Shwedagon Pagoda can be seen from all over Yangon. It is one of the oldest and most important Buddhist Temples.
Which is why we were not expecting it to feel so much like Vegas when we entered. There’s something about an escalator to a pilgrimage site that makes it feel like cheating.
Of course in Vegas they let you wear shoes on the escalators.
Once we got to the top it was all shiny marble and gold plating.
Tons and tons of gold.
I think this is supposed to contain one of the Buddha’s hairs.
And this is his footprint. It’s over two feet long and it’s not even actually an imprint, it’s more like a sculpture of a foot. It’s more like what a prankster would use to make Buddha footprints in the woods than like a footprint.
There were lots of Buddhas
And nearly as many bright scrolling lights as Vegas.
Also nearly as many boxes to put your money in. And an even lower chance of getting money out of them!
If you don’t have enough money to put in the boxes these guys will help you out.
And if you want to stream Netflix during your pilgrimage these guys would help you out.
Hey, they have to pay for all this gold somehow.
It’s not like it’s solid gold anyway. There are 5448 diamonds, 2317 rubies, sapphires, and other gems up there somewhere. And one of those diamonds is 76 carats.
Really, they only used 21841 gold bars to plate the 110m tall main pagoda.
That’s a lot of gold ($335 million US), but it’s certainly not enough to make the 110 meter pagoda out of.
This scale model is solid gold though.
