THE AMAZING MYANMAR, YUNNAN & TIBET STUDY TOUR

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1 THE AMAZING MYANMAR, YUNNAN & TIBET STUDY TOUR The first Study tour of 2012 took place in April with 22 participants who found it to be a truly wonderful and memorable experience. It was a rather unusual because it involved overland travel between quite different and culturally unrelated parts of Asia moving from Myanmar (Burma) over the land border into the Yunnan Province of China, and eventually continuing the very different part of China, Tibet, which most people would say should beindependent. It began in Yangon, the former British colonial capital of Rangoon, and took in the busy port area on the Yangon River, 60 km from the sea in the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River Delta; the unique Botataung Pagoda which was almost totally destroyed by bombing in WWII, but now rebuilt and still with its priceless treasure a hair of Buddha in a golden casket which can now be viewed; the many preserved colonial buildings of the city like the Strand Hotel, the old GPO, British Embassy, shipping companies, churches, the City Hall, and High Court; the colossal Chaukhtatkyi, reclining Buddha, which is 70 metres long and 19 metres high; and the most impressive sight of all - the Shwedagon Pagoda which towers over all of Yangon at the top of the highest hill. Here, on an artificially flattened area of 36 hectares covered with cool tiles to walk on to take in the views, stands the great golden stupa which was seen gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. With a height of almost 100 metres, its lower part is covered with 8688 solid gold plates, and its upper part with gold leaf, and it is topped by a weather vane of gold and silver studded with diamonds with a single 76-carat diamond at the peak. The Chaukhtatkyi Reclining Buddha in Yangon, Myanmar 70 metres long & 19 metres high The group flew on to Bagan, one of the most impressive archaeological sites of Asia. Located on the Ayeyarwady River in the centre of the country, its Golden Age of prosperity was during the reign of 55 kings in the 11 th to 13 th centuries when it was the country's capital, and the city spread over 42 sq km where more than 3000 monuments were built, and where there is a present-day population of 250,000. Pagodas are the most impressive monuments, and most of them are built of red brick, like Stupas. The kings who built them continually tried to outdo one another, to have the biggest and best, but the heads of important families also wanted to build them. We visited some these including the Ananda Temple considered to be one of the most beautiful, and with four larger-than-life golden standing Buddhas inside, and from another high pagoda, we viewed a sea of towering pagodas in all directions, at sunset. Out of Began, we visited Mt Popa, a volcanic plug with a temple on top reached by 777 steps, and saw how palm sugar is collected and made into block sugar and toddy, and how oil is extracted from crops of oil seed using oxen to turn the simple machinery. Part of Bagan s Sea of Buddhist pagodas spread over 42 sq km

2 It was then on by plane to beautiful Inle Lake at almost 1000 metres above sea level - 22 km long, 11 km wide, very shallow, and crystal clear. Here, we observed the unique floating gardens growing vegetables, and fishermen rowing one-legged style while standing up. The local people of this Shan State were seen living in streets of stilt houses over the water, collecting lake-weed and soil from the lake s bottom to build their gardens, and tending their crops of tomatoes; about 190,000 people live in and around the lake, and they are still extending the areas of their floating gardens. One of Inle Lake s leg-rowing boatmen in a street of village stilt house built over the lake Collecting Inle Lake water weed to build floating gardens Visits were made to silk-weaving workshops, temples and pagodas, but the most impressive site was the multi-tiered Phaung Daw Oo Paya (Pagoda), where, on the platform at the centre of the brightly-coloured interior, men (and only males) line up to put gifts of gold-leaf on each of five small revered 8 th century Buddha images which have already been transformed into amorphous blobs by the sheer volume of gold applied to them by their devotees (LP). In a festival each year, these golden images are paraded around the lake between villages on an ornate golden barge shaped like a floating swan-like bird called a Hintha; it is pulled by longboats which are propelled by teams of leg-rowers; the festival lasts for 18 days. The third and last domestic flight brought us to Mandalay which was the country s Royal Capital when the British fought 3 wars to capture Burma in the 19 th century, and it had been a capital city for only a very short time 1857 to 1885, with only two kings reigning in this period; it is therefore a young city, with very few buildings pre-dating the 19 th century. However, for many centuries previously, there had been four Burmese royal capitals in the nearby surroundings. King Mindon Min founded Mandalay in 1857, setting out to create his Golden City which was never completed, although most of the great sights which visitors come here to see, are attributed to him. Mandalay now has a population of over one million, with the centerpiece of the city still being the royal fortress palace compound just below Mandalay Hill, but most of its buildings were destroyed during World War II; remaining are the immense walls of the fort forming a square, 2 km long on each side, surrounded by a moat, 64 metres wide and 4.5 metres deep. The city sprawls mainly south and west from here, and is bounded by the Ayeyarwady River on the west. As the country s second largest city it has become the economic hub of Upper Myanmar, and is now thriving on trade with China by road and air, and has a large Chinese immigrant population. The group saw most of the major attractions of Mandalay and its surroundings. Down-stream on the

