The 5-storey museum houses some interesting artefacts and exhibits of historical significance. The highlight of the exhibits is the Lion Throne, the sole survivor of the 9 thrones in Mandalay Palace, which was destroyed during World War II by allied bombing.
The throne is 8 metres high, and completely gilded with pure gold and richly decorated with intricate carvings based on lion motifs, as the name implies.
Unfortunately photography was forbidden so here's a stolen picture from Google.
The National Museum is closed on Monday, Tuesday and gazetted holiday.
Visiting hours : 10 am to 4 pm
Entrance fee: 5000 kyats or USD 5
Direction: It is located on Pyay Road
Visiting hours : 10 am to 4 pm
Entrance fee: 5000 kyats or USD 5
Direction: It is located on Pyay Road
On our way to the museum before that, we stopped in front of one particular bungalow. Mary, our tour guide, told us that it is the residence of Aung San Suu Kyi.
closer view
Even the nails are painted pink!
The Buddha's foot print with the description of the lives of Buddha
Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda is open daily.
Visiting hours : 6 am to 8 pm
Entrance fee: 5000 kyats or USD 5
Direction: It is located on Shwe Gon Taing Road
You will come across a lot of young monks here as there are monasteries within the vicinity of the pagoda, which accommodate hundreds of monks who study Buddhist Scriptures.
Bogyoke Aung San Market is open daily.
Opening hours : 9 am to 5 pm
Direction: It is located on Bogyoke Aung San Road
From Bogyoke Market, we went to Kandawgyi Park. It's a park, with a lake, and on the lake is an enormous, and pretty impressive, concrete model of a Royal barge, called Karaweik. It contains a restaurant but it was closed at the time of our visit in the late afternoon.
The park offers nice view across the lake towards the Shwedagon Pagoda.
She spent more or less 15 years of her life under house arrest by the military before her release in 2010. In this lakeside house, she was accompanied by two maids and received visits from no one but her doctor. Sad eh? Mary also told us how the road leading to her house was closed just to avoid the people from getting closer to the bungalow.
Moving on, our tour continued to Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda, home of a huge reclining Buddha.
Measuring at 65 metres long and 16 metres high, this large reclining Buddha is rather pretty. I mean, have you ever seen Buddha with make up? Just look at its face; the large eyes are complete with eyeliner and blue eyeshadow, and the red lips.
Even the nails are painted pink!
Chaukhtatgyi Pagoda is open daily.
Visiting hours : 6 am to 8 pm
Entrance fee: 5000 kyats or USD 5
Direction: It is located on Shwe Gon Taing Road
You will come across a lot of young monks here as there are monasteries within the vicinity of the pagoda, which accommodate hundreds of monks who study Buddhist Scriptures.
After lunch break, we headed to Bogyoke Aung San Market, or also known as Scott's Market.
Opening hours : 9 am to 5 pm
Direction: It is located on Bogyoke Aung San Road
I've been to this market on my own the day before. Although this is regarded as the best place to shop for tourists, I found nothing interesting here. I just bought fridge magnets for souvenirs. Perhaps, it's just me.. cos I've set in my mind - no shopping in this trip. So I think my mind kinda blocked myself from seeing anything nice. haha..
If you visit the market, you can find a lot of shops and stalls selling antiques, jewelry, handicrafts, clothes, fabrics and many more.
If you're hungry while shopping, fret not. There are a lot of food sellers in the market, and also the mini cafes.
The park offers nice view across the lake towards the Shwedagon Pagoda.
And that brought us to our final destination, the Shwedagon Pagoda.
We were dropped off at our hotel afterwards. Overall, the tour was OK. Highly recommended if you don't have time to plan your trip, or just pure lazy like me. haha..
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