Exclusive journey to the Golden Pagoda (Shwedagon Pagoda) in Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the most mysterious countries in the world. It borders India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. Each of these destinations (except, perhaps, for Bangladesh) is full of tourists. But Myanmar remains outside of usual tourist routes. There are no direct flights from Russia, visa to Myanmar is not the easiest one to get, not to mention that it's not really advertised by travel agencies. This is why this amazing destination remains unknown to the world.

Taken from Google Image Search

One of the most popular destinations are Shwedagon Pagoda. The Shwedagon Pagoda is a 99 metres (325 ft)[citation needed] gilded pagoda and stupa located in Yangon, Burma. The pagoda lies to the west of Kandawgyi Lake, on Singuttara Hill, thus dominating the skyline of the city. It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within: the staff of Kakusandha, the water filters of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa and eight strands of hair from Gautama, the historical Buddha. Uppatasanti Pagoda is an exact replica of Shwedagon Pagoda in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma.

It was built with great care and thoroughness by ancient Burmese. They dug a hole on a hill near Dagon, built a tomb, and covered it with a golden plate. Several stupas made from different materials were erected on top of it one by one: golden, silver, tin, copper, lead, marble, iron, and brick. All sixty-eight surrounding stupas are gilded, while the Shwedagon itself is sheathed with golden plates from top to bottom. 8000 gold plates, 5000 diamonds, 2000 gem stones and semiprecious stones were used to decorate the main pagoda.

So it's not surprising that the stupa was repeatedly plundered over the years, and some parts, like three hundred years old bell encrusted with jewels, are now lost. However, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar has survived to see our days in its full glory.

There are bells hanging along the perimeter of the temple complex with wooden mallets lying nearby. It is believed that if you make a wish and hit the bell three times it will come true. So here and there you can always hear a bell's ringing in the distance.

This Myanmar landmark represents this country like the Moscow Kremlin represents Russia, or Mount Fuji represets Japan. The Shwedagon temple complex is one of the largest architectural ensembles not only in Myanmar, but in all of Southeast Asia. You can always see the golden cone of the central stupa dozens of kilometers away from Yangon, both from sea and land.

Here some view from Golden Pagoda (Shwedagon Pagoda) in Myanmar

Taken from Google Image Search

Taken from Google Image Search

Taken from Google Image Search

Taken from Google Image Search

Thank you for visiting my Blog.