In this
plain, in the center of the country, the
Burmese civilization arose and flourished. From 1044, year in which the king
Anawrahta ascended to the Pagan throne, to 1287, when Kublai Khan invaded and
destroyed the city, over 13.000 monuments were constructed. Bagan, under many
points of view, is the most extraordinary religious city in the world. Every
little space is thickly covered by pagodas of every form and size, and the
territory is so populated by ruins of missing reliquaries that, according to
the popular voice, you can’t take a step or move a hand without touching
something sacred. Perhaps in no other place you can enjoy a so impressing show:
uncountable red-bricks pagodas, and sometimes a white pinnacle standing out
against the sky, on the dusty right bank of the Burmese river. The Shwezigon
pagoda preserves a relics of the Buddha. Among the temples, the most important
ones are the Ananda and the Thatbyinnyu.
Mandalay,
the capital of the northern Myanmar, is a young city. Here there is the
indestructible Mandalay hill, with its kilometers of covered staircases and its
extraordinary pagodas. At its foot, the completely destroyed Royal Palace, the
“Golden City” of the king Mindon. In the center of the city there is the
fascinating Zegyo market, the center of all the trades of the northern Myanmar,
busy in the evenings with Burmese people wearing their colorful traditional
clothing and that contraband every kind of good. There are great artisans that
create their centenary traditional artworks made out of gold, silver and
marble, with chisels, threads and looms. The Irrawaddy’s piers are busy with
boats full of rice. Not far from Mandalay raise up three old cities: Amarapura,
Ava and Sagaing, that between the XIV and the XIX c. were the capitals of the
powerful reign of the northern Myanmar. You can’t miss the Mahagandayon
monastery (out of the city), the place where more than 700 monks live.
This
developing city has three sides enclosed by water. The gold temple Shwedagon,
whose bell-form stupa shines because of its gold covering and is found among
fascinating artificial lakes created by the English. But the huge pagoda is not
the only thing that is worth visiting in the capital. Who is able to look over
the destruction of the Rangoon colonial buildings (it seems that little or
almost nothing has been restored or even
repainted since the English left in 1948) will find out the charm of a
cosmopolitan city of the XX c., with quiet tree-lined avenues of three lanes
and a friendly and cheerful population.
On one hour
by boat from Mandalay, along the Ayeyarwady. Here there are the imposing ruins
of Gyi Mantara Pagoda (commonly known as Mingun Pahto), that, according to the
king Bodawapaya’s intentions, should have been the biggest stupa in the world.
This is why thousands of prisoners of war and slaves worked to construct it.
Only one third of the initial project was completed. However, the ruins of the
pagoda (50 m tall and 72 m wide) are still spectacular. If you climb it and go
up to the top you will enjoy a very beautiful view of the Ayeyarwady river.
Located about 180 km from Yangon, is a big boulder covered
with gold leaves and miraculously balancing on the edge of a rock. On the top
of the boulder, considered sacred, lays a small golden pagoda that contains a
relics of the Buddha.
Established
in 825 with the name of Hamsavati, it was one of the main historic centers of
the country, as it had been the capital of the Moneburmese
reigns more than once. It was abandoned in 1635 in favor of Ava but it never
lost its importance as the greatest city of the Irrawaddy delta. In the period
between the XIII and the XIV c. there was an intense architectural activity
with the construction of numerous temples and stupas. Among the many conserved
ones, the most important one is the huge Shwemawdaw stupa (114 m tall). In the
city there is also the huge image of the laid down Buddha, Shwethalyaung Buddha
(55 m long and 16 m tall) that is very known and loved by the Burmese.
Not far
from this city raised up the old capital of the Pyu reign, Sri Ksetra. This is
the most popular archeologic site of the country and the proof of the ancient
glory of this city is the remaining dozen of temples and pagodas. Among these
there are the Shwenattaung (people believe it dates back to 2000 years ago) and
Shwesandaw pagodas, one of the most venerated religious buildings of the
Burmese people.
On the western coast of Myanmar, near the city of Thandwe, the village of Ngapali raises up on a beautiful beach, a bit more than 2 km long. Nowadays it is the most known seaside center of the country. The hotel receptiveness is very low, 4 hotels only and some small guest houses don’t let the beach to be too busy, not even during the high season. An ideal place to relax, sunbathe and swim in the calm water. To reach Ngpali it is necessary to fly to Thandwe from Yangon or Heho, and from here a short transfer by car.
Mystic,
magical, picturesque: these and many other words are used to describe the
charming landscape of the Inle lake and the incredible Intha, that populate its
banks and surface. This small tribe has perfectly adapted to the lake
environment: wood houses built on pilings and joined one to the other by long
gangways forming kind of an aquatic village; floating vegetable gardens are
cultivated on the surface of the lake; the fishermen row with their feet to
keep their hands free, with a technique that has made them internationally
famous.
