Jonathan in Bali

Yangon Central Railway Station in downtown Yangon is the largest railway station in Myanmar. It is the gateway to Myanmar Railways' 3,126-mile (5,031 km) rail network[ whose reach covers Upper Myanmar (Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Shwebo), upcountry (Myitkyina), Shan hills (Taunggyi, Kalaw) and the Taninthayi coast (Mawlamyine, Ye). The station was first built in 1877 by the British but destroyed by the retreating British in 1943 from advancing Japanese forces. The current station designed in traditional Burmese architectural style, making prominent use of indigenous tiered roofs called pyatthat, was completed in 1954, designed by U Tin. Yangon Central Railway Station has been designated a landmark building since 1996.

The Strand Hotel is a Victorian-style hotel in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma), built by the Sarkies Brothers. The hotel, which opened in 1901, faces the Yangon River is one of the most famous hotels in Yangon and Southeast Asia.

The Ministers' Building, formerly The Secretariat or Secretariat Building, was the home and administrative seat of British Burma, in downtown Yangon, Burma. Built in the late 1800s, the structure is more than 120 years old. It was where Aung San and 6 cabinet ministers were assassinated on 19 July 1947, now commemorated as Burmese Martyrs' Day. The building is currently on the Yangon City Heritage List and completely abandoned. It occupies an entire city block, bounded by Anawrahta Road to the north, Theinbyu Road to the east, Maha Bandula Road to the south and Bo Aung Kyaw Street to the west. The central building was completed in 1902, while the complex's eastern and western wings were finished in 1905, at the cost of 2.5 million kyats. Until 1972, the complex was called the Government Secretariat.

Saint Mary's Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral located on Bo Aung Kyaw Street in Botahtaung Township, Yangon, Burma. The cathedral's exterior, of red brick, consists of spires and a bell tower. It was designed by Dutch architect Joseph Cuypers, son of Pierre Cuypers. Construction began in 1895 and was completed 19 November 1899 under a land grant from the Government of India, when Lower Burma was a province of British India. During the 1930 Rangoon earthquake, St. Mary's Cathedral suffered little damage and it withstood the Japanese invasion during World War II. However, the cathedral's stained glass windows were damaged during the Allied invasion of Rangoon. The cathedral is the largest in Burma.

St. John’s Church was one of the earliest churches built in Yangon city. The present church was built in 1900.

On the corner of Merchant Road and Phayre Road, Rangoon. at the junction of the commercial and financial heart of Rangoon, this grand 1906 building housed the business interests of Issac Sofaer as well as others including the China Mutual Life Assurance Company. The ground floor corner premises were occupied by the Bank of Burma. Isaac Sofaer was a Baghdad-born, Rangoon-educated Jew who was a prominent member of Rangoon society. As well as owning many commercial properties in Rangoon, he was a member of the Municipal Committee, the Excise Committee and highly respected in the Jewish community. He was a successful trader in his own right with interests in wine and spirits, rice export and oil stores. Meyer Abraham Sofaer ran Sofaer & Co while his older brother Isaac, the creative genius, designed buildings. Meyer, whose father started the business, expanded Sofaer & Co's import, export and retail business, and made numerous trips abroad to secure import contracts. Isaac worked for him in that business, and left a legacy of several outstanding buildings that he designed in Rangoon, including the Sofaer & Co building with imported tiles from Manchester, now in the Japanese restaurant Gecko on the ground floor.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is a 99-metre-tall (325 ft) pagoda on Singuttara Hill, to the west of Kandawgyi Lake. It dominates the Yangon skyline. Shwedagon Pagoda is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, as it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present kalpa. These relics include the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa, and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama. Historians and archaeologists maintain that the pagoda was built by the Mon people between the 6th and 10th centuries CE. However, according to legend, the Shwedagon Pagoda was constructed more than 2,600 years ago, which would make it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world.

