On to Myanmar

When we arrived in Yangon (formerly Rangoon, the largest city in Myanmar (formerly Burma), we had almost another full day before we would begin the Lord’s work, so what did we do? More walking!

As I mentioned in the last post, there were some beautiful bonsai trees in Bangkok. As for Yangon, they are known for their muffler trees:

They also have “beauty saloons,” where you can pull up a barstool and get yerself a stiff drink and a fancy updo, pardner!

But seriously, this is typical of the living standards we saw – unceasingly and ubiquitously – throughout the city (and I’m sure in the rest of the country):

In the afternoon we visited the enormous Schwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, where we removed our shoes and joined thousands of other Burmese as they spent their Sunday engaging in Buddhist fellowship. All manner of activity was going on: resting, relaxing, sleeping, children playing, cooking and picnicking, and of course various forms of worshiping.

The bell rang out for their god:

And they cleansed Buddha:

This was yet another exceedingly ornate place that drew into even sharper contrast the deep poverty of the citizenry.

The dome of the pagoda was under repair as the result of Cyclone Nargis, which had ripped off a lot of the tiles:

The children this day were an absolute delight, marveling at the Westerners in their midst:

As you can see, they came in peace:

And you can see from his shirt that this fellow was especially friendly:

It was simultaneously a refreshing day in that the happy children boosted our spirits, but also one that left us heavyhearted because of the nonsensical wealth invested in idols while a nation of people can barely survive. The blind devotion to this false god spurred us to pray more fervently for Jesus Christ to sweep the country. We would soon learn how that very thing is happening in Myanmar.

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