3 Ayeyarwady, we visited Mingun which consists of the enormous ruin of what was to have been the world s largest stupa ever built, if its builder, King Bodawpaya hadn t died prematurely before completing it. He had intended it to be just over 150 metres high, three times higher than what is seen left of it today. Construction began in 1790 using what is believed to have been a labour force of thousands of slaves and prisoners of war. Millions of bricks had been used, but, in 1838, a severe earthquake hit the region, split the construction, and reduced part of it to rubble. Another of Mingun s attractions the Mingun Bell. In 1808, the king had this gigantic bronze bell cast, to go with his great stupa. Weighing 90 tonnes, it is the largest existing uncracked bell in the world, and now hangs in its specially-built hall. The incredible Mahamuni Pagoda was seen with one of the most revered statues of Buddha in the country (and the world). It was cast in the 6th century as a very large bronze and gold plated image, captured from its location on the coast in 1784, and transported here in pieces, to be installed in this specially-built Pagoda where it is visited and idolised by millions of pilgrims. Men are seen climbing up onto the podium to put gold leaf on the seated Buddha s lower clothing and limbs, but not his chest and face of pure polished gold, fortunately, but women can only watch. The statue is 4 metres tall, weighs nearly 10 tonnes, including 1.5 tonnes of gold, and the gold-leaf being applied to Buddha s clothing is now about 15cm thick. The next place of interest was the Shwenandaw Monastery with its exquisite wood carving. It was built in the 19th century in traditional Burmese architectural style as the personal private palace apartments for King Mondon Min, and he actually died in this building in 1878, but his son, King Thibaw Min, then decided to have it dismantled in 1880, moved out of the palace compound, and rebuild it to be used as a monastery where it is today; this was fortunate, because the royal palace was completely destroyed in 1945 during World War II, and this unique building would have been lost if it had been moved out; it became a museum in Nearby, is the Kuthodaw Pagoda which houses the world s largest and heaviest book the entire Buddhist scriptures of 15 Tripitaka - carved into 729 marble slabs, each with its own small pagoda which are arranged in neat rows around a gilded stupa at the centre of the pagoda compound. In 1857, King Mindon Min had had this complex built as an important part of his planned Royal Golden City of Mandalay, and it was opened to the public in It has been estimated that, reading for 8 hours per day, one person would take 450 days to read the complete book. It is also thought that if the book was printed on paper, it would run to almost 40 volumes of 400 pages each. Other places visited included a large Buddhist Monastery where 1000 red-robed monks were having breakfast when we visited, the famous U Bein Footbridge built in 1851 with a length of 1.2 km, the longest teak bridge in the world (held up by 1060 teak poles), the Bagaya Kyaung Monastery of Inwa (or Ava), built entiely of teak, and dating from 1834, and the summit of Mandalay Hill for its Buddhist shrines and fine views. Myanmar s most revered Buddha image in the Mahamuni Pagoda, Mandalay, with men placing gifts of gold leaf on it, now 15cm thick The 729 small pagodas which house the pages of the world s biggest book (the entire Buddhist scriptures) in Mandalay s Kuthadaw Pagoda