Rangoon's No 1 emporium: Rowe & Co, across the way from the Sule Pagoda. A store for the discerning expatriate, Rowe & Co was known as the Harrods of the East, and sold an impressive array of "ladies' & gentlemen's outfitting, drapery, millinery, boots and shoes, crockery and glassware, brassware, trunks, cutlery, watches and clocks and saddlery". More recently, the imposing building with the splendid central tower was home to the Myanmar government's immigration department, where squadrons of officials manned the desks, shuffled the paperwork and maintained black lists of undesirables (many foreign journalists among them). In 2005, the immigration department, like most Myanmar government departments, was moved to Myanmar's new capital in Naypyidaw, 320km north of Yangon.

he Myanma Port Authority is a government agency vested with the responsibility to regulate and administer the coastal ports of Myanmar. The modern era of the Port of Yangon began in 1880 with the Commissioners for the Port of Rangoon. In 1954, the Board of Management for the Port of Rangoon was established, and then in 1972 the Burma Ports Corporation. The MPA was founded in 1989 to replace the Burma Ports Corporation.

The Oriental Life Assurance Building was built in 1914 as the Rangoon head office of the Calcutta-based life insurance company, which mainly served European clients. The Indian Embassy moved here after the dissolution of the Raj, and had to deal with the repatriation, voluntary and involuntary, of hundreds of thousands of Indians from Burma over the next years.

The High Court building is a huge red and yellow brick building in the center of Yangon. The impressive square structure encloses a courtyard. A grand clock tower faces Independence Monument. The Queen Anne style building was constructed by the British in 1911 and served as the seat of the high court during British colonial rule. The high court was recently moved to the new capital Naypyidaw.

The Yangon General Hospital was established in 1899 as the Rangoon General Hospital with a capacity of 342 beds during the British colonial era. Located in a 14 hectares (35 acres) compound, it now has 2,000 beds. It is known for its Victorian-style architecture, with red brick and yellow-painted trimmings. The 3-storey main building was opened on 6 May 1905. After World War II, the hospital underwent renovations and had a capacity of 546 beds. In 1964, new specialist wards were added, and the capacity was increased to 1500 beds. The building was a major massacre site during the 8888 Uprising, in which injured patients, assumed to have taken part in the anti-government protests, were killed by the Tatmadaw. The hospital is closed to tourists. The hospital was also the site of Aung San Suu Kyi's first public speech, on 24 August 1988. Today the building is listed on the Yangon City Heritage List.

Kwun-ya is the word for paan in Myanmar, formerly Burma, where the most common configuration for chewing is a betel vine leaf (Piper betel), areca nut (from Areca catechu), slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and some aroma, although many betel chewers also use tobacco. Betel chewing has very long tradition in Burma, having been practised since before the beginning of recorded history. Until the 1960s, both men and women loved it and every household used to have a special lacquerware box for paan, called kun-it, which would be offered to any visitor together with cheroots to smoke and green tea to drink. The leaves are kept inside the bottom of the box, which looks like a small hat box, but with a top tray for small tins, silver in well-to-do homes, of various other ingredients such as the betel nuts, slaked lime, cutch, anise seed and a nut cutter. The sweet form (acho) is popular with the young, but grownups tend to prefer it with cardamom, cloves and tobacco. Spittoons, therefore, are still ubiquitous, and signs saying "No paan-spitting" are commonplace, as it makes a messy red splodge on floors and walls; many people display betel-stained teeth from the habit. Paan stalls and kiosks used to be run mainly by people of Indian origin in towns and cities. Smokers who want to kick the habit would also use betel nut to wean themselves off tobacco. An anecdotal government survey indicated that 40% of men and 20% of women in Myanmar chew betel. An aggregate study of cancer registries (2002 to 2007) at the Yangon and Mandalay General Hospitals, the largest hospitals in the country, found that oral cancer was the 6th most common cancer among males, and 10th among females. Of these oral carcinoma patients, 36% were regular betel quid chewers. University of Dental Medicine, Yangon records from 1985 to 1988 showed that 58.6% of oral carcinoma patients were regular betel chewers. Since the 1990s, betel chewing has been actively discouraged by successive governments, from the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) onward, on the grounds of health and tidiness. In April 1995, the Yangon City Development Committee banned betel in Yangon (Rangoon), in anticipation of Visit Myanmar Year 1996, a massive effort to promote the country as a tourist destination. Effective 29 July 2007, betel chewing, along with smoking, has been banned from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's most important religious site. In 2010, the Ministry of Education's Department of Basic Education and Burma's Anti-Narcotics Task Force collaborated to prohibit betel shops from operating within 50 metres (160 ft) of any school

