stupa. Above this interesting interior,the golden stupa spire rises to 131ft.To the western side of the stupa is a hallcontaining a large gilded bronze Buddha,cast during the reign of King Mindon Min.At the time of the British annexation, it waskept in King Thibaw Min’s glass palace, butafter King Thibaw was exiled to India, theBritish shipped the image to London. In 1951the image was returned to Myanmar andplaced in the Botataung Paya. Also on thegrounds is a nat pavilion containing imagesof Thurathadi (the Hindu deity Saraswati,goddess of learning and music) and Thagyamin(Indra, king of the nat) flanking thethoroughly Myanmar nat Bobogyi.There’s also a large pond full of hundredsof terrapin turtles. Most are fairly small but