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| Disco Inferno |
I awoke yesterday to a light rain, which slowly dissipated before we left the house to go visit the Sean Yaun Kyi Pagoda (which means diamond gleam). This pagoda, not especially famous or rich in history, was something I happened to spy off the side of the road a few days ago. It fascinated me because the entire exterior was made up of tiny mirrors instead of the typical gold, making for a somewhat spectacular effect. I have no real knowledge of the pagoda or insights into its significance, etc., I just though it looked cool so I made a stop. There was also a friendly cat prowling the grounds, which Anna and I took a moment to play with.
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| Pagoda Cat |
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| The tomb |
On the way to this disco ball pagoda I spotted another thing that sparked my interest and warranted a stop- an assortment of tombs on the side of the road leading from the great Shwedagon. There were four in total: one belonged to Saya Thakin Ko Taw Mhaing, a comrade of General Aung San, another to Khin Kyi, wife of Aung San and mother of Aung San Suu Kyi, a third to U Thant, former U.N. Secretary General, and the fourth, which made the stop wholly worth it for me, was the tomb of Supayalat, the last queen of Burma. I've always taken an interest in the end of monarchies and the inevitable claims and pretenders to the throne that follow, and so to stumble upon such a tomb was great luck. Supayalat seems to have been quite a force of personality, apparently butting in during her older sister's wedding ceremony in order to become queen in her place, and subsequently forcing monogamy on the king- completely unheard of in Burmese history. After the Third Anglo-Burmese War, she and her husband were forced to abdicate from their thrones in Mandalay to exile in India, where the kind died in 1916. She was allowed to return to Rangoon (as it was called then) in 1919, died in 1925, and was entombed where I'm standing in that picture, against her wishes to return to Mandalay. I wish they would take better care of the garden around the tombs, it's in quite a state of disrepair.
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| War Cemetery |
The final stop for the day was to the War Cemetery, a slight drive to the north of Yangon. I didn't do my research before the trip, and so was surprised to find that the cemetery was the final resting place of mostly Englishmen, with more than a few Indians, mostly Sikhs, as well. Maintained by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission, as a placard at the entrance to the complex clearly states, the cemetery was probably the most beautiful, peaceful place that I've encountered in Burma and is meticulously maintained. Wikipedia spits out the statistics better than I can: "The cemetery contains the graves of 6,374 soldiers who died in the Second World War, the graves of 52 soldiers who died in Burma during the First World War, and memorial pillars (The Rangoon Memorial) with the names of over 27,000 Commonwealth soldiers who died in Burma during the Second World War but who have no known grave. There are 867 graves that contain the remains of unidentified soldiers." As I said, the place was genuinely beautiful, and for most of my stay we were alone to enjoy its calming effects. A really fitting resting place on foreign soil if there is one.
After the War Cemetery we were to meet Anna's friends for dinner, but had time in between to take a ride on her driver's motorbike, which he kept at his home nearby. I'd never ridden before so it took me a few passes to get the gear shifting to a serviceable proficiency, after which Anna trustingly hopped on the back for a pleasant ride through the countryside, the locals a little taken aback by the sight.
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| Posing |
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