Accountant General's Office and Currency Department: Clerks in here once oversaw the collection of colonial government revenue that came from opium, salt, custom duties, railways, post offices, telegraphs and major irrigation works.

The Myanmar Times, founded in 2000, is the oldest privately owned and operated English-language newspaper in Myanmar.

Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue is the last remaining Jewish house of worship in Downtown Yangon and Burma's only synagogue. The synagogue stands nestled between Indian paint shops and Muslim traders on a small street near the city centre. A plaque at the entrance of the building states that the present stone building which was built between 1893 – 1896 replaced an earlier, smaller wooden structure that was erected in 1854 It serves the few remaining Jews of the country - mostly descendants of Sephardic Jewish Iraqis. The synagogue was built for the increasing numbers of Baghdadi Jews from the Middle East, and Bene Israel and Cochini Jews from India arriving during Burma's Colonial era. The plot of land was granted by the British Colonial Government and following Burma’s independence, an extension was granted by the Burma authorities. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the community numbered 2,500 persons. Many Jews left due to the Japanese occupation and more followed after the Burmese army seized power in 1962 where most businesses were nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s. The community once had 126 Sifrei Torah. A second synagogue, Beth El, was opened in 1932, and some 700 graves are found in the well-kept cemetery on 91st Street. During Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the synagogue lost its roof and sustained water damage. The current Jewish population of Myanmar, including Yangon, is less than 19, with Moses Samuels having died on May 29, 2015, in Yangon. Surviving him are his widow, Nelly and his children Samuel "Sammy", Dina and Kaznah Samuels.

In 1877, the Zeng, and Qiu, clans who came from Fujian province in China founded this clan temple in Yangon.%0A%0AThis Hokien clan temple is located in the Cantonese area of Yangon Chinatown.%0A%0AThe patron deities of the temple are not usually seen in other Chinese temples and are likely to be ancestor deities since the temple was founded so that clan members can pay respects to their ancestors. %0A%0AAnother very important social value that is prominently manifested in the temple is the traditional Chinese emphasis on education and scholarship. In Ancient China, parents hoped their children would emerged as a top scholar in the Chinese Imperial Examinations. Although the Imperial examination was abolished in 1905, the emphasis on education remained and is reflected in the various scroll boards displayed all over the temple.%0A%0AThese boards are dedicated to the temple whenever one of their member’s children graduated from the university and provide important information about the community.%0A%0AThe boards are dated from 1910 to 1960 although there might have been earlier ones that are not on display. The graduates studied in China, USA and UK obtaining degrees, master’s degrees and even PhDs in business, engineering, dentistry, law, psychology, marine engineering, and economics.%0A%0AThe universities mentioned included Fu Tan University in Shanghai, Cambridge in the UK, Lincoln’s Inn in the UK and Greater China University in Shanghai.%0A%0AAlthough the community of overseas Chinese in Burma has reduced over the years, the temple continues to function and to serve its members.

Inya Lake is the largest lake in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar), a popular recreational area for Yangonites, and a famous location for romance in popular culture. 6 miles (10 km) north of downtown Yangon, Inya Lake is an artificial lake created by the British as a water reservoir between 1882 and 1883 in order to provide a water supply to Yangon. A series of pipes and cables distributes water from Inya Lake to Kandawgyi Lake near downtown Yangon.

