Sule | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 1 (3/9): SULE PAGODA, Yangon, Myanmar, 2017.12.23

After lunch at 999 Shan Noodle House, we walked over to the City Hall. Across the street from the City Hall stood Sule Pagoda, the iconic octagonal stupa that marked the heart of Yangon. We decided to pay a quick visit to this wonderful monument before venturing further south.

Built in the 5th century BC, the 2600 year old was said to even predate the famous Shwedagon. The stupa was built in the style of Mon pagoda architecture, back in the era when the Mon people was a dominant ethnic group in the region. The Mon people was also responsible for spreading Theravada Buddhism throughout Southeast Asia. The Mon name of Sule Pagoda is “kyaik athok ceti”, meaning “stupa with a sacred hair enshrined”. Legend has it that the Sule Pagoda contains one of Buddha’s hairs given to merchant Tapussa and Bhallika. The rest of the same strand of Buddha’s hairs were said to be kept at the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Before the British set out to develop Yangon and its port area, Sule Pagoda was situated on an island surrounded by a swamp at the banks of Yangon River. The British drained the area, constructed a prominent roundabout centred at the Pagoda and defined Sule as the heart of Downtown Rangoon (now Yangon). Today, Sule pagoda remains as an iconic spot of the city, and has served as the centre stage of civilian rallies and demonstrations throughout the years.

We crossed the street from the City Hall to the east entrance of the Sule Pagoda.

At the entrance, we followed the rules and took off our shoes and socks, left them with one of the staff, purchased admission tickets and then climbed up the stairs to the main worshiping area. This was our first experience of walking barefoot in Myanmar.

The first thing we saw beyond the stair was a cosy and golden altar with many pilgrims.

Outside of the covered altar was a series of small golden shrine surrounding the base of the octagonal pagoda. It’s important for the Burmese to know which day of the week they were born in order to find the right shrine to worship. There are eight planetary shrines around the pagoda, each represents a planet as well as a particular day of the week, with Wednesday split into two (am and pm).

Water and food can be found at the pagoda complex, usually donated by Buddhist worshipers, who believe good deeds are one of the basis for path of enlightenment.

Soon we reached another entrance of the Sule Pagoda. Entrances of the pagoda are arranged at the four cardinal directions: north, south, east and west.

The corresponded altar of this entrance looked somewhat different than the one we first arrived at.

Like all shrines in Myanmar, gold is the single dominant colour of the octagonal Sule Pagoda.

At the Saturday shrine, another two worshipers were busy performing rituals and cleaning the altar with water.

Under the scorching sun, many worshipers stayed at the shaded area to mediate. It was interesting to see many young people were among the devoted worshipers.

When looking closely, the fine details and craftsmanship of the golden ornaments were overwhelmingly impressive.

At another entrance altar, colourful fresco depicted a number of Buddhist stories high up near the ceiling.

Each of the four altars has a distinct set of ornaments.

Other than the devoted worshippers, some locals were just hanging around in the pagoda area as if the space was a public park. In fact, Buddhist shrines in Myanmar do serve as community spaces that welcome everyone.

It was relaxing to walk on bare feet around the Sule Pagoda. Surprising we didn’t feel uncomfortable without our shoes and socks.

Near the entrance where we arrived, there was a group of people gathered at a pulley wire, waiting for the staff to send their prayer cards up to the pagoda by the golden prayer boat.

Via a wire pulley system, the golden prayer boat sends prayer cards of worshippers up to the pagoda.

A staff at the base worked the pulley to send up the prayer boat while a group of worshipers gathered to witness the process.

After one loop, we repeated the clockwise stroll around the Sule Pagoda for a second time.

After two loops around the pagoda, we walked down the stair where we first arrived, put on our shoes, and moved on to further explore Downtown Yangon.

