Burma 2012 - Shwedagon Paya

In the afternoon of our first day in Burma we headed up to what must be Yangon's most famous landmark, the Shwedagon Paya (Pagoda). It was a short but hot walk from the Savoy Hotel.

Everywhere in Burma you see these public water jugs which are maintained for public use by the residents of the land on which they are located.

Shwedagon is magnificent, especially near sunset when the main stupa radiates its golden glow. The original Shwedagon was probably built by Mon people over a thousand years ago. It has been rebuilt and expanded many times since then.

This army of sweepers appeared about 6:00PM. I have no idea if this is just a regular cleaning or some sort of religious ritual.

Shwedagon has four entrances, one for each point of the compass. This is the East entrance with downtown Yangon in the distance.

We made two circuits of the main stupa.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for dinner at the amazing Aung Thu Kha restaurant. First you grab a table.

Then you choose your meal here. The main and side dishes are then delivered to your table. It was delicious. In fact, during our entire visit we dined almost exclusively on Burmese food and never had a bad meal.