Welcome to the Golden Land.
It’s really not hard to see how Myanmar earned its nickname. As we were flying into Yangon we passed over a huge, shimmering golden stupa, which we (mistakenly) assumed was the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon. Five minutes later we’d seen a dozen more dotted around the Burmese countryside, each bigger and brighter than the one before it. And then we actually did see the Shwedagon Paya. Wow.
Even the arrivals hall at the airport was beautifully decorated with golden spires, and we drove past a mechanics that could easily have been mistaken for some magnificent, ornate temple.
Well, to quote the famous Mr. Kipling (no, not that one!) ‘This is Burma‘. Sitting outside with a bottle – or three – of the local brew, the stresses of the last week seem a million miles away now and it finally feels like we’re on holiday!