Today was a 10 hour coach trip into the country to see a reclining Buddha, a Monastery and a War Cemetery. It doesn't sound too exciting but it was the best and cheapest way to get out of the city and see some Burmese Countryside.
We were ashore at 7:30 and away we went. Nice coach, [bus] and only 20 of us. It took 2 1/2 hours to get to our destination. There is no pleasant countryside in Myanmar it seems by our short trip today. It was miles and endless miles of litter-strewn roads, similar or worse to East Africa, Viet Nam and Cambodia. Disappointing it was.
It is so sad to see youngsters having to play in roadsides that are not vegetation but years of accumulation of building debris, leaf litter and canals or ditches full of floating crap is the word I would use. They live in shacks adjacent to the road and somehow scrape out a living. Naturally not all live in this degree of privation but is says a lot about the country if that many can live like that. There are about 54,000,000 in the country with 135 dialects. Tough country to govern for sure..
It is not a developing country, it is a country stuck in the fourth world because of years and years of crappy government. How they will ever get out of it I do not know. That is my personal opinion.
The monk situation is very interesting. Regardless of the poverty in the country, there is obviously a middle class who have great reverence for Buddha and the monks that abound in this country. I am not an expert by any means but we have seen monks around the world and there is some common denominator I believe.
Firstly, these monks do not make a lifetime commitment to monk-hood. Many families will send or commit a son to the monastery to lighten the load at home by not having to feed him while he grows up. There are some monks as young as six or seven that we saw today.
Each day monks leave the monastery with a bowl and go out to the community and acquire rice and other stuff, offered by people who firmly believe that that is part of their way of life and what Buddha wants them to do.
The monks in this monastery open their doors to tourists, by the busload, so they are a bit different in how they fill their 'begging bowls', visiting Buddhists bring offerings, supplemented by the cooked rice.
No doubt there are some who make a life long commitment to Buddha. What education they get, who knows. This monastery has a giant kitchen that cooks up a giant cauldron of rice each day, [donated] and hundreds of followers drop goods into their begging pot as the parade to their giant mess hall and eat what has been offered.
I find it bizarre and interesting. Buddhism is often said to be a way of life other than a religion.
We had a great lunch close to the reclining Buddha. That is another story altogether. Apparently this Buddha was built in the 12th century but abandoned and the jungle reclaimed it only to be discovered when the British were building a railway here in the 1800's.
It is spectacular indeed, almost as spectacular as the market in the building that now houses the Reclining Buddha. It makes the Vatican gift shop look like a 15c store in comparison.
We also visited a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery housing some 21,000 Allied personnel from WWII. Mostly British and African nations, two Australians and one Canadian.
Forgive me if I sound cynical, but after looking at miles and miles of letter-strew roads with too many people sitting idle by the same roadside I am not sure of what to make of today. It was a 10 hour trip.
This was sunrise when we got off the ship.
That my dear friends is pollution.
I guess this will get cleaned up one day. It is possible that this is recycling that us developed countries used to ship to places like Burma. They have since stopped accepting it. It seemed to be endless
A very nice market actually.
Typical local, the smear a wood bark solution on their faces as a sunscreen and to make them more attractive, maybe?
Onions?
Apples or ?
Fish, split and dried.
Spices.
At the Monastery.
Lunch was great. [Rich tourists!]
That is Buddha's foot, the head is 180 feet away.
If the eyes are open, Buddha is alive, if closed, he is dead.
Happy shopkeeper, all made up.
Fish eggs.
Flower market as well. I eventually got a smile from this guy.
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