Around The World Gaby and Gu 2006-2007

When we first walked out of the hotel in the morning after our night arrival in the city we had the feeling to have stepped back in time...everything in Yangon looks like 50 years ago except the second hand japanese cars who almost make you feel back in the 80s :O). That's what we liked the most about this city together with the extraordinary Schwedagon Pagoda !!! That's it for Myanmar...a country that will remain in our mind and in our hearts for a long long time...

The Golden Rock represents two things for us : the weirdest thing we've seen so far and a fascinating one at the same time! In one word : Excellent !!! Imagine a golden stupa hung on a rock that, according to the legend, was placed there by some divinities after a hermit was given 8 hairs of the Buddha (by the Buddha himself...of course :O)...or something like that as far as we remember what our guide told us :O). Definitely The Golden Rock...rocks !!! (sorry for that one ;O)

Inle Lake, aaaah Inle Lake... !! A very nice spot with its famous leg rowers and a scenery that's very unique. However, even if we liked the place a lot, it wasn't much of a surprising place since we had previously visited lakes and rivers within Cambodia and Vietnam so everything looked a bit familiar to us.

After one freezing night spent at the monastery, we headed to the top of Mt Yasakyi to contemplate its golden stupa (and a magnificient view of the surroundings !) at an altitude of 2300 meters before starting our descent back to Pindaya for a well deserved rest and a warm and welcoming bed !!! Wow, we had so much fun !!

This is it !! The absolute highlight of our trip. An unforgettable trek across Myanmar's Shan State most beautiful landscapes with an excellent guide and the sweetest local people we have met so far during our trip. Part 2 to follow...stay tuned ;O) !!

Imagine a cave full of thousands of Buddhas placed there over the centuries...it's quite a spectacle. Oh and by the way, the legend of the cave says that 7 princesses were imprisoned there by a giant spider. They were eventually saved by a prince who married the youngest of the princesses afterwards...so look at the "princess" above, she looks quite scared and she's missing her prince...I think he ran away because he's quite afraid of spiders too ! ;O)

We didn't quite know what to expect when arriving to Heho Airport. .but soon we found ourselves being in what was going to be the highlight of our trip...Pindaya and it's surroundings !! Just the most beautiful place we have seen so far...and one thing's for sure it will be difficult to outrank it ;O). But check our blog later because the best is still to come...

Speaking of Monasteries, we had the chance to visit one of the two biggest ones of Myanmar. This one in Amarapura counts around 1000 monks !! Also we saw a beautiful 2000 year old Buddha and if you care for a reading, we visited the biggest book of the world with 729 pages...each of them written on a marble stone...good luck ! ;O)

A short break from the temples to visit a monastery and the home of the Nats...go google this word and you'll find out what they are and their importance in Myanmar's traditional beliefs ;O)

If Angkor Wat was already impressive, its contemporary counterpart in Myanmar doesn't have much to envy. We feel privileged to be able to visit such a magic place 900 years after its creation. Considering Bagan's 3000 temples, we just got started so we have plenty of Pagodas to come back for !!!