shwedagon
whilst the illicit nature of internet usage here means it's bit pricey (although i suppose $1/ hour isn't actually that much in the big scheme of things) i thought i'd check in while the shwedagon paya was fresh in my mind. standing at just under 100m tall you'd think that sheer size of the structure would be the first thing you'd notice, but, surprisingly, it isn't. it's the gold. reams and reams of glittering, greed-yellow, gold, thickly smothered all over the conical stupa, right the way to the glittering diamonds at the top. surrounding this behemoth are dozens of small temples, each equally impressive in their own right, covered with befuddlingly intricate wood carvings and, of course, more thick gold. in each one individual or small groups huddle together to pray, simultaneously enjoying therefore a collective aura of religious spirituality and the necessary reflective solitude.i strolled around the paya a few times, the first time in slack jawed wonderment, the next few times taking myriad photoes, none of which sadly will ever be able to capture the majesty, or indeed the sheer size, of the place. as i sat down to have a rest in one of the small temples the more material nature of buddhism here manifested itself in a bizarre manner, as i found myself surrounded by a group of young monks eager to practice their english. over the course of a couple of hours i learned a few interesting things. i, for instance, had believed that monkhood was a vocation (rather like bee keeping), a job for life done for the love of buddha. these chaps however, who'd been monking for about twenty years each since about five or six, were all planning on getting out of the game, preferably within the year. when i enquired as to how they planned to apply a few decades of buddhist scripture learning out in the world, the responses were 'computers', 'lawyer' (although i think i may have inspired that one) and, somewhat legendarily, 'bus driver'. conversation then meandered (and not at my behest) onto the topic of ladies, with my preference for the english lady been scorned in favour of japanese beauties. discussing international totty with a bunch of monks clad in saffron robes will go down as one of the more strange conversations i've had in my life, but good fun nonetheless.
all in all, yangon's been the perfect antidote to cal. i spent yesterday wandering aimlessly round the city and was pretty happy with everything i saw (although i fear shwedagon may have ruined all other payas for me). off to bagan tomorrow on a trip which has been alternately described as '16 hours of unadulterated hell' and 'the comfiest road journey you'll have in myanmar': the fact that the same bloke made both statements doesn't bode well for future journeys, but i've got pretty used to sticking my head in the sand, so why stop now.
posted by bicrom @ 1:29 pm
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