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Mrauk U, Myanmar - 5th March 2015
By: Apperveilchen
Mrauk U is so far away from the more famous sites and the big infrastructres of toursimn in Myanmar and in a state that is still largely closed to visitors, so that there are few foreign tourists.
It was capital of the Arakan Kingdom (incl. what is now part of Bangladesh) from 1430 to 1785, when it was conquered by King Bodawpaya. Trades were made with India, Persia but also the Netherlands. There were some Dutch settlers in this region.
The name is pronounced more like "Myauk U" and a funny myth is that the city was named by a prince, for his origin from a "monkey egg". A lonely female monkey, mated with a peacock and laid the egg from which the (human) prince was born. Incidentally "monkey egg" was also the local description for a potato.
We started our exploration of Mrauk U early to escape the heat and started it with a highlight, the most amazing temple: Kothaung (=90,000 Buddha images)
And a welcoming ogre.
The girl on top sold flowers for pilgrims who wanted to donate them.
The view fromt he temple:
This passage with all the carved Buddha images all over the walls leads all the way around the structure, with ogre guards along the stairways.
There used to be painted floors here, but they were destroyed. the dome on top was newly donated and built.
On a nearby hill was half destroyed round temple with Buddha images looking out into all directions and I got another look at Kothaung Temple.
Towards the town there's another temple set up on a hill with yet different design and other fable animals as guards:
A very devout guide showed us around.
From there I saw people gathering for yet another initiation ceremony:
The abbot of the local monastery was chanting up front. It was very different from what I saw at the Pa O village.
After circumnavigating some contrsuction work where mostly women hammered bigger stones to take the rubble in big baskets to the road and then pour tar over it that was heated in burning barrels by the site of the road, all that in the burning heat and in flip flops, we got to anoth comglomeration of pagodas.
Here two sibling ogres guard a pagoda and monastery:
In the modern Burma, people donate LEDs instead of candles.
Thsi golden Buddha image in the pride of a small monastery that also offers medition stays, mostly to the Burmese but some of the small cabins are also slightly more comfortable to house foreign guests.
This pagoda is known for its colorful flower decorations.
The heat of the day got to be too much and further exploration had to wait till the afternoon. Siesta time!
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Posted Sep 13, 2015, 1:39 pm Last edited Sep 13, 2015, 1:42 pm by Apperveilchen
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Rakhine State, Myanmar - 7th March 2015
By: Apperveilchen
A 5-hours boat trip took us back to Sittwe and another flight back to Yangon for one last night.
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Posted Oct 6, 2015, 7:08 pm
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Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar - 8th March 2015
By: Apperveilchen
In Singuttara hill the famous and imposing Shwedagon pagoda looks over Yangon. It consists of many different tempels and pagodas, in the center of all the big Naungdawgyi pagoda, a 46 m high golden pagoda that contains the hair relics of Gautama Buddha. It was supposedly built during his life-time in the 5th century by the kind and by two traders, Taphussa and Bhallika, who donated the hair relics and for the elder of whom the pagoda was named. Archiologists date the pago back to possibly the 6th or 10th century, reliable mentions of it in historical documents date back to the 14th centruy. It had been renovated and enlarged many times since, most recently a new umbrella was donated in 1975. The umbrelly itself is 13m high and 5m in diameter and weighs 5000kg, 500kg of that are gold. Many people seem to have donated their family jewellery which was worked into the umbrella (83850 items like gold rings or earrings) plus there are 4016 small golden bells. You can't really see that from below but there's an exhibition room with photos of the pagoda through history and with closeups of the umbrella, vane and the diamond orb on the top. We didn't get to see the actual pagoda, because the gold on the outside was currently being renovated, but the bamboo scaffolding actually didn't look too mcuh out of place.
Here you can see people praying in front of Saetawmu Buddha image, a wish-fulfilling Buddha image.
It was Sunday, so many locals were visiting the pagoda, as families, young courting couples or groups of teenagers, as well as Burmese tourists and pilgrims. This was clearly the place to be and there were halls to rest in the shade or sleep in the floor at night, people brought picnics and ate sitting in the ground, which was partially really hot, especially the dark stones in the midday sun.
So, with this highlight in mind we grabbed our bags and got a taxi to the airport. It has been a wonderful and interesting journey.
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Posted Oct 11, 2015, 5:13 pm
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Dublin, Ireland - 30th May 2015
By: Apperveilchen
The next trip started out with a late night flight to Dublin and taking the air coach into the city center. I found the hostel right at the river Liffey. Further exploration will have to wait till tomorrow.
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Posted Oct 23, 2015, 3:45 pm Last edited Oct 23, 2015, 3:47 pm by Apperveilchen
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Dublin, Ireland - 1st June 2015
By: Apperveilchen
The city was pretty empty early on this Monday morning. It was a chance to see the colorful facades of Temple Bar without a crowd. I got on a bus to Belfast. More from there.
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Posted Nov 1, 2015, 8:13 am
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Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland - 1st June 2015
By: Apperveilchen
This is a view down to the place where the rope bridge that connects the mainland to the small island Carrickarede. It can be crossed for a fee to the National Trust but I was there too late in the evening/too early the next morning to actually cross it.
A funny thing I found is that the money here is very colorful. I was so surprised when I pulled money from the ATM and instead of some official currency it had the name of the bank on it. Here are so different notes from different banks, all of the same currency.
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Posted Nov 20, 2015, 12:04 pm Last edited Nov 20, 2015, 12:05 pm by Apperveilchen
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Dark Hedges, Northern Ireland - 2nd June 2015
By: Apperveilchen
Another "Game of Thrones"-location: the "Dark Hedges" is this road enclosed by wonderfully grown trees. It can look great or a bit spooky depending on the light.
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Posted Dec 12, 2015, 1:40 pm
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Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland - 2nd June 2015
By: Apperveilchen
Dunluce castle ruins are some of the biggest on this island. While some stories say that the castle was abandoned in the 16th century because part of the newly built kitchen plus kitchen staff fell into the sea, one can actually still identify the kitchen. More damage was probably done by the "recycling" of building materials by local people and the castle was abandoned for political and financial reasons. Still, people here love to tell dramatic tales and I like to listen to them.
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Posted Dec 26, 2015, 6:25 pm
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