What I Would Like To Do In Myanmar

I’m a city boy. I mean, basically, I grew up in a city and due to financial problems, I rarely have any opportunity to travel when I’m in secondary or primary school. The furthest I travelled to is to Johor Bahru to further my studies in a local university. However, during that time, I did not develop much passion for travelling as I still lived in my own well. However, my design courses and also my first trip to Singapore late last year, had definitely open up a whole new dimension within myself. I simply love travelling. After seeing this contest by AirAsia, I know that I have to try out this opportunity.




So the contest wanted me to blog about what I would like to do in Myanmar. To be honest, I know absolutely nothing about Myanmar besides they have a lot of pagodas over there. As I researches on, I found out that there are a lot more to Myanmar than I would have ever imagined. Here are the list of things that I would like to MUST do in Myanmar.

1. Visit the Shwedagon Pagoda and take lots of lots of pictures of it



My design course had develop a sense of curiosity within me. I wanted to see everything and understand everything myself. It is without a doubt that the golden Shwedagon Pagoda is one of the wonders of the world. I wanted to go over there myself to appreciate the beauty of its architecture and also an avid photographer(although doesn’t seem like one), I wanted to capture its beauty with my camera. I never personally seen a pagoda up-close before and what’s more if it’s a golden pagoda. The only pagodas I’ve seen are from comics and also Pagoda Groundnuts.

So this spot is a must visit for me to fulfill my curiosity towards its beautiful architecture and also my fetish for photography. Besides that, it is 2500 years old and I definitely had not encountered anything as old as that. Imagine getting in touch with a building that had seen it all for 25 centuries. How do they even build this pagoda back in the olden days. Look at it’s perfectly symmetrical bell-shaped dome. Given the technology we have today, it is also a very difficult task to accomplish. So, topping my list of things I want to do in Myanmar, is paying a visit to this golden thing of beauty.

Quick Fact about Shwedagon Pagoda : Queen Shin Saw Pu, grand daughter of King Banya Yu(AD 1353-1385) donated gold equal to her weight to have the pagoda gilded and the tradition is uphold by her descendants until the bel was stolen by Filipe de Brittoe 

2. Bagan exploration



More and more pagodas and wonderful architecture of Myanmar. Enough said. I’m a sucker for things like these because I’m bored seeing typical office buildings and also houses. HELLO!! I live in Subang Jaya, one of the most populated city in Malaysia. Wouldn’t you be bored seeing the same ol’ type of buildings? Furthermore, I’m seeing buildings dated way back in the 11th and 12th century as I’m sick of seeing buildings built in 21st century. Even a lot of buildings built in 20th century are no longer to be seen or overshadowed. Civilization is progressing at such a rapid speed and I’m gonna have a look at all these temples, pagodas and stupas before modern civilization took over the entire Bagan. We’ll never know right?

3. Food, food, food and FOOOOODDDDDDD



You can never EVER claimed you been to a place if you haven’t tried their local cuisine. I am a typical Malaysian. It means I’m a food lover and a total sucker for good food. I’ve tried some Myanmar dishes here in Malaysia and I am not impressed at all. It’s time for Myanmar to prove her worth to me by trying their AUTHENTIC local cuisine. And to be honest, the first thing I landed in Taiwan and Singapore last year, all I could think of is where the heck is all the good food. It cannot be any different if I landed on Myanmar. And being typical Chinese, I love rice. Since the Myanmar citizens' diet are 75% compromises of rice, it ain’t gonna get any better for me I assure you.







Even the desserts are made of rice. LOL. Ok. I’m hungry now. Hurry off with this post to get some supper.

4. Bring out the child in me. Handmade toys



Handmade toys anyone? Our own Malaysia have congkak, gasing, wau and so on so on. Looks like Myanmar have their own handmade toys as well. These will be on top of my shopping list. When I buy souvenirs back, it’s definitely not gonna be keychains or a T-Shirt screaming “I Love Myanmar” or “Myanmar”. Seriously, those gifts are overrated. I prefer gifts that have a story behind where I can tell and describe to everyone. It will bring back fond memories of Myanmar. Seeing some T-shirt claiming “I Love Myanmar” won’t do me any good. I love toys as well. So I’m gonna hunt for some toys. FOR SURE.



5. Observing the culture of Myanmar



As you guys can see from my blog, I do a lot of observations in my life. It had become a part of me and curiosity gets the better of me all the time. I like to compare the people over here in Malaysia and the people in other countries. For example, how Singaporean drivers are actually very nice especially the taxi drivers. How good is the government in implying OKU-friendly environment throughout the whole country. Or how Taiwanese motorcyclists think they own the roads and make up is a necessary piece of clothing. I wonder how Myanmar could be and me being a street photography lover, this is also a good chance for me to capture the people of Myanmar. Another photography fetish is fulfilled.



I would like to see the lifestyle of the people over there especially in the countryside. Growing up in a city had not given me the privilege to observe situations like these. Besides that, I fancy staying in these places to get a feel of it. I wonder how living their lifestyle would be like. No doubt that I’ll mess it all up as I’m much too pampered

That’s all for today. These are the things I would like to do in Myanmar and if you guys are wondering, it is for this contest organized by AirAsia Blog Your Way To Yangon. All pictures are courtesy from AirAsia’s Facebook and Myanmar.com

I want to win a free flight to Yangon because I love traveling but do not have the appropriate financial capability to do so often. Usually a vacation for me is planned at least a year before to save up enough to go for the vacation. Winning a free flight ticket will ease the burden a lot for me to fulfill my passion. My dream is to travel around the world and capture the beauty of this world through photography and I hope this small step can be achieved by winning this contest from AirAsia. Help me realized my dream AirAsia. I'll blog about my experience and express my gratitude for you in my blog. AirAsia, Simply The Best.