ဗထက္ခ်ိဳက္မတစ္ဦးရဲ႕ ျမန္မာခရီး

ဗီယက္နမ္သတင္းေထာက္မေလးတစ္ဦးရဲ႕ ျမန္မာျပည္ အေတြ႕အႀကံဳမ်ား

Smile in Vietnam ၀က္ဘ္ဆိုက္က Pham Hoang Ngan ရဲ႕ ေဆာင္းပါးကို ျပန္လည္ေဖာ္ျပပါတယ္။

June 12, 2011 (SmileinVietnam) – I visited Myanmar in Feb. 2011, just after the nation opened its parliament for first time since 1980s. I stayed in both the former and the current capitals of Myanmar.

Yangon is the ancient capital. Yangon (also known as Rangoon, literally: “End of Strife”) is a former capital of Burma (Myanmar) and the capital of Yangon Region (formerly Yangon Division). Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over 4 million, continues to be the country’s largest city and the most important commercial centre.

Shwe Da Gon Pagoda is a world-famous attraction of Yangon. It is called “Golden Pagoda”. According to legend, the Shwedagon Pagoda is 2500 years old. Archaeologists believe the stupa was actually built sometime between the 6th and 10th centuries by the Mon, but this is a very controversial issue because according to the records by Buddhist monks it was built before Lord Buddha died in 486 BC. The story of Shwedagon Pagoda begins with two merchant brothers, Taphussa and Bhallika, from the land of Ramanya, meeting the Lord Gautama Buddha and receiving eight of the Buddha’s hairs to be enshrined in Burma. The two brothers made their way to Burma and with the help of the local king, King Okkalapa, found Singuttara Hill, where relics of other Buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha had been enshrined.

The Golden Pagoda

There are four entrances to the Paya that lead up a flight of steps to the platform on Singuttara Hill. The eastern and southern approaches have vendors selling books, good luck charms, Buddha images, candles, gold leaf, incense sticks, prayer flags, streamers, miniature umbrellas and flowers. A pair of giant leogryphs called chinthe guard the entrances and the image in the shrine at the top of the steps from the south is that of the second Buddha, Konagamana. The base or plinth of the stupa is made of bricks covered with gold plates. Above the base are terraces that only monks and men can access. Next is the bell-shaped part of the stupa. Above that is the turban, then the inverted almsbowl, inverted and upright lotus petals, the banana bud and then the crown. The crown or umbrella is tipped with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies. Immediately before the diamond bud is a flag-shaped vane. The very top, the diamond bud is tipped with a 76 carat (15 g) diamond.

The gold seen on the stupa is made of genuine gold plates, covering the brick structure attached by traditional rivets. Myanmar people all over the country, as well as monarchs in its history, have donated gold to the pagoda to maintain it. It was started in the 15th century by the Mon Queen Shin Sawbu who gave her weight in gold and continues to this day.

There are four sanctums and hundreds of small sanctuaries in the precinct of Shwe Da Gon Pagoda. If you want to walk around the pagoda, it may take you at least 2 hours.

Another famous pagoda in Yangon is Oopatathandi Pagoda. In 2010, Myanmar people were extremely happy to welcome the visit of two two while elephants to Oopatathandi. They believe that the appearance of white elephant brings happiness, luckiness, and prosperity to both the nation and its every people.

In front of Oopatathandi Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar - © Pham Hoang Ngan, Smileinvietnam.com

Gem Museum is also a very interesting place. There are gem collections from more than 40 countries all over the world. A gem bidding and exhibition center is located in the Museum. Once a month, international gem traders gather here to conduct wholesale trading and bidding. Taking photograph is prohibited inside the Musuem.

Sapphire and Ruby are the most popular and wanted by tourists. Myanmar government has just allowed gem trading since early 2011.

Nay Pyi Taw has been capital of Myanmar since 2006, locates in the mountainous area of Myanmar. Much of this city is still under construction, which is set to be completed by around 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Burma’s third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay.

The new capital also provides all politicians, government officials, and parliament members with residential properties for free.

Myanmar possesses a high potential agriculture industry. There are about 8 million ha of arable land. Of which, nearly 6 million ha are still unemployed.

Burmese farmers are not allowed to transfer land. Average farm size per household is about 1.2 ha. Most of farming activities are made by hand. Agricultural products of Myanmar are environment-friendly since very pesticide and chemical fertilizer are hardly used.

Farmers are preparing land for crop, vegetable growing in Tatkone, Nay Pyi Taw - © Pham Hoang Ngan, Smileinvietnam.com

Rice is a main crop in Myanmar. Rice seeds are fully provided by domestic seeding suppliers. Dominant rice variety is IR 64. Myanmar, however, develops a very big seed bank for rice and pulse.

Seed Bank operators, Myanmar - © Pham Hoang Ngan, Smileinvietnam.com

Myanmar’s investment into agriculture spends a lot of money on irrigation infrastructure. Sources of investment are government budget, global oil processing consortium, and international development funds. Water resource has been being a key issue of agriculture development.

Myanmar farmers specialize in pulse cultivation. Pulses are milled, polished then exported. India is an important destination of Myanmar’s pulses.

Vegetable and maize are cultivated in some areas with seeds and fertilizers provided by Thai trading companies.

The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, also called UMFCCI is Burma’s largest not-for-profit business federation. It is dedicated to fulfilling the needs of private sector by providing various services such as human resource development training, training in commercial education, management and accounting, providing trade information, business facilitating services, business matching and consultancy services, organizing delegations for trade fairs, exhibitions, seminars and study tours and other services as and when required by the private sector.

Another important role of UMFCCI is acting as a bridge between the State and the private sector. This role is made possible by the fact that there is a vast network of chambers and associations affiliated to the UMFCCI. Moreover, with the increasing membership strength, UMFCCI has become more influential over the business community.

In Myanmar, I stayed in two good hotels of Sedona Hotel (Yangon) and Hotel Amara (Nay Pyi Taw).