Myanmar official visit ( SATREPS Workshop and field survey) - Day 8 (24-August-2015)

Day 8

Good morning!

It was the last day of the Myanmar trip and finally I had half-day today of free time (until noon). Ichihara san proposed a plan to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most famous pagodas in the world and certainly the main attraction of Yangon. We (Ochii san, Ichihara san and myself) left Hotel at 7:30 am. It wasnt too far (just few mins by taxi).

The famous Shwedagon Pagoda

The sleeping Buddha

It was my first time to visit a Pagoda. It was really beautiful, huge, quiet and well-managed. It was magnificent, I was impressed. We went in circles to visit all the places inside. Took turns to visit our Deities (animal), based on the day of the week we were born.

Yes, I was born on Monday!

Ochii san and Ichihara san

At noon, we checked out of our hotel and went to visit the Yangon port. It was raining, so we couldnt see/visit everywhere.

Shipping containers at the Yangon port

Panorama of the Yangon port

It was windy and raining

At 1:00 pm, we had our lunch at Hotel The Strand, a 5 star hotel. I tried their "Authentic Mohinga". It sure was delicious. After the lunch we continued to prepare for the next meeting to be held at the JICA office, later that afternoon.

Authentic Mohinga @ Hotel The Strand

We arrived at the JICA office at around 3:30 pm. We had a long and fruitful meeting with the JICA officials. It finished at 5:30 pm.

For dinner, we had an appointment with other friends and colleagues working at Yangon.

Last dinner at Yangon

At 7:30 pm we left for Airport, our flight was at 9:45 pm.

The 8 days long trip was finally over and I was happy that it was a success! I really enjoyed each and every aspect of this Myanmar visit (workhop and field trip). The Burmese people are really kind and very helpful. My knowledge about Myanmar, especially Bago region, was immensely improved as well. It would certainly help me for my research!

Thats all for this trip. I hope I was able to give you some insight about this trip. Please dont hesitate to comment if you want to know something about this trip or any other general topic.

Until my next blog. Bye!

Seemanta (サム)