Amanda and Michael’s Myanmar Top 5

I haven’t done  a travel blog in a while, so wanted to try a different approach with this one.  Instead of going over every detail of our trip, I’ll instead share our top five experiences.

Shwedagon Pagoda

This is probably the iconic image of Burma, and we went to visit on the first day of our trip.  The gold temple is quite a sight to behold.

While we got there at dusk, the visit really became fantastic when the sun went down.  The gold of the temple is sharper with the night sky.

Candy Kids

Throughout our travels in SE Asia, young children have often come up to us asking us to buy things or wanting donations.  Amanda and I feel it’s better to give them something of use rather than money, which may not really go to the kids. So, this time around we finally smarted up, and brought with us granola bars.

The best part is one group of kids came up to Amanda (which by the way, happened very rarely), she gave them the granola bars and then they ran off saying they got candy! I wonder what they thought when they realized they’d been tricked by a nutritious cereal bar.

Bagan Sunset

There are about 2,000 Buddhist temples in the city of Bagan.  We visited quite a few during the day, and then at sunset, we climbed up one to get a better view. 


The height really helped to show that as far as the eye could see, it was one temple after another.

Inle Market

This is in my top 5 vacation things we’ve done while living over here. Inle Lake itself is very impressive with floating gardens, houses on stilts, and beautiful temples. I loved the market the most.

We woke up early, got in our little boat, and ventured over to a market that’s open only once a week.  Farmers and villagers from the surrounding towns come early to sell their fruits, vegetables, candies, etc. 

Unlike many of the markets we’ve been to in SE Asia, this one really felt authentic. It wasn’t half for locals and half to sell cheap knick knacks for tourists.  Many of the villagers wear traditional tribal outfits with head dresses and long pants.  I just loved the place.


Yangon Synagogue

We finished our trip back in Yangon.  On Friday night, we visited the old synagogue that was built in English colonial times.  It really reminded me of the shul in Singapore.  The biggest difference is that this one is now almost exclusively used for show, as opposed to use.  The community there is down to about 20 people.  It’s great that the synagogue is still being taken care of, and we loved getting to be there on a Friday night.