Arrival in Myanmar

        The ship got a late start today due to the government of Myanmar.  We were not able to get off of the ship until about 5pm.  This was very abnormal, considering we could get off at 10 am in all of the previous ports.  The ship had anticipated the early arrival, only to find out the day before that we would be arriving later due to tides.  Right now, out my window, the 3^rd deck is under the dock and deck five is almost even with the dock, when this afternoon the fifth deck was way up, and the third deck was two stories higher.

          The government provided us buses into town, because Yangon is an hour away.  For most of the bus ride on one side of the road you would see farms, and one room huts built on stilts, while on the other side, they were building new homes that had multiple stories with balconies, etc.  There was a huge difference just in terms of what side of the road you were on.  From the time we were sailing up the river to the time that we were on the bus to Yangon, people would wave at us from far away.  They are not very used to tourists here, considering they just opened up recently.

          We arrived in Yangon, and it was like a major city with big buildings, but it was very different.  The buildings all looked old and run down; the streets were lined with trash, and people were selling food in little shacks on the sidewalks and streets.  There were also large trees throughout the city.  In a city in America you would not see this, but here, there were trees right next to the buildings and streets.

          Because we arrived so late, most things were closed.  Heather, Jessica, and I decided to head over to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.  For a fifteen minute ride, we only paid two dollars.  People say that travelers could survive on 10 dollars a day in Burma, and the people that live here live on less than two dollars a day.  I did spend more than 10 dollars today, but less than 20.  The cost of going into the Pagoda was five dollars, and we had to take off our socks and shoes.

          We took an elevator up to the Pagoda, and it was crazy.  There was gold everywhere.  Things were shining and glittering.  There were dozens of Buddha statues everywhere.  The whole place was like its own little city.  Someone showed us that at the top of the tallest building, there was a diamond.  It shined a different color when you looked at it from different sides.  The diamond only shines on a full moon, and of course tonight was a full moon.  I got plenty of pictures of this place.