4 The walls and moat of Mandalay Palace Fortress 2 km on each of four sides The famous all-teak U Bein Footbridge, built in 1851 in the Mandalay district with a length of 1.2 km - the longest teak bridge in the world By bus, the group then headed north towards the Chinese border, climbing up into mountainous country, and visiting the former British Hill Station on Maymyo (now called Pyin Oo Lwin), 70 km from Mandalay. The area has become a major region for growing coffee, fruit and vegetables, and many of the former mansions built by the British are now private schools or hotels, but the greatest attraction is the 155 hectare Botanical Gardens which were established in After a night in Maymyo, the group temporarily took to traveling by train and rejoin our bus after a morning s excursion through rural areas and crossing the high steel bridge over a deep gorge, said to be the second highest railway bridge in the world when it was built in 1901; this Goitek Viaduct is 97 metres high, and spans the gorge width of 670 metres. After a night in a government motel in Lashio, we began following part of the famous Burma Road which ran supplies into China in World War II before Burma became over-run with the Japanese; it ran from Lashio, Burma, to Kunming, China. We climbed by winding road higher up into the mountains towards the border, seeing masses of goods now being brought from China to Myanmar, with the Burma Road now a major trade route crates of motorbikes, new trucks, prime movers and buses are now being exported here. Crossing between the border towns of Muse (Myanmar) and Ruili (China) without difficulty, we were now in the Province of Yunnan which means South Cloud ; it has an area of 394,000 sq km, extending through the relatively low latitudes of 21 to 29 degrees north, and has a population in excess of 46 million 67 per cent Han, and the rest made up of 7 main ethnic groups a relatively larger proportion than in most other parts of China; the Yi people make up the next largest group with 11 per cent of the total. We were now on much better roads, with motorways and tunnels through mountains making travel easier and faster. Initially, tea was the major crop of the area, but in the fertile valleys, vegetables are being produced in large quantities, and, for us, it was the peak harvest time for water melons seen being harvested, packed into tractor-trailers, and transported to commercial traders with trucks on the highway, or piled up into ware houses for later export. Heshun was the first town of importance visited. Traditionally, it had consisted of multi-generational trading families who had been sending their male members abroad from here to find employment, to make good, and send money home to their families; currently, out of Heshun s population of about 8,000, there are 6000 people, with relatives living abroad in 23 countries. Much of the returned foreign money was used to beautify their home town and it became known as one of the most charming places in the country and is now undergoing preservation as a heritage site; almost all of the buildings are of traditional style, and at least 400 years old.

5 The village streets of historic Heshun near Tengchong, Yunnan Nearby, we spent time in the city of Tengchung which was almost totally destroyed in World War II but has now been beautifully rebuilt and has a population of 600,000. It is located in the centre of a fertile horse-shoe-shaped basin surrounded by 97 volcanic mountains, extinct, dormant and active (some over 3000m). We visited the city s Waterfall Park, travelled by cable car up Yunfeng Mountain with 17th century Taoist temple on its 2466m summit, explored the district s large geothermal area of steaming vents, boiling pools, geysers and hot waterfalls, and visited the beautiful Guoshang Tomb Gardens - a memorial cemetery and War Museum from WWII; 3,500 people are buried in the man-made hill here out of the 9,000 who died in Tengchong and district while trying to recapture the city from the Japanese who had taken it over as their local HQ, having come in from occupied Burma. Spectacular landscapes followed on the journey north from Tengchong through Yunnan, travelling over or through high mountain ranges of 4000 to 5000 metres, and crossing the huge Salween River which flows to the Indian Ocean, and the even larger Mekong River which flows to the Pacific. The valley of the upper Mekong River near Dali, Yunnan We then arrived in the valley of eternal spring with a population of 3.5 million people, mostly Dai and Bai Minorities, farming a very fetile region surrounding Lake Erhai, and the ancient City of Dali. This city dates from the Ming Dynasty, and is now the biggest urban centre in western Yunnan, being at the cross roads of historic trade routes. We found the original walled Old City, 2km x 2km with impresive gates and a central bell tower, a real "treasure", and our hotel within it, a gem. During our stay, we observed teams of farmers at work in their fields, explored rural villages with traditional craft industries, watched cormorants

6 catch fish in the lake for their masters, ate a tradititional Bai lunch in a local home, and explored Dali s landmark attraction the Three Pagodas - an ensemble of three independent pagodas set in a beautifully landscped park. The tallest one (70m) was built in the 9th century with 16 storeys; the other two, built 100 years later, were 42m tall. The park also contains numerous other shrines and temples built more recently, and from one of these there were excellent views over Dali and the surroundings. The Three Pagodas Park in Dali, Yunnan Continuing north through Yunnan by bus, the next stop was another very attractive city of minority people the anncient city of Lijiang, the main centre of the Nashi (or Naxi), and a significant World Heritage site (from 1997) with no vehicles permitted within it. According to UNESCO, the two unique features of Lijiang are its ancient water-supply system of great complexity and ingenuity that still functions effectively today, and the wealth of Nashi domestic dwellings of basic timber-framed structure and of unique architectural style; the roofs are tiled uniformally, and the houses have verandahs. Together with the adjacent New City, Lijiang has a population of 90,000, with another 200,000 in the surroundings. There are 22 ethnic groups here, but the biggest by far is the Nashi, with 60 per cent of the total. The Nashi have their own distinctive matriarchal culture, language, customs and costumes, and also writing which is unusual for minority groups. During our stay here, we enjoyed exploring the old city of canals, bridges, cobbled paths and traditional old wooden 2-storey houses, and a visit to the Jade Spring Park with its Longshen Temple and Black Drgaon Pond, but found this latter totally dry because of a serious drought. We also found the Nashi Folk Museum very interesting. Outside the city, the villages of Baisha and Yuhu were also found to be worthwhile but the trip up into Jade Dragon Snow Mountain National Park by cable car was outstanding. Street scene in old Lijiang, Yunnan