Holy Trinity Cathedral is the primary Anglican cathedral in Myanmar (Burma), located on Bogyoke Aung San Road (next to Bogyoke Aung San Market) in Latha Township, Yangon. The cathedral was designed by Robert Chisholm, a Madras-based architect, in the Indo-Saracenic style to adapt to warm and humid conditions. Construction began in 1886, with the laying of the foundation stone by Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy of India, and was completed in 1894. The pipe organ was destroyed during the Second World War and could not be restored so an electric substitute organ was installed. The stained glass windows were repaired in 2003. The cathedral is listed on the Yangon City Heritage List.

Guanyin Gumiao Temple is one of two major Chinese temples located within Latha Township in Yangon's Chinatown. It was founded by the Cantonese community of Yangon in 1823, but was destroyed by a fire in December 1855, and subsequently rebuilt in 1864, with two additional brick buildings to the side built in 1872. The temple is located on Maha Bandula Road and is dedicated to Guanyin, a Buddhist bodhisattva.

Yangon's busy Chinatown was created when the British expanded the city in the 1850s. It lies between Shwedaungtan Street on the west and Shwedagon Pagoda Road on the east. The northern and southern borders are the Maha Bandoola Road and the Strand Road.

Mohinga is a rice noodle and fish soup from Myanmar and is an essential part of Burmese cuisine. It is considered by many to be the national dish of Myanmar. Lahpet is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Burma is one of very few countries where tea is eaten as well as drunk. Its pickled tea is unique in the region, and is not only regarded as the national delicacy but plays a significant role in Burmese society. Laphet is most commonly encountered in tea leaf salad. Lephet Thoke - Tea Leaf Salad with dried shrimp, peanuts, garlic and sesame seeds. Arloo Thoke - Myanmar potato salad.

Thilashins observe the ten Buddhist precepts and can be recognised by their pink robes, shaven head, orange or brown shawl and metal alms bowl. Thilashins go out on alms rounds and receive uncooked rice or money.

Bo Ywe Street, Yangon has fascinating, friendly Chinese family temples.

Bogyoke Aung San Market (formerly Scott's Market) is a major bazaar located in Pabedan township in central Yangon, Myanmar. Known for its colonial architecture and inner cobblestone streets, the market is dominated by antique, Burmese handicraft and jewellery shops, art galleries, and clothing stores.

Reverend John Felix, priest at the Armenian church in Yangon, also known as Rangoon, can't speak Armenian. He was born in Myanmar, speaks Burmese, but is of south Indian origin. The Armenian Orthodox Church of St John the Baptist is 150 years old. The congregation these days is small, in single figures.There used to be a few hundred Armenian families in Burma but the last 'full' Armenian died in 2013. There are now no more than 10 or 20 families who are part Armenian. In the early 17th Century, large numbers of Armenians fled the Ottoman Empire and settled in Isfahan in what's now Iran. From there, many travelled to form a commercial network from Amsterdam to Manila. Their influence in the British Raj reached its peak in the late 19th Century, when census records suggest that about 1,300 Armenians were living principally in Calcutta, Dhaka and Rangoon. Their closeness to the Burmese royal court gave them a particularly privileged status in Rangoon's trading community. The land on which the church stands was given to the Armenians by Burma's king. The region's most prestigious hotels, including The Strand a short walk from the church in downtown Yangon, and the Raffles in Singapore, were established by Armenians. Worried by political and economic instability, many Armenians moved to Australia.

13th street is a fascinating street that sells lacquerware from Bagan and duck eggs. There are interesting buildings at every stage.

14th Street is a charming off the beaten track street in the Chinatown area of Yangon. It has a feel of old Yangon with Chinese houses, metal veranda railings, rejuvenating blood tonics, colourful, wholesale plastic baskets and a giant banyan tree with Nats, spirits that protect the neighbourhood.

17th Street in the heart of Chinatown in downtown Yangon is the place to shop for fresh vegetables and meat.

