Shwedegon

Finally!!  A little bit of internet speed up at Inle Lake!
Anyway, here are some assorted images from Shwedegon in Yangon.
Please click on an image to enlarge!

These kids gave us big glasses of free bubble tea, and a little later we were brought in to have a huge wonderful and free lunch.

A lot of the complex is actually gold plated, but parts are gold paint.  Lots of upkeep all the time.

Lay folks sweeping the whole complex

Night lighting just accentuates features

Truly magical at night. It's really hard to get an idea of the scale of the pain pagoda.

Yangon - The Shwedegon temple

Here's a short start of some images from the Shwedegon Temple complex.  I need to fill this out with a number of more pics.  None of these are of the actual main Chedi, which was covered over for maintenance...but even that was stunning!

Nuns on a walk

 

Short note

I haven't put up a new blog post for some time (we're in Pyay, heading to Bagan tonight (18th)), but I've written a bit of blather on a couple of the 'Pages' listed on the side.
I've been trying to pull a few of the very numerous pics of the incredible Shwedegon Pagoda in Yangon, but it's been tough filtering through the large set.  When we settle in Bagan I'll get down to it and work on getting up to date.

First Post - Yangon!

Paul and I have been in crappy-to-non-existent-internet-access spots so far.  After a couple of days in Yangon (after a 24 hour trip from Victoria), we traveled to Mawlamyine, south-east of Yangoon, for a few days, then today came to Hpa-an where we've got some decent internet.
I'm going to post some pics right away, then maybe blab a bit later.

These pics are from Yangon, big Asian city, a mix of old and new, but really trying to update itself.
To view larger versions of these pics, just click on the first one and the blogger slide app starts.

Busy, busy downtown in Yangon.  Like the wiring?

One view from our hotel.

Very common 'sidecar taxi and transport' in the towns.

Lots of people working on signs of all types, cutting out patterns.

Just hanging out

In the hot afternoon shade

....in the afternoon shade in the back of a tuk-tuk.

Lots of cats around....just checking stuff out in this case.

Just truckin' along.

What's for lunch?

A nun

Main Chedi at the Sule Pagoda

Lots of gold

Devotion

Fun and devotion.