In the city of Yangon, you will find the beautifully majestic Shwedagon Pagoda. The Shwedagon Pagoda sits upon holy Singuttara Hill. To understand the reason why this hill is considered so holy, and to grasp the significance of the Shwedagon to Buddhists and to the people of Myanmar, it is important to know both the history and the legends of how it all came to be. Over 2,500 years ago, there lived a king by the name of Okkalapa. He was ruler of Suvannabhumi and ruled over the Talaings. At this time, Siddharta Guatama was living in northern India. He was still a young man and was not yet recognized as the Buddha.

It was and is believed that a new Buddha, or “Enlightened One”, will come into being once every 5,000 years. At the time of Okkalapa, it had been approximately 5,000 years since the last Buddha, and it was considered time once again.

Singuttara Hill is important because it was the holy resting spot of the relics of three Buddhas. Their relics were enshrined within Singuttara Hill, thus making it a holy place. To keep it holy, it was believed that gifts given by the new Buddha, which would become relics, had to be enshrined every 5,000 years in the hill.

But Okkalapa was concerned, as a new Buddha had not come to be known yet, and if it took too long he feared the hill could lose its holiness. He went to the hill to pray and to meditate, unaware of Siddharta Guatama’s coming into enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in northern India at the same time.

According to area legend, he appeared to Okkalapa and told him to be patient, that his wish for the hill would soon be granted.

As Guatama was reaching the end of his 49 days of meditation, he was visited by two brothers. Their names were Tapussa and Bhallika, and they happened to be from Myanmar and were subjects of Okkalapa. These two merchant brothers present Guatama Buddha with a gift of some honey cake, as they recognized him as The Enlightened One.\To express his thanks to them, he pulled out 8 of his hairs off of his head, and gave the hairs to Tapussa and Bhallika. They took the hairs and headed back home. However, during their journey they were twice robbed, and 4 of the sacred hairs were taken from them. By the time they reached Myanmar, they had only 4 of The Buddha’s hairs left.

However, their return was still a celebrated one by King Okkalapa and his people, and a large party was thrown in honor of the brothers. It was decided that a shrine place should be built on Singuttara Hill to house these newest relics. At the party in their honor, the brothers presented a casket containing the Buddha’s hairs to their king, and he opened it.

There were great tremors upon the earth, a great rocking earthquake. It is also said that all of the trees then burst into blossom and lovely jewels fell from the sky.

A shrine was created on Singuttara Hill to house these 8 miraculous hairs, and the area was deemed sacred. An enormous pagoda was then created atop the hill to house the shrine, and it is considered one of the most sacred places in all of Myanmar. The pagoda itself is a wondrous architectural achievement. The top soars well over 300 ft into the air (approximately 100 meters or more) above the hilltop and can be seen from quite far away. The Shwedagon, which means, loosely translated, “golden hills” is magnificently made out of gold and jewels all over.

Some interesting stories of the Shwedagon Pagoda deal with its enormous bells. In 1608, a Portuguese invader by the name of Philip de Brito y Nicote stole a bell that weighed in at around 6,0000 lbs, or 30 tons. However, as he was attempting to return home with the bell, it fell into the Bago River and was lost.

The bell was replaced in 1779. That was after a massive earthquake in 1768 toppled the highest part of the pagoda. Once that part, the stupa, was rebuilt, King Hsinbyushin’s son Singu had a 23 ton bronze bell cast. It was called the Maha Gandha bell. In the 1820’s, however, British soldiers plundered the pagoda, and stole this bell.

En route to Calcutta, the bell fell overboard and sank into the sea. It was later recovered and now sits atop the pagoda platform, on the northwest side.

Finally, in 1841 another bell was created, this one weighing approximately 8,000 pounds (40 tons) and covered with 45 lbs (20kg) of gold plating. This bell, called the Maha Tissada bell, still resides in the pagoda, on the northeast side of the enclosure.

The years of 1852 through 1929 mark a time of British military occupation in Myanmar, with colonial rulers controlling the areas. However, the people of Myanmar were still able to have full access to the Shwedagon. In 1871 a new diamond-studded piece for the pagoda’s structure was donated by King Mindon of Mandalay. The people of Myanmar were thrilled at this tribute and well over 100, 00 of them gathered at Shwedagon to celebrate. And although this made the British military somewhat uncomfortable, they had to allow it as the people were honoring their faith.

It is evident that, over the centuries, the Shwedagon Pagoda has survived difficult times. It has withstood earthquakes, invasions, pillaging, foreign occupation and an internal stairwell fire in 1931 that destroyed many ancient monuments. Another earthquake in 1970, which was the 9th that the area had sustained since the 1500’s, led the government to begin a renovation project on the crown of the main pagoda.

