Yangon, Myanmar. #2

                                                           Yangon.
                                            Myanmar. 

This is my second post about Myanmar, as I mentioned in the first I Left Bangkok Thailand by plane and landed in Yangon Myanmar, and been unprepared as I normally am, I was searching for a hotel at night, which is not something I would recommend on the first visit to a strange city.
 While I was wandering the streets I came across this performing Lion dragon, it was the Buddhist full moon festival and everyone was out enjoying themselves on the dark unlit streets of Yangon.

The two person Lion dragon was dancing on poles held by other members of the troop, it was amazing to watch because of the speed and dexterity of the performers, moving to the beat of the drums, they were extremely proficient at what they were doing, they were from the local martial arts school just down the road.   

   The next morning I was up and at it, wandering the streets of Yangon and taking photos. I had no map or knowledge of what was on offer in this city, it was a hit or miss event, I was only here for a day before I went to Bagan valley so it was a very casual, I did know there were a few very large Wats somewhere around, had to find them.

I came across this temple on my walk-about, I don't know it's name, it appeared to be made or covered in metal maybe tin or aluminium, Highly detailed work involved in the construction.

In the same area as the temple I found these run down but beautiful houses that had seen better days.

I went inside and asked the soldiers there if I could photograph the houses, it appears they were used as barracks for the soldiers, they said no problems. Have to be careful around here what you take pickies of.

                                  It would be nice to see these houses restored to their former glory.

                    Finally found the road leading to the main and probably the largest Wat in Yangon.

Shwe Dagon.

There were other temples leading up to the main Wat. I think this is Maha Wizara.

Maybe the Green Palace.

                                                              Main entrance to Shwe Dagon.

Exterior wall of the stairs leading up the Wat enclosure.

    Inside the enclosure, this place is amazing,  A photographers nightmare come true, so much to take in and      too much happening all at once, so much activity.

One of the many massive bells on this site.

The lady in pink is saying prayers while pulling a rope which operates a fan above the Large Buddha statue.

Priest about to sound a bell.

Another larger bell.

At the center of everything here the main pagoda.

         Detail of the spire capping of the main pagoda structure, hundreds of smaller bells moving in the                                                                         breeze, calling out.

Amid all the hustle and bustle this gentleman was still able to meditate.

Yangon, Myanmar

                                                             Yangon, Myanmar.

I have wanted for a long time to visit Bagan valley in Myanmar so I went there Jan last year, 2012,
but first I had to get there. I started by going to Bangkok to get my visa for Myanmar and my flight tickets, one to Yangon and one to Bagan valley, neither of which cost much just a bit of waiting at the Myanmar embassy and ticket office .

The next day I left Bangkok, the flight took about an hour and landed at Yangon. While I was waiting for my next flight to Bagan Valley I decided to look around Yangon, I found this city was a mixture of European and Myanmar structures which like the roads and pathways needed a wee bit of repair. I walked around the city with a fair bit dodging of the occasional holes and pitfalls, I saw some beautiful temples, buildings and other sights but one place that really grabbed my attention was, That Buy Nyu, an incomplete temple, in that I really mean it was an unfinished temple, a construction site.

The building was large, consisting of numerous levels which were all in various states of construction, I just had to have a sticky beak around the place. After talking to a few of the construction site workers I was allowed to go inside where I met another man who gave me a kind of a tour of the lower levels.

                                     

 I took my shoes off and started to walk around taking photographs of the place and trying to understand what he was saying to me, which wasn't easy, after all barefooted on a construction site is hardly OHNS  and I don't understand as much Myanmar as I do Thai but I think I got most of it.

The gentleman who was giving me the tour turned out to be an artist who had designed and created this beautiful statue of Buddha which sat at the center of the first floor. He was also creating other statues and 

a diorama of Nirvana outside in the courtyard which I regretfully don't have any photographs of.

After rising up the next few internal levels where there wasn't much to see, one finds that one has to go outside to gain access to the next upper level, this is where one can see what else is around the temple. This building in the above  photo is a convent for Buddhist nuns, it too is in a state of construction.

        These photographs are taken from the access level, there is a palace or temple in the far distance.

When one renters the main building one is faced with this Buddha image sitting on a high podium surrounded by columns full of niches some of which have smaller Buddhas inside them, I presume the rest will be filled with smaller images of Buddha at a later date. 

Detail of the Buddha niche's.

Above the main central Buddha image the ceiling was made of some kind of metal maybe burnished copper, to the eye there was an odd displaced multi-faceted visual effect, strange but very pleasing. 

Spaced around the the niche columns were statues of Buddha in various poses.

Detail photographs of the beautiful Buddha statues.

  

                                                   

Surrounding the central Dias, columns and statues, were the walls which were also covered in niche's containing images of Buddha. 

Some of the residing Buddha's. 

Because of the present construction of this site it is still open and exposed to the elements which means the local wild life,(birds) can still fly through the place leaving their little droppings and nesting debris all over the place. There will have to be a massive clean up after they have finished the construction if that ever happens, which is another story which |I'm not prepared to talk about here because I want to revisit this place at a later date. I do Feel privileged in seeing this temple in it's unfinished state because it allowed me to see how they constructed it and to imagine how grand  it might look in the distant future.