On the 14th November, the day when Aung San Suu Kyi and her party ‘officially’ secured a majority in parliament, Tour Mandalay paid a visit to Myanmar’s grandest pagoda to pay our respects.

Shwedagon Pagoda is arguably one of Myanmar’s most popular tourist attractions, but due to its size and abundance of observation spots, it’s hard to notice that.

We sat in this spot (close to Saturday corner) for just over two hours and whilst the view was occasionally covered by groups of people taking photographs, the experience was still very personal.

Just from watching the exclusively produced time lapse video below, you can see the large number of people (both locals and tourists alike) circling the pagoda in a clockwise direction. Then you have a small number of people spending long periods of time in the same spot, all captivated by the magnificent size and golden glow of this iconic monument.

Whilst there are many excursions in Yangon that provide a local and ‘off the beaten track’ type feel, we still believe that nothing rivals the sunset at Shwedagon Pagoda. It’s not like any other Pagoda either, so it’s very rare you’ll get that ‘templed out’ feel. If you’re the type of traveller that wants to avoid this, our advice would be to find a quiet spot, sit down and watch the temple slowly come to life. If you do so, it’s also likely you will be approached by locals, all curious to know what you are doing/where have you come from.

Having experienced this numerous times, we can assure you that the experience will not disappoint.

If you enjoyed this edition of ‘Myanmar in focus’, perhaps you would be interested in reading some of these previous editions:

Myanmar in focus: 15 reasons to visit Myanmar during the ‘green season’
Myanmar in focus: Hpa-an
Myanmar in focus: Ngwe Saung
Myanmar in focus: Moeyungyi
Myanmar in focus: Oriental Ballooning Inle, one of Myanmar’s greatest adventures