Each disaster brought damage to the pagoda, but it has always withstood the onslaughts and endured the renovations. The fact that Shwedagon has survived these times of hardship and damage and still stood firm adds to its sense of majesty. It also adds to the sense of pride within the people of Myanmar, that nothing can truly leave lasting damage upon this beloved site. And people have always pitched in to make sure that any needed renovations took place to strengthen and secure it. Thus, to this day it sits, strong and steady, mystical and sacred, high upon a sacred hill.

According to legends King Thiha Dipa who was king of neighbouring Thiha Dipa Kingdom (now Thanlyin) commanded one his ministers to build a pagoda where the Sule Pagoda now stands. The name of this minister was “Ah Thoke (အသုတ္)” and hence this pagoda was called Kyaik Ah Thoke (က်ိဳက္အသုတ္). Kyaik in the Mon language is pagoda and Ah Thoke being the name of the minister who built it. But some scholars says Ah Thoke really translate as “Buddha’s Holy Hair” and call it “Holy Hair Pagoda”

Others say that this was a place where King Okkalapa (of ancient Okkalapa Kingdom) gathered with his ministers to search for a place to place the Holy Hairs of Buddha before deciding on the Sangguttara Hill where the Shwedagon Pagoda now stands. As it was a place of gathering it was call စုေဝးေစတီ (pagoda where all gathered). However there are also many scholars who say that it was a place where the 4 Guardian Nats of the Universe gathered and should be called ေလးဆူ ေစ တီ (Laysu Zedi) which later evolved into ဆူးေလေစတီ (Sule Zedi). But whatever the history now we see the Sule Pagoda glittering on a small hillock right in the middle of Yangon Central Business District.

The compound of Sule Pagoda is 2,181 acres: 322 feet from east to west and 291 feet from north to south. The height to the top of the diamond bud is 151 feet. The Sule Pagoda has a unique shape. It is octagonal, i.e the plint has eight pointed sides in the 8 directions of the compass meaning the Noble Eight-fold Paths To Enlightenment (မဂၢင္ရွစ္ပါး) plus many symbols on the pagoda that shows the way to Nirvana.

In ancient times Sule Pagoda was said to be outside the actual Yangon city established by King Alaungpaya in 1755 and surrounded by mud flats and muddy water prone to regular flooding from the nearby river. And many Buddhist monasteries surrounded the solitary hillock.

According to ancient text the western entrance reached up to present day Bo Ywe Street (ဗိုလ္ရြဲလမ္း). And numerous small islands dotted around in what now is the Maha Bandoola Park until the end of the 1st Anglo-Myanmar War of 1824. There was also a bridge made of rock to access the pagoda across the waters (the township where the Sule Pagoda stands is still being call Kyauktada which means rock bridge). There was supposed to be another pagoda by the name of Kyaik Myat Than Cho (က်ိဳက္ျမတ္သံခ်ိဳ) to the southwest of the pagoda too and the place was always crowded with pilgrims.

But after the 2nd Anglo-Myanmar War of 1852 the victorious British colonial powers seized Yangon (Rangoon at that time) and decided to make it the administrative and commercial capital of British Burmah and made plans for extending the city. The Commissioner of Yangon (Rangoon) Sir Arthur Phayre then commissioned Lt. Fraser of Bengal Engineers and Surgeon Montgomerie to come up with a master plan. The British started by levelling the ground, filling up the low-lying areas and also evicted many monasteries around the Sule Pagoda. About 50 of them were relocated to mango forest to the west. This area is now known as Thayettaw Kyaung Taik (Mango Forest monastery) which is opposite the present-day Institute of Medicine (I) on Bogyoke Aung San Road. The British demolished the nearby Kyaik Myat Than Cho (က်ိဳက္ျမတ္သံခ်ိဳ) Pagoda but left the Sule Pagoda intact as a focal point and a landmark of downtown Yangon.

One famous pavilion on the compound of Sule Pagoda is the Pavilion of the Sule Bo Bo Gyi(Grandfather Nat of Sule). According to legends this nat is said to be so old that he had been able to pay homage to all four Buddhas that had appeared in this world. It was siad in the Shwedagon Pagoda chronicles that he was the one who directed the Sacred Hairs of Lord Buddha to be buried at Sanguttira Hill where the world famous Shwedagon Pagoda now stands.

Many Myanmar people believe that he has powers to help them in their actions and commercial enterprises and his pavilion is always crowded. Others says that he is one of the guardians of Buddhism and is entitled to receive homage from the devotees.

