In the Land of Golden Smiles: 2 of 3

Continuation...

3.) The spectacular view of temples on Bagan plains. Bagan excites you even before you exit the airport. As our plane began its descent to Bagan, Chris and I already caught site of hundreds, thousands of mostly red concrete structures dotting the plains of Bagan. Dhammayangi, which I learned was the largest temple in Bagan, was quite easy to spot. You already get a feeling that it will be such a visual treat once you get closer to the temples. What a marvelous sight it did turn out to be! It was impossible not to be deeply impressed by the surrounding views. Close your eye. Randomly point somewhere. Open your eyes and there'll be a temple or pagoda or stupa in sight. Do it again, but this time point somewhere else, and there would still be a structure to see. With about 4,000 of these structures scattered all over the plains of Bagan, I have to say that this has to be one of the most breathtaking views I ever laid my eyes on. 

4.) The kindness of people. Whether it was in Yangon, or Bagan or Inle, the kindness of people just moves you. Three people stand out for me. In Yangon, it was airport cab driver Min Soe who was supposed to just bring me to the airport from the hotel. But when he found out I had more hours to kill, he drove me around the city so I can see more of it. The next one was a lady also waiting for a cab at Shwedagon Pagoda. Having a day to myself, I wanted to go to Aung San Suu Kyi's house, General Aung San's house and Bogyoke Aung San market. Having difficulty explaining to the cab driver what I wanted to do, the lady gave several minutes of her time to translate for me and the driver. In Inle, we got a tour guide to help. Her name was Thu Thu. She was very knowledgeable about the culture and heritage of the people and communities around Inle Lake. Because we only had an overnight stay in Inle, we could only do a half-day tour with her. She mentioned that what she would usually do is bring tourists to villages so they can really interact with the locals and learn more about the local way of life. 

5.) The faith and devotion of people. The other thing that really moved me was seeing the deep faith and devotion of (most) people. At Shwedagon, one will see a lot of people in front of the altars. Some are on their knees, other are sitting down, but all are deep in prayer. That is the common sight in most pagodas. However, the ones that struck me the most were two women at the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda in Inle. The Japanese have a term for it - zazen. Literally, it means seated meditation. That was what both of them were doing. One was near the side of the altar. A few feet away from her and right front of the altar was another lady. Their eyes were closed, deep in thought and prayer, unmindful of the noise made by us tourists. There was a sacred feeling to it. I am really just amazed by the kind of faith and the kind of devotion they have. 

To be continued...