Day 259 - Chaukhtatgyi Buddha Temple and Nga Htat Gyi Pagoda - People’s Park
Saturday, March 23, 2019.
Today we hung around all morning in the hotel after breakfast. I'm still trying to catch up with the blog and Gregory needed to check the hotels and bus schedules for our next trip. We like our hotel room but we need more space. Sunshine and Gregory use the space as they can to do their yoga. Danny and I just watch them, ha, ha!
We left the hotel around 2:00pm, not sure why because the moment we stepped out, we started to melt! We took a taxi to visit the giant Buddha. When we got there, we took off our shoes and our socks and went in to admire the statue that is over 60 meters long.
The size is very impressive and you saw many people trying to take pictures of the statue, including ourselves. We walked around and looked at more sanctuaries with Buddhas. There were so many. Yesterday we found out that they were donations.
On one side of the pagoda, there was a big mural with Buddhas life painted and explained in English for a change. We saw very few tourists inside the temple, there were mostly locals praying or walking around with their families. At one corner of the temple, they had a circle with different Buddhas and each one had the days of the week. You are supposed to throw water on Buddhas head depending on the day you were born. Gregory and Sunshine did it today because Daniel and I did it yesterday. The water means that you wash away the bad stuff and vibes.
Near another Buddha statue, we held hand and said our little prayer: Happy, Healthy and Wealthy family for a lifetime and then we rang the bell. The vibrations spread good vibes and your happiness. After this pagoda, we walked to the next Pagoda where Buddha is sitting up. The name is Nga Htat Gyi. I like this one better and it had a big air conditioning unit. We sat nearby and tried to meditate. I think I did only do it for a few minutes. How can this heat be an illusion? How can you get rid of all the material needs? I needed air conditioning and water at that moment!
The kids were done, us too actually. We walked outside and our way, we met a monk that wanted to show us the monastery but we were hungry and hot so we declined his invitation. We walked up the street with a temperature above 90 F looking for a restaurant with AC. We didn’t find anything so we crossed the street and asked for Grab, the equivalent of Uber. We got lucky and immediately it was there! We drove directly to the hotel. We ate at the restaurant next to the hotel and had delicious food. It was a hot pot where they bring you all the food and you cook it at the center of the table but because we were too hot and didn’t want soup, we ate something else!
After a super late lunch or more like early dinner, the kids went upstairs to their room and Gregory and I went shopping for his longyi. He loves the idea of wearing a skirt for the nice ventilation he gets. Do I like it? No. Does he care? No. Oh well, he is happy with his skirt. Afterward, we decided to walk to the park nearby but I wanted to see the lake. Instead, we found a street fair with all sorts of food. We walked around looking at all sorts of food, from fried desserts to grilled fish! I had a coconut ice cream and we bought a tapioca dessert for the kids. The guard told us the park closed at 8:00pm so we decided to come back tomorrow.
On our way back home, we stopped on a pharmacy to look for malaria medicine. We were constantly followed by 4 girls trying to help us! They were so cute and happy that I was trying to learn a few words in their language. We walked by the side street which was fully alive with bars, restaurants, street vendors and more. Everything was great, except for the big cockroaches that I spotted in the street. Did I mention that I saw a rat last night in the corner street of our hotel where all the food vendors were?
I guess Myanmar looks cleaner than India but still have very dirty streets, maybe not trash but for sure leftovers of food! Oh, and people also like to spit here! Why, why???
Please click here for pictures
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8SocbFEXexnAhoWp9
We left the hotel around 2:00pm, not sure why because the moment we stepped out, we started to melt! We took a taxi to visit the giant Buddha. When we got there, we took off our shoes and our socks and went in to admire the statue that is over 60 meters long.
The size is very impressive and you saw many people trying to take pictures of the statue, including ourselves. We walked around and looked at more sanctuaries with Buddhas. There were so many. Yesterday we found out that they were donations.
On one side of the pagoda, there was a big mural with Buddhas life painted and explained in English for a change. We saw very few tourists inside the temple, there were mostly locals praying or walking around with their families. At one corner of the temple, they had a circle with different Buddhas and each one had the days of the week. You are supposed to throw water on Buddhas head depending on the day you were born. Gregory and Sunshine did it today because Daniel and I did it yesterday. The water means that you wash away the bad stuff and vibes.
Near another Buddha statue, we held hand and said our little prayer: Happy, Healthy and Wealthy family for a lifetime and then we rang the bell. The vibrations spread good vibes and your happiness. After this pagoda, we walked to the next Pagoda where Buddha is sitting up. The name is Nga Htat Gyi. I like this one better and it had a big air conditioning unit. We sat nearby and tried to meditate. I think I did only do it for a few minutes. How can this heat be an illusion? How can you get rid of all the material needs? I needed air conditioning and water at that moment!
The kids were done, us too actually. We walked outside and our way, we met a monk that wanted to show us the monastery but we were hungry and hot so we declined his invitation. We walked up the street with a temperature above 90 F looking for a restaurant with AC. We didn’t find anything so we crossed the street and asked for Grab, the equivalent of Uber. We got lucky and immediately it was there! We drove directly to the hotel. We ate at the restaurant next to the hotel and had delicious food. It was a hot pot where they bring you all the food and you cook it at the center of the table but because we were too hot and didn’t want soup, we ate something else!
After a super late lunch or more like early dinner, the kids went upstairs to their room and Gregory and I went shopping for his longyi. He loves the idea of wearing a skirt for the nice ventilation he gets. Do I like it? No. Does he care? No. Oh well, he is happy with his skirt. Afterward, we decided to walk to the park nearby but I wanted to see the lake. Instead, we found a street fair with all sorts of food. We walked around looking at all sorts of food, from fried desserts to grilled fish! I had a coconut ice cream and we bought a tapioca dessert for the kids. The guard told us the park closed at 8:00pm so we decided to come back tomorrow.
On our way back home, we stopped on a pharmacy to look for malaria medicine. We were constantly followed by 4 girls trying to help us! They were so cute and happy that I was trying to learn a few words in their language. We walked by the side street which was fully alive with bars, restaurants, street vendors and more. Everything was great, except for the big cockroaches that I spotted in the street. Did I mention that I saw a rat last night in the corner street of our hotel where all the food vendors were?
I guess Myanmar looks cleaner than India but still have very dirty streets, maybe not trash but for sure leftovers of food! Oh, and people also like to spit here! Why, why???
Please click here for pictures
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8SocbFEXexnAhoWp9
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