travel souvenirs — part 5

woman carrying water

Inle Lake is a not-to-be-missed destination if you visit Myanmar. We enjoyed traversing the lake by boat, watching fishermen as they plied their trade, visiting various craft villages, and experiencing the Shew Inn Tain stupas, some 2500 ancient Buddhist pagodas erected on one hillside (pictured below).

Upon leaving the attraction, we of course perused the tables of vendors offering crafts in the covered market. This wooden sculpture of a woman carrying water caught Claire's attention. We brought it home, and it now sits in our living room, reminding us every time we look at the sculpture of our week in Myanmar — Yangon, Inle Lake, and our Irrawaddy River cruise on the Sanctuary Ananda.

Shew Inn Tain stupas (c) 2020 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Not a tour you can easily plan on your own, we're thankful to A&K Southeast Asia for creating a most memorable trip.


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copyright (c) 2020 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

through Buddha's eyes

the reclining Buddha of Yangon (c) 2018 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

This is a photograph of the reclining Buddha in the Chaukhtatgyi Buddha Temple of Yangon. The statue is dramatically large, 217 feet in length. By way of comparison, the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho in Bangkok is just 151 feet long.

During our trip to Vietnam and Myanmar, Claire and I have witnessed the devotion of many worshippers. Their pagodas are not tourist attractions but living places of worship, and we have seen the faithful burn incense, pray impassioned prayers before statues of Buddha, and implore the gods to bless them with good fortune.

What might this worship look like through Buddha's eyes? He taught the Eightfold Path as a way to achieve enlightenment and cease suffering. How would Buddha explain this path to those who suffer today?

copyright  (c)  2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.