When I returned to the capital and rested for a few days, I accidentally saw a variety show that called us real friends.

Suddenly remembered that there are still a few small countries that I haven't been to, such as Myanmar in the show?

Next to the Mawlamyine White Tower, look east along the sea. There's a Burmese girl there, and I know she's missing me. The breeze is blowing in the palm groves, and the wind chimes on the tower are ringing...... On the road to Mandalay, flying fish frolic and the dawn is like thunder, coming from China and illuminating the bay......

Compared with Kipling's romanticized imagination of Burma, Orwell's sultry, contradictory, and lovable Burma is more realistic. Before visiting this thousand-year-old neighbor in the southwest corner, SC Johnson probably knew only two words:

Very poor!

First stop, Yangon. The best way to experience a city is to measure it with your feet. Walking through the streets of downtown Yangon, you will feel like stepping into a multi-faceted space where studded pagodas and temples, low-key mosques, declining colonial buildings, brutal slum slums, and new buildings have sprung up from the ground, where traffic, pigeons and flies find paradise.

There are not only Burmese natives, but also a large number of Chinese and Indians. They are integrated in the same city while maintaining their own distinct cultural identity, with the famous Chinatown being one of the liveliest areas in the city.

All kinds of small traders, seemingly humble but bring life to the city. The monks dressed in fuchsia robes and fish walk around the process, representing the adherence to spiritual beliefs. Another great pleasure of walking on the streets is to admire the slender and delicate boys and girls in cage kitmin. One of my favorites is their student uniforms, which are green with white shirts, so fresh and sophisticated!

Many people have white powder on both cheeks and foreheads, which is a common local sunscreen measure, and it has a different flavor when you get used to it. In contrast, the blood of Burmese men is hard to accept. They are keen to chew betel nut, and over time their teeth are stained with blood, and they open their mouths as if they want to spurt blood.

Walking north along the Sulei Stupa, the traveller-filled Aung San Market didn't give me much of a novelty. In reverse, to the south, to the pier of the Yangon River, it has received a lot of visual impact.

Looking at this river from a distance, under the sun's rays, traffic can be exchanged, and you can also take pictures of the beauty of "rafting". When I arrived at the wharf, I saw the muddy and muddy river, garbage everywhere, crowded boats, toiling barefoot workers, and even children carrying heavy goods......

When you're tired of walking, the next step is to take the Yangon Loop Train. The small train runs more than a dozen times a day, loops around the city, lasts for three hours, and has no air conditioning. If you feel that it is too long to complete a circle, you can also choose a stop to get off at random depending on your mood, and then sit back to the starting station in reverse.

The central railway station has a sense of history, like the architecture of the Republic of China. It's not a popular tourist destination, and most of the locals at the station are there. I asked a few enthusiastic staff along the way, and I just caught up with the train that was about to depart.

The biggest feature is that it is slow. At its peak, the speed was about 30 kilometers per hour. There are no doors in each carriage, and it is not uncommon to see locals jumping out of the train before it arrives.

There are not too many people on the train at each station, but the carriage is very lively, and there are few people who have been playing with their mobile phones, talking and laughing, shouting, and the sound of the train clanging. The doors are narrow and have high steps.

The cramped space condenses the most authentic life posture of the locals, hot and crowded, but vibrant. At the larger platforms, vendors selling various goods carry baskets or bamboo baskets on the train, like a condensed mobile market.

The eldest sister with a bamboo basket on her head and the uncle with an iron plate sell Burmese favorite fried food, as well as papaya and mango, which are thickly dipped in a layer of chili powder or spices and tossed, just as warm and thick as the current weather. The girl, whose face was thickly coated with fragrant wood powder, carried several packets of boiled quail eggs and peanuts, and asked the passengers one by one if they wanted them.

The dark-skinned little brother carried a bucket full of ice water with lemons, and the cup was buckled down on the lid of the bucket, and anyone wanted to drink it and scooped it up. All kinds of fresh fruits are also hot-selling products, oranges, watermelons, apples, and pears, a basket full of fresh and dazzling, and most of them are sold in a short time.

After a while, as if an appointment had been made, the vendors either went to other carriages to sell, or got off halfway, and the carriages suddenly fell silent. But after two more stops, the next wave will jump on the train with all kinds of food and fruit.

Standing 99 meters tall, it is viewed from the perspective of Lake Royal, connecting heaven and earth on the skyline. It is definitely the business card of Yangon and the business card of Myanmar, so now I see both some people saying that the three great Buddhist wonders of Southeast Asia are a combination of Borobudur, Angkor Wat and Bagan, and some people saying that it is a combination of Borobudur, Angkor Wat and Shwedagon Pagoda.

Archaeologists say that Shwedagon Pagoda was built by the Mon people between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, but historical legends don't buy it, and in Burmese legends, they believe that Shwedagon Pagoda is more than 2,600 years old, making it the oldest pagoda in the world. In order to enshrine the eight hairs of the Buddha brought by the two brothers from a long journey, the Shwedagon Pagoda began its glorious journey.

Even the British soldiers in World War II had to take off their shoes and socks to climb the tower, the only exception was to let our grandfather Deng wear socks up, because the old man was too old at that time and was ill.

It's not so much a Shwedagon Pagoda as it is a group of towers. There are also 64 small pagodas next to the main Shwedagon Pagoda, symbolizing the world that surrounds Mount Meru. During the Bago Dynasty, the top of the North Holy Mountain, where the Shwedagon Pagoda is located, was bulldozed to create this vast platform and build a sacred place for the towers.

The Shwedagon Pagoda enshrines the relics of the four Buddhas, including the rod used to detain the Buddha, the water purifier of the Buddha Waiting for the Golden Buddha, the robe of the Buddha and the eight hairs of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The whole tower is gilded, plus the small tower, more than 3 tons of gold, more than 5,000 gems, more than 2,000 diamonds, and the top diamond, 76 carats!!!

Most locals walk around the tower in a clockwise direction, either by joining the locals and following in their footsteps, or by choosing a secluded and bright tower and sitting and waiting for the sun to set.

The Burmese use eight animals to represent the eight zodiac signs, referring to the date of their birth, except for Wednesday, which divides the morning and afternoon, and the other days are not divided, so that the total is exactly eight.

Garuda (day), tiger (1), lion (2), ivory elephant (3 am), tuskless elephant (3 afternoon), rat (4), guinea pig (5) and dragon (6). Elephants are divided into toothed and toothless? Rats are also divided into guinea pigs and others?

Burmese puppet show is very famous, you can see puppet performances everywhere, silk puppets are also called line puppets or line play, that is, in the important joints of the puppet such as the head, back, abdomen, arms, palms, toes, etc.

Traditional puppet theatre originated in the 11th century, the main body revolves around Burmese mythological stories, and in the 16th century, Burmese drama has formed a unique style, puppet theatre has also kept pace with the times, and the puppet clothing image has become more and more delicate and colorful, showing the real life of the Burmese people, the plot is humorous, revealing a kind of folk cunning and wit.

Women's hand-embroidery is their stitch depicted exquisitely, it is really beautiful without words, each work is a story, each has its own meaning. Many of the workshops are semi-open spaces at the entrance, mostly woodcarved houses by male workers, and embroidered by female workers. There are many female workers who are still working with children, and the environment is very simple.