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HONG
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CANADA
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EUROPE
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INDONESIA
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SINGAPORE
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THAILAND
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Philippines |
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Golden country of Burma opens up for
tourism |
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Source: Manila Bulletin |
Author: Elke Backert |
Date: 2000-01-24 |
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RANGOON (DPA) - ''Welcome to the golden land,'' is how Burma greets its
guests everywhere. Here, a lot that glitters is in fact gold.
For example in Mandalay, the former capital of the last independent Burmese kingdom,
the massive body of the Mahamuni Buddha has swollen into an unshapely form: the
people will not stop pressing 24-carat gold into it, gold which by hand shaped into
tiny wafer-thin squares in arduous labor. There is so much gold that the temple
guards are kept busy sweeping up the little leaves of it that have fallen off.
The Shwedagon pagoda in the metropolis Rangoon, now called Yangon and located in
the fertile delta of the river with the same name, is said to be covered in more gold
than is owned by the Bank of England.
A single day will hardly do to look at all the treasures: temples, pagodas and statues
are grouped around the Gold-Stupa, which at its top is covered with thousands of
diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The Shwedagon pagoda is considered the highest
Buddhist shrine.
Burma - or Myanmar, as the country between Thailand, Laos, China, India and the
Bay of Bengal has referred to itself for the past decade - has again opened up for
tourism after a long period of self- isolation and socialist mismanagement. Owing to
investors from Singapore, the touristic infrastructure has made enormous progress.
The hotels match western luxury standard.
What is missing is a good transport link to the beaches on the Bay of Bengal. More
than 50 kilometers of beach - lined by palm trees and with hardly any settlements -
stretch from Khanthayar to the north, for example. Islands off the coast are ideal for
scuba diving.
Tourists do not have to worry about crime in Burma. Evidence of the ruling military
dictatorship is hard to detect - except perhaps at the airport, where there are a lot
of uniformed men around reading the censored papers.
Gold and jewelry of immeasurable value are supposed to be hidden in the head of the
reclining Buddha in Rangoon. His feet are carved with 118 signs. Buddha's followers -
the majority of the 45 million Burmese - are happy to make sacrifices, and daily there
is some ceremony or other to make the gods merciful. Any visitor is welcome to sound
the bells of the temple with heavy wood. That means luck, just as washing an
elephant statue does.
The religious places are not sealed off, but are rather the centers of daily life, and the
stranger is welcome to join in. Men and women alike wear the traditional "lounghyi", a
cloth wrapped around the hips. Soft soles with strings, called "Mandalay slippers", are
worn on the feet.
Looking over the temple field of Bagan - the former Pagan was the Burmese capital
between the second and the 13th century - one can hardly believe one's eyes.
Thousands and thousands of red brick buildings rise from the red earth like a fata
morgana, but they are real, and some can be reached via dark stairways.
Water sellers woo customers by loudly banging their cups. Watching is allowed,
drinking is not: the water, which drips from the first iceblock through a cloth onto a
second one below and is then caught in a bucket, is not meant for Western
stomachs.
On the roadside, our guide, Bate, from the Arakonese tribe (Burma is said to have 135
tribes and 100 languages), pointed out wood that is said to be more than a million
years old. It is allegedly to be good against rheumatism.
Mandalay impresses with the "largest book of the world": Next to the Kuthodaw
pagoda, the Buddhist canon has been carved into 729 white marble panels.
Another impressed sight is the richly adorned teakwood palace of King Mindon, from
the year 1857. It is a must to climb the holy Mandalay hill, rising 236 meters, in the
evening: the climb goes up seemingly never-ending stairs (there are 1,227 steps),
which amongst others offer a view of a shrine holding three of Buddhas' bones, the
Peshawar relics, and a golden Buddha statue.
Having finally managed the ascent, the reward is a beautiful sunset.
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