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| The Shwezigon Pagoda was built by King Anawrahtha in the 11th century |
Tuesday, February 27 Bagan, Myanmar
After a sumptuous lunch at our Auren hotel, Mr. Aung served as our guide on the bus. We were headed to one of the most spectacular pagodas in Bagan, the Shwezigon Pagoda. The guides in Myanmar gave us a number of gifts for touring. The gave us longi -- long skirts –
for covering during temple visits, used by both men and women. In the temples there is no shorts, and shoulders and knees must be covered. They also gave us a shoulder bag to carry
items, a book on Myanmar and flip flops to wear going into and out of temples. You must walk barefoot when inside a temple, and the flip flops are easier to remove than our usual touring or running shoes.
The Shwezigon Pagoda was built in the 11th
century by the first King that unified Burma. It was built it to help convert the people to
Buddhism and contains Buddha’s collar bone and tooth. There are also a shrines to the more ancient spirit deities -nats- within the complex. Jack says there’s still a great deal of
spiritualism in Myanmar, and it mixes easily with Buddhism. Most houses will have an alter for the
Nats (spirit deities) as well as a Buddhist shrine. The pagoda is covered in gold leaf, which is replaced every
12 years. Terra cotta statues around show various previous
lives of Siddhartha (Buddha) before his last life.
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| Numerous temples and side buildings surround the main bell shaped pagoda |
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| Pilgrims and visitors show respect by removing shoes and socks before entering the complex |
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| Serene Buddha with mirror mosaics decorating the walls |
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| Most people follow the convention of circling the pagoda in a clockwise fashion (maybe the cell phone was distracting?) |
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| The local people are just as curious about us as we are of them |
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| Happy family |
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| The main pagoda is covered with gold leaf |
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| The pagoda was damaged many times over the years by earthquakes in the region |
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| Beautiful English tiles, from the turn of the last century |
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| The gold leaf is redone every 12 years |
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| A serene Buddha is a blue prayer room |
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| Thanaka - made as a paste from ground bark - helps to act as a sun screen for the face |
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| A gaggle of monks - they start between the ages of 6 and 10 |
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| Carrying everything efficiently |
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| Quenching his thirst with Coca-cola |
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| Meditations at the foot of a Buddha |
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| Cleaners/sweeper on a break in a side court |
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| Feeding the pigeons with great success |
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