SOUTH-EAST ASIA 2009-10
MYANMAR. YANGON AND NAY PYI TAW
 After arriving we changed
$250 and we got a bag of money. The biggest note is worth $1 
 Shwedagon, the most sacred
Buddhist pagoda in the country, covered with 53 metric tonnes of gold
leaf
 It's encrusted with
thousands of diamonds
 People come to pour water
over one of 8 statues, depending on their birthday
The Singu Min bell 
 Another Buddha
 People spend many hours
inside the complex
Shwedagon Pagoda contains
relics of the past four Buddhas, including eight hairs of Gautama, the
historical Buddha 
According to legend, the
Shwedagon Pagoda is 2500 years old 
Little girl monks wearing
pink robes 
Mahabandoola Road in the
center of Yangon 
Central Yangon. It's the
biggest city in Myanmar, with population of 5 million 
 Most men wear longyi,
the
traditional cotton wrap-around skirt
Virtually all cars are
very, very
old 
Trains are very slow and
derail quite frequently 
 Inside one of the
carriages 
 Street sellers are a
common sight in Yangon 
 Many children start
working very young to help their parents
Poverty is everywhere, but
Burmese people are the nicest on Earth! 
 This woman just sat down
to smoke a cigarette
 A typical street in Yangon
 There were many Hindu
shops in this area. Most people are Buddhist, it's a multicultural city
 Food was really good in
Myanmar, much to our surprise 
 Burmese public telephone 
 Taking buses is much
cheaper than taxis, but learning Burmese numbers is necessary 
 Small Buddha is supposed
to
ensure a safe journey 
 Bus station in the new
capital - Nay Pyi Taw. It's probably the only town with 24h
electricity 
 Uppatasanti Pagoda, just
30cm shorter than Shwedagon Pagoda 
 Rush hour in Nay Pyi Taw.
The military government wasted untold millions building this town of
20,000 people 
 General's new home. It
looks unreal in this poverty-stricken country 
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