Uppatasanti Pagoda, Naypyitaw, Myanmar

 

Naypyitaw is the new capital of Myanmar, and we were some of the first tourists to see it. I didn’t know at the time, that only foreigners with business visas were allowed in the city, and it was still very much under construction. The new capital is somewhat carefully planned, with zones for government offices, the military, various ministries, hotels, shopping, and an area for foreign embassies and the UN. Our “guide” knew very little English, but repeatedly said, “You can’t photograph that”.  I knew that in general, photography of government offices, police stations, and communication centers was a BIG no-no, but this whole city seemed to be off limits. Mark my words, soon there will be funny signs all over, showing a camera with a red line through it.  After about an hour, I asked to be taken somewhere that allowed photography.

It seems that the Uppatasanti Pagoda, was the ONLY thing in the city that I could photograph.  Like many of the pagodas in Myanmar, the outside was basically a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, but the inside surprised me with its beautiful design.

 

Image of the Uppatasanti Pagoda in Naypayitaw, Myanmar, as seen in the book, "MYANMAR 180º".

Interior of the Uppatasanti Pagoda in Naypayidaw, Myanmar.

 

I was laying on my back taking the photo above (my feet pointing away from the Buddha image of course), when two men dressed in military attire approached me.  To my relief, they were smiling and wanted to see the picture on my camera’s monitor.  They grinned broadly, gave a thumbs up, and asked me where I was from.  They seemed happy to have an American tourist in their country (!) and shook my hand enthusiastically as we parted.

 

My wife and the tour guide who had been hiding in the corner, pretending not to know me, now rejoined me and we had a good laugh.  Since you’ve read this far, I suppose that I should tell you something about this pagoda: Uppatasanti Pagoda, or “Peace Pagoda”, was completed in 2009.  Its name means “Protection Against Calamity”, after a 16th Century sutra, prepared by a monk, to be said in times of crisis, against such as a hostile foreign invasion.  Okay, time to leave the ice cold air conditioning, brave the barefoot walk on the hot tiles back to the car, and continue our journey. Whoa! Ouch, Ouch, oooo, ouch!

 

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