* * *

Blog posts on Myanmar 2017:

Day 2: Bagan
DAY 2: SHWEZIGON PAGODA, Nyaung-U
DAY 2: HTILOMINLO AND UPALI THEIN
DAY 2: ANANDA PAHTO
DAY 2: SUNSET AT OLD BAGAN
DAY 2: SILENT NIGHT IN NYAUNG-U

Day 3: Bagan
DAY 3: MAGICAL SUNRISE, Old Bagan
DAY 3: NYAUNG-U MARKET, Nyaung-U
DAY 3: SULAMANI TEMPLE
DAY 3: DHAMMAYANGYI TEMPLE
DAY 3: THATBYINNYU TEMPLE
DAY 3: NAPAYA, MANUHA AND GUBYAUKGYI, Myinkaba
DAY 3: SUNSET No. 2, Old Bagan
DAY 3: FINAL NIGHT IN NYAUNG-U

Day 4: Farewell Myanmar
DAY 4: FAREWELL BAGAN FAREWELL MYANMAR

DAY 1 (2/9): WALK TO 999 SHAN NOODLE HOUSE, Yangon, Myanmar, 2017.12.23

Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, was the capital city of Myanmar (Burma) until 2006. With 7 million inhabitants, Yangon remains as the largest city in Myanmar. Because of our tight schedule, we only had a day to explore the downtown where decaying colonial buildings from the British era mingled with bustling daily activities of the locals, and the Shwedagon Pagoda, the religious heart and biggest tourist draw of the city. Before that, we decided to first get a taste of the Burmese culture through sampling the local cuisine. We weren’t particularly hungry, but would want to try out a well known noodle shop: 999 Shan Noodle House. It was a half-hour walk to the noodle shop. What’s better to get a quick Yangon impression than wandering its lively streets?

Venturing out of the Loft Hotel, we headed east towards the north-south thoroughfare Alan Pya Pagoda Street. Local shops lined along one side of the street, while the opposite side was dominated by the large Park Royal Hotel.

One of the first building we encountered on Alan Pya Pagoda Street was Thamada (President) Cinema and Hotel. Opened its door in 1958, Thamada was Rangoon’s most prominent cinema with a fully air-conditioned hall and a great example of the cuty’s Modernist architecture.

A number of snack vending carts were stationed in front of Thamada Cinema.

Other than skewers or salad, fruit is also common snacks in Yangon.

Renovated a few years ago, Thamada Cinema remains as a popular cinema in the present, drawing sell out shows from time to time.

Further down the road we reached the intersection of Sakura Tower. Built in 1999, Sakura is a 20 storey building built by Japanese investors and architects. It offers office spaces up to international standards, with a restaurant at the top floor. While the top floors struggled to find tenants in the first several years, Sakura is now totally full as Myanmar opens up in recent years.

Next to Sakura Tower, the 1910 Bible Society of Myanmar (British and Foreign Bible Society) was the heart of Christian evangelical society in the early 20th century. In the 1960s, the foreign missionaries were expelled from the country, and was restructured in 1964 under national organization.

The strip of Bogyoke Road at Sakura Tower was known as Rangoon’s “Cinema Row” in the past, a designated entertainment district. The Nay Pyi Taw Theatre with its iconic patterned facade was built in 1961. Movie was and still remains big in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). The modernist patterned facade was popular back in late 1950s and early 1960s in Southeast Asia.

Further down we reached a busy intersection of Sule Road and Anawratha Road where a network of pedestrian overpass allowed us to gain a raised overview of this part of Downtown Yangon.

The overpass was occupied with vendors. Pedestrians loved to stop by the railing for a look at the changing surrounding skyline. Looking north, the top of Sakura Tower perched over the tree crown in the middle, and the Sule Shangri-La (Trader Hotel) dominates the the left side with its 500 rooms. Built by Japanese and Singaporean architects, the hotel never really fulfilled its tourist potentials due to the West’s boycott on the junta government. Rooms were sold at discounted prices. interestingly, it did attract a number of NGOs and UN agencies to set ups their offices here, and so as foreign journalists and some tourists.

At the southwest corner of the pedestrian overpass, a new 20 storey office building was under construction.

Further south we could see one of the city’s most important monument, the Sule Pagoda. It is known to be one of the oldest monument site in Yangon, some said around 2600 years old. Sule Pagoda has been and still is considered to be the heart of Downtown Yangon.

After a moment above the streets, it was time for us to return to the busy street scenes.

As we approached 999 Shan Noodle House, we began to explore the network of small side streets behind Yangon City Hall.

All side streets were flanked by buildings dated back to British Rangoon.

It took us several minutes to reach the right side street of the noodle house. It was fortunate that we had portable wifi device and mobile phone which we could get on Google Map.

Food vendors could be seen on many of these side streets. Groups of children monks were also a common sight.

After a little over half an hour of walk, we finally reached our destination – 999 Shan Noodle House. 999 is a famous restaurant in Yangon specialized in dishes from the Shan and Kachin States at Northern Myanmar. These states border with Yunnan Province of China, which is also popular with rice noodle dishes.