The Shwedagon (finally)

I chose to wait until the closing days of my trip to write this post for two reasons. Firstly, a practical reason- it seemed that every time I photographed the Shwedagon, I never came away with the shot I wanted because of the gloomy weather (I entered the pagoda twice during my visit, and made trips to specific vantage points on several occasions), only managing some satisfactory ones yesterday. Secondly, I wanted to end with a bang, because without question the Shwedagon is a big deal.

There are some landmarks that have come to define cities- the Eiffel Tower, the St. Louis Arch, Big Ben, the Sydney Opera House, the list goes on. The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is one such landmark. At a purported 334 structural feet it dominates the skyline of the city from its hilltop perch, and has done so since 1372 (or perhaps one of the many other dates suggested by legend and researcher alike). When standing next to it and the plethora of miniature pagodas that surround it, sunglasses come in handy even on a cloudy day as the gilded magnificence of whole affair can be a bit blinding at times. Trinidad James would fit right in.

The pagoda not only symbolizes the city, but the entire country as well, and the Buddhist religion that dominates it. With relics of the past four Buddhas encased within its swooping bell-shaped figure, the Pagoda is the most sacred site of worship for some 54 million Burmese Buddhists. It also encapsulates the exotic allure that has brought foreigners here (for better or worse) for the past 500 years. Rudyard Kipling can explain it better than I can-

'There's the old Shway Dagon'  said my companion. 'Confound it!' But it was not a thing to be sworn at. It explained in the first place why we took Rangoon, and in the second why we pushed on to see what more of rich or rare the land held. Up till that sight my uninstructed eyes could not see that the land differed much in appearance from the Sunderbuns, but the golden dome said: 'This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about.

It’s been sacked a handful of times, defiled on more than one occasion, used as a British military base in colonial times and as a rallying point for protesters in modern times. In the early 1600s a Portuguese mercenary even attempted to steal the heaviest bell in recorded history from the foot of the pagoda and melt it down to make cannons. He rolled it down the hill, loaded onto a raft, and sailed it down the Yangon River- until it broke the raft with its immense weight and sunk to the bottom of the river, where it remains to this day. It's called the Great Bell of Dhammazedi, the Wikipedia article is a good read. Later on, the British tried to take a slightly less heavy bell, which sunk to the river as well. Somehow the Burmese were able to salvage it from the depths and return it to its rightful place, where paintings now chronicle the whole ordeal. Pictured is the bell in question.  

It can be impressive, imposing, and mysterious at any given time, but more than anything the Shwedagon is beautiful. It was one of the first things I saw in Yangon, and one of the last, just today. You can’t get a feel for it if you see it just once or twice because it changes every time depending on the time of day and the weather, one reason it was so difficult to photograph. In the end I managed to take some shots from about 6 different places, ranging from the top of a tower downtown at sunset to 20 feet away. But like any great landmark, the pictures don’t do it justice, and I know that when I leave here I’ll be better served closing my eyes and imagining what it felt like standing next to it rather than looking at pictures.

Tonight is my last night in Yangon. Anna has already returned to the states and I will join her, if only briefly, from the 1^st to the 7^th September before I leave for Edinburgh and more foreign escapades. I’m not through writing just yet as there are a few more topics I want to touch upon, and a surprise that I’ve not told anyone about, but I will definitely be leaving the country tomorrow morning. For now I aim to relax and enjoy my final evening.