An Evening in Napyidaw

Events of Thursday Evening 21st February 2013

We'd driven down from Mandalay that morning and spent the afternoon looking for, and finally looking at, the railway museum, as described here. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was shattered and envisaged a quiet evening.

Entrance to the Lobby at the Aureum Palace Hotel, Napyitaw.

But my guide asked if I wanted to visit the Uppatasanti Pagoda that evening. This was the huge Golden Pagoda I'd seen from a distance as we'd driven around Napyidaw earlier. I try to work on the basis of "I may not pass this way again" and so I agreed to be picked up in a couple of hours, after I'd had a shower and changed and, hopefully, revived a little. The evening trip was a great success.

Napyidaw probably qualifies as the oddest city I've visited. Construction didn't start until 2002 and will probably continue for some time. Four years ago, the population was said to be 900,000 but, from my experiences driving around the deserted roads in the afternoon, it is a very carefully-hidden 900,000.

It was already dark when we left my hotel by car to drive to the Uppatasanti Pagoda. A number of the traffic roundabouts we traversed had strings of coloured fairylights and the artistic features on the central islands were floodlit. It was all a bit reminiscent of Blackpool and I found it rather attractive. Soon, I spotted the Pagoda, massive and floodlit. As we got nearer, we actually started picking up traffic - not enough to slow us down but much heavier than anything I'd seen during the day. We parked near the Pagoda and joined the pedestrians, mainly young people, moving to and from the Pagoda. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were happily milling around in the warm evening and the atmosphere was very inviting. The air was filled with the voice of a monk, intoning from the Buddhist scriptures using a public address system, adding to the sense of occasion.

Construction of the Pagoda was started in 2006 and completed in 2009. I expected to be appalled by this 'modern upstart' of a Pagoda but ended up being charmed. The Uppatasanti Pagoda is built on a large, square plinth and is approached by broad steps or, on one side, a lift. It would be impressive at any time but, floodlit at night, the effect is stunning. The size and shape of the Pagoda is based on the revered Shwedagon in Yangon but at least this young Pagoda has the good grace to be a few inches shorter.

The approach to the Pagoda from the lift tower.

Pagodas of this design are normally solid but the Uppatasanti Pagoda has four entrances leading to a huge, bell-shaped cathedral-like space. The walls are decorated with deep-relief marble carvings illustrating events from the Buddhist scriptures. Four elaborately-decorated shrines surround a central, square core and the soaring ceiling is a riot of complicated patterns and Buddhist writings in gold on a green background.

Four shrines surround a central, square core inside the Uppatasanti Pagoda.

The guide and I walked around the terrace outside the Pagoda, where there are separate shrines for each of the astrological birth-signs, before descending to ground level using one of the broad stairways.

Here, we struck the only off-note of the evening. Near the Pagoda, there's a large open-sided building where they keep the White Elephants. White (or, more accurately, albino) elephants exist but are rare. In Burma, historically they are "regarded as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity" (Wikipedia article). Napyidaw has its own white elephants (you'd say 'pink' rather than 'white', looking at them) being stared at all day by visitors to the Pagoda.

One of the Napyidaw white elephants.

The elephants were on a hard floor sparsely covered with straw, tethered and at least one was engaging in repetitive displacement activity which is usually a sign of stress, so I didn't approve. Elephants are magnificent beasts and I believe a partnership with man is possible. In Burma, I've twice seen demonstrations by logging elephants where I was sure the elephants were willing participants (Burma 2010 and Burma 2012). In Thailand, I spent a day with an elephant without having reservations (Thailand 2008). Then, on safari in 2012, I saw elephants in the wild (Botswana 2012) so I'm afraid the elephants of Napyidaw worried me.

After an interesting evening, I was returned to my hotel. I had a simple meal in the splendid restaurant before getting to bed. The next day, I had to be up fairly early for our road trip back to Yangon.

The restaurant at the Aureum Palace Hotel.

References

Naypyidaw (Wikipedia).
Uppatasanti Pagoda (Wikipedia).

Related Posts in this Blog

Napyidaw.

My Pictures

Aureum Palace Hotel, Naypyitaw.
Uppatasanti Pagoda, Napyidaw