7 Jade Dragon Snow Mountain National Park, Lijiang, Yunnan, with old Buddhist monastery Jade Dragon Snow Mountain National Park, Lijiang, Yunnan The ancient waterwheels of Lijiang, Yunnan, flood-lit at night Still continuing north, we travelled over more mountains and intio the third great river valley of Yunnan the Yangtze with two major sites to be visited. In the village of Shigu, the Yangtze makes a sudden turn left to the east at what is known as the First Bend of the Yangtze, and made famous by the fact that Mao Zedong's Red Army on its great Long March of , while being chased by the Nationalist Army, needing to cross the river somehwere, chose this site because it was where the river was at its widest, and therefore flowing less fast. In just one night, the local people ferried 18,000 of Mao s Red Army troops across the river here, and a monument records the event. Further downstream, the Yangtze becomes confined in a very narrow gorge and the waters are seen raging through in strong rapids at a spectacular site called the Tiger Leaping Gorge. From here we continued into higher country with magnificent mountain views, and to another significant centre of Yunnan Shangri-la (originally Zhongdian), a city of 90,000 and a district of 400,000, where the main minority ethnic group is Tibetan. The most impresive site here was the Songzanlin Buddhist Monastery built on a hillside above a small lake, a short distance from the city, at 3,380 metres a.s.l. Besides the visit here, we made a bus and walking tour of Pudacuo National Park, one of China's first and finest, and we explored the Old City centre of Shangri-la with its picturesque traditional buildings, cobble-stone streets of old shops, and a Buddhist temple with a very large gold-coloured prayer wheel for which many people are needed to keep it turning. The historic First Bend of the Yangtze River, Yunnan The famous Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Yangtze River, Yunnan

8 The group then took a spectacular flight from Shangri-la to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, finding it very exciting to be here. The Lhasa airport is in the wide valley of the upper Brahmaputra, while the city is in the Lhasa tributory river valley. Touring the city began with the Potala Palace one of the most famous and most recognizable buildings in the world and very impressive to visit; it was built as the residence of the 5th to 14th Dalai Lamas, although the latter one has now been in exile since We then visited second most important building, the Jokhang Temple at the centre of the Old City, and the oldest religious building of Lhasa; this is thought to have been founded in 650 AD by Songtsan Gampa, the most important early king of Tibet, and the person credited with bringing Buddhism to the Tibetan people. Surrounding Jokhang is the Barkhor, a pilgrim circuit lined with market stalls, shops, and street vendors selling Tibetan goods of enormous variety. The Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet The Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet Before seeing more of Lhasa, the group made a 3-day/2-night circuit of central Tibet to the west of the city by bus. After crossing the Brahmaputra River in its valley at 3,600 metres, we climbed up to Khamba La ( La means Pass ) at 4,794 metres with spectacular views on both sides but particularly south into a valley with a magnificent turquoise-coloured lake - Yamdrok Tso - with snow-capped mountains beyond over 5,700 metres high. Descending to travel around the lake and past flocks of sheep and many yaks, we continued on over another high mountain pass Karo La at 5010 metres, close to the permanent snowline, and with a glacier descending from a small ice-cap on the mountains above. Eventually, we came to Gyantse (population: 65,000) at 3,950 metres, to stay the night. Next morning, we visited the Palcho, a Buddhist monastery complex founded in 1418, and explored the famous Kumbum ( 10,000 images ) Chorten (a temple stupa), the largest one in Tibet, and dating from 1440; it has five irregularly-shaped tiers, and, according to Buddhist tradition, containing 108 chapels, with these having 10,000 murals. Above these tiers, is a cylinder with three more floors of chapels, and a square level with its exterior painted with typical allseeing eyes on its four sides. View of Yamdrok Tso Lake from Karo La Pass at 5010 metres, on the highway from Lhasa to Gyantse, Tibet The famous Kumbum ( 10,000 images ) Chorten (a temple stupa), the largest one in Tibet, in the Palcho, Buddhist monastery complex of Gyantse, Tibet Continuing on around the circuit, the group travelled further west to Shigatse, Tibet s second largest city with 100,000 people, stopping to photography en route, yaks, brightly decorated, ploughing the land for farmers. In the afternoon, we toured the huge Tashilhunpo Monastery; it was founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup ( ), considered retrospectively to have been Tibet s first Dalai Lama, and it has since been the

