The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes 'sight-seeing.'
As I am a travel freak, I love to explore new countries. During my childhood,
my father used to organize family tours in holidays. Three years ago, my
parents celebrated their 30 years of marriage. At that time, I felt that taking
my parents to a religious country like Myanmar can be the best gift from me in
their 30th anniversary. My parents like the Buddhist culture; thus my choice
for taking them to Myanmar was the best decision.
An Outline of Myanmar
Image by sippakorn yamkasikorn from Pixabay
Myanmar, previously known as
Burma, is the sacred place of the Buddhist with golden temples, monks wearing
orange robes, ancient monasteries and also it has wonderful natural landscapes.
This country is not only a pilgrimage land, but it also hides a lot of
adventurous things for backpackers and family tourists.
As soon as we reached the Yangon airport, we
smelled the real essence of Buddhist culture. We did not spend much time in
unpacking our luggage in the hotel. We decided to explore Yangon from the very
the first day.
Yangon: Garden of the East
Image by Alistair McLellan from Pixabay
This city is the former capital
of the country. It is the most attractive place of Myanmar. My parents were
completely impressed by the beautiful lakes, shady green parks, and temples. We
had our lunch in a restaurant. The food was delicious. Our first visit was to
the Shwedagon pagoda. It is one of the sacred sites of Yangon. This pagoda
stands on the Singuttara Hill, northern side of the city. It is the golden
symbol of the country and is 2500 years old. We took many pictures of the
pagoda.
My parents enjoyed visiting this pagoda. We explored the surrounding place of this shrine. During our stay in Yangon, we also visited other religious sites like Sule Pagoda, Botataung Pagoda, Shri Kali Hindu Temple and St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, the largest church in the country. Our next visit was to Bagan.
Bagan: The Temple City
Image by Martine Auvray from Pixabay
This city is the heart of ancient
architecture. It is located in the upper regions of Myanmar. I was mesmerized
by the beautiful ancient temples of this place. There are more than 2000
temples in Bagan, and we wanted to see each of them, but we decided to visit
some of the important ones like Shwezigon Temple, Ananda Temple, and Mahabodhi
Temple. We spent more than two days in Bagan and explored the entire place in
the hot air balloons. Viewing the temples was thrilling. Our next destination
was Mandalay.
Mandalay: The Economic Hub
Image by Matthew Hulland from Pixabay
We reached this town by plane
from Bagan. It took only 30 minutes. Though, this city is full of chaos, dust,
people and smoke everywhere but the natural scenic beauty of this place
attracted us. We visited the Ubein Bridge in Amarapura village; it is the
largest teak bridge of the world. We also visited the Maha Muni Buddha Temple
and offered our prayers.
Puta-O: The Gateway to Himalayas
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay
Though this place is famous for
climbing, the travelers can experience the natural beauty also. We spend last
two days of our tour in this peaceful town. We explored the forests and enjoyed
the delicious food and cocktail in the restaurants. As my father love
adventures, he enjoyed this place. We again went back to Yangon from where we started
our journey and took flight to our homeland.