There are also many astrologers on the northern stairways for those interested to foresee their future.

Taunggyi is the capital of Shan State and it is the land of the Shans and other national races, namely, Pa-O, Kachin, Padaung, Danu, Wa, Lahu, Kaw, Maingtha, Padaung, Taungyo, Yin, Gon, Kayah, Lishau and Inntha with their unique cultures. The Shan plateau is about 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level. Some ranges are 5,000 to 7,500 feet high, with even higher peaks. A cool climate makes it a highly popular summer resort. Its temperatures range from around 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the cool months of December and January, to 70 or 80 even in the warmest months of April, May, June and July.
Inle Lake is the most famous scenic spot in the Shan State. It is about 30 km south of Taunggyi, capital of the Shan State. The Lake is 22.4 km long and 10.2 km wide, shallow and extremely picturesque. It is studded with floating islands formed by the growth and decay of vegetation.
Sheltered among the hazy blue mountains, the Lake is about 900 metres above sealevel. The lake is very popular with foreign tourists. It is famous for its unique leg-rowers, floating villages and colourful markets and festivals. Even when it is not festival time, it is very interesting to observe the Innthas live on the lake with their houses on stills, floating farms and the floating markets.
The Innthas have become so adapted to the lake environment that they build their homes over the water on stills, they build floating farms on the lake and villagers row their long, narrow boats with unique way of leg-rowing that has made them famous.

In 442 B.C., a great earthquake roared through central Myanmar – and from out of the barren Myingyan plains rose Mount Popa. Volcanic ash on the mountain slope gradually became fertile soil, and the peak blossomed with flowers of many colors. (Popa is the Sanskrit word for “flower.”) For the inhabitants of the surrounding regions, the “sugar-loaf’ peak becaml regarded as the home of the gods, the Mount Olympus of Myanmar. Alchemist and occultists made their home on the mountain slopes, and others were con vinced mythical beings lived in the woods and among the flowers. So it was a matter of course when Mount Popa became the focus of national nat worship and the official home of the MahagiriNats during the reign in Bagan of King Thinlikyaung.
Mount Popa, 1,518 meters (4,981 feet high, is located about 50 km (31 miles southeast of Bagan. It’s a 200-kyat Jeep trip from Bagan village, or a fatiguing bus trip requiring transfers in Nyaung U and Kyaukpadaung. Overnight visitors can stay at the ancient Popa monastery at the foot of the peak, however. During the month of Nayon (May/June) the annual Festival of the Spirits is held here, and it is said that at that time the abbot of the Popa monastery runs the largest hotel in the whole of Myanmar.
While the volcanic cone can be climbed by means of a path beginning at the monastery, it should be attempted only by the physically fit. The mountain rises about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above the surrounding plain, and given the hot, dry climatic conditions that prevail in central Myanmar, the ascent can be arduous. On clear days, however, the view from the top across the vast dry plain is the most beautiful panorama that can be seen in central Myanmar.
The goal of a trip to Mount Popa should be to see the shrine of the MahagiriNats, situated about halfway up the mountain. For seven centuries preceding the reign of Anawrahta, all kings of central Myanmar were required to make a pilgrimage here to consult with the two nats regarding their reign .

It is a pleasure to visit the unspoiled ChaungTha Beach. Just half-a-day drive from Yangon viaPathein .Sightseeing:
– Po Kalar Island
– The Phyu Island
– KyaukMaungNhama
– Specialities:
– a variety of seafoods
– crayfish and lobster
To double your pleasure there, you can stay in comfoft at ChaungTha Beach Hotel(Bungalow- Type). The beach is in West Pathein Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division.
The news is encouraging. Myanmar will have one more new seaside resort in Rakhine State in addition to existing unspoilt, beautiful Ngapali, Chaungtha, Maungmagan and Setse beaches.
The new beach is named “Kannthaya” and goes well with its name, for “Kann” literally means “seaside” or “beach” and “thaya” implies “pleasant” or “beautiful”.
Located 17 miles north of Gwa, the largest township in the southernmost part of Rakhine coastal strip, the new resort can be reached within a few hours’ drive from Yangon. It stretches 8,000 yards with clean, clear, blue and shallow water and with glistening and dazzling sand which will be appreciated by nature-lovers and travellers at home and abroad. New bungalows, a golf course and world standard hotels are under construction now to provide all possible modern facilities creating the beach to appear as a really attractive seaside resort to be thriving in the near future.

MoungMagan Beach is in Dawei Township also on the Tanintharyi Coastal region. There is an aerogare for domestic flights.