9 seat of the country s Panchen Lamas who are the highest ranking Lamas after the Dalai Lamas (Panchen means Great Scholar ). From the entrance gate, three golden-roofed buildings were seen in a row, and the great halls and other rooms were explored in each of these. Seen near the end, was one of the most interesting parts of the monastery - the living quarters of the monks where red-robed men were undertaking leisure activities on balconies on several levels around a great courtyard. From the top floor here, was an excellent view over the city. Next day, we travelled back to Lhasa on a more northerly and more direct highway than the one we had come by, and we enjoyed more incredibly beautiful scenery by following the Brahmaputra River in its valley almost all the way. We made an early morning photo-stop below a high-up Sky Burial Site where not much more than a stupa and some smoke could be seen; this funerary practice in Tibet, involves human corpses being placed on a mountain-top, exposed to the elements and to be consumed by animals (especially carnivorous birds). The huge Tashilhunpo Monastery founded in 1447 in Shigatse, Tibet Back in Lhasa in the afternoon, we visited the Dalai Lama s Summer Palace or Norbulinka ( Precious Jewel Park ) and found it a very pleasant place. The place was first visited by the 7 th Dalai Lama in 1755, and he liked it so much that he ended up building a palace in landscaped gardens here. This was used by the following Dalai Lamas, but the present one built a new palace here from 1954 to 1956 just before he was forced into exile in In our one day remaining in Lhasa, we visited two more impressive Buddhist monasteries. Firstly, the Drepung Monastery which was founded in 1416, and enlarged in the early 17 th century during the time of the 5 th Dalai Lama, when it became the largest monastic university in the country; and secondly, the Sera Monastery, also one of the great university monasteries of Tibet. This latter one initially had a population of 6000 monks, but only 550 today. During the 1959 Tibetan revolt in Lhasa, the Sera Monastery suffered severe damage, with its colleges being destroyed and hundreds of monks killed, and, of those who survived, many fled to India and have never returned. We were invited to view one of the unique spectacles of this monastery; sitting around a courtyard with shady trees, we watched a session of the Sera Monastery s famous Monk Debates which take place in the outdoors at this Debating Courtyard. They are one-on-one, go on simultaneously, and are supervised by their teacher. Pairs of monks, one sitting (the questioner), and one standing (the presenter), debate their comprehension of Buddhist philosophy, and clap their hands when they score a point. We were told that they discuss how to stop the three bad things of life hatred, ignorance and jealousy. The Drepung Monastery which was founded in 1416, in Lhasa, Tibet

10 The following day, we left Lhasa and commenced one of the greatest train journeys of the world (and the world s highest), travelling 4,060 km to Beijing. We departed on time at 1.40 pm and were expected to arrive at 8.00 am after two nights sleeping on the train - a total journey of 42 hours and 20 minutes, but we didn t find it as luxurious as advertised, and it appeared to be catering mainly for locals, who boarded and disembarked along the way, and it hardly seemed like a tourist train, but, because of the fine scenery all the way, there was unanimous agreement that it had been well worth doing; there were great mountain views, grassy basins grazing yak herds, lakes, rivers and interesting towns all along the way. Views from the train travelling between Lhasa and Beijing, China The dining car on the Tibetan train In Beijing, we visited the most usual places Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Temple of Heaven and a Peking Duck dinner, but some people also arranged optional tours to the Houtons (heritage housing areas), the Great Wall, and an Acrobatic Show, while others visited the Olympic Games site by the modern metro train or explored other parts of the city. We then had an overnight stop in Bangkok on the way home, for shopping, rest or more sight-seeing. The Study Tour has been a highly memorable experience for all.

11 Tour Route Map