18th Street, Yangon, Myanmar is in the heart of Chinatown full of market stalls. Downtown Yangon's road layout follows a grid pattern, based on four types of roads: 1. Broad 49-m wide roads running west to east 2. Broad 30-m wide roads running south to north 3. Two narrow 9.1-m wide streets running south to north 4. Mid-size 15-m wide streets running south to north The east-west grid of central was laid out by British military engineers Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad 100-foot (30 m) wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another 100-foot (30 m) wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named. For example, the 100-foot (30 m) Lanmadaw Road is followed by 30-foot (9.1 m)-wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium 50-foot (15 m) Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another 100-foot (30 m) wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on. The roads running parallel west to east were the Strand Road, Merchant Road, Maha Bandula (originally Dalhousie) Road, Anawrahta (Fraser) Road, and Bogyoke Aung San (Montgomerie) Road.

21st Street has classic Chinatown architecture and a rare collection of antique barber chairs.

23rd Street is in the heart of Chinatown.

25th Street part of the Indian quarter, mainly Sunni. The Supater Razar Jamay Mosque, which services the local Sunni population, is in the upper block.

28th Street, Yangon has a fifties-style barber shop.

29th Street is the heart of the Indian quarter, with Hindu and Moslem communities living peacefully side-by-side, along with Burmese Buddhist and Chinese families. There are many shops selling colourful sandals and several bookshops. Best of all are the street hairdressers.

30th Street, Yangon has old Indian family mansions and the beautiful Moghul Shiah Janmay Marjid mosque.

The upper block of 31st has classic British-built 1920s residential buildings, one of which has been restored to become the new Scott Hostel. The rest of the street is as it was.

32nd Street is a narrow north-to-south street located in Pabedan Township and adjacent to Sule Pagoda Road in Yangon, Myanmar. The street is divided into 3 blocks, similar to other streets in downtown Yangon. There are printing houses, offices and roadside rubber stamp makers in the street.

37th Street, famous for its bookstalls and bookshops, also has a great gallery and Buddhist temple.

In this block you will find one of the few Shia mosques in Yangon, a space where women are allowed.

41st is famed for its morning market, stretching down from Merchant Street to Strand Road.

44th Street, Yangon has old warehouses, half-built condos, and the Myanmar Deitta documentary photography gallery.

94th Street has 2 blocks and 2 Hindu temples. The upper block has Sri Mariamman Devasthanam Hindu Temple (1903), newly painted and incredibly rich in colour and design. All the Hindu figures here are carved in wet concrete by master workmen brought over especially from India. The lower block has Shri Swami Shiv Narayan Santh Samaj Hindu Temple whose principle worship is Vishnu, the Supreme God of Vaishnavism - the building was constructed in 1947 and is very simple.

Burmese puppet shows (yokthe pwe) were a popular entertainment under the Burmese monarchy, and possibly date back to the Pagan kingdom of the 11th century. Puppet plays have certainly been performed since the early 15th century and rapidly grew in prestige and popularity in the 17th century. By the 18th century puppet shows were common in ordinary Burmese circles. People learned about history, astrology, court intrigues and ethics from puppet plays. At court, puppet shows were patronized by the Burmese kings, and the Thabin-wun (Minister for the Performing Arts) was in charge of performances. The string puppets used in Burma (Myanmar) are made of wood, ideally Yamane wood, which is light and soft. Teak is also used. The size is from one to three feet tall. The standard repertoire involves 28 puppets, comprising a nat (deva), sakka (ruler of the Tavatimsa heaven), zawgyi (alchemist), a king and queen, four ministers, a prince and princess, a hermit, a pageboy, punna (brahmin), bhilu (ogre), nat kadaw (spirit medium), two prince regents, a handmaiden, and animals including tiger, horse, elephant, monkey, parrot, garuda (mythical bird, galon), naga (serpant), kinnara and kinnari (mythical birds). Each puppet has its own style of dancing. The themes of the puppet plays were based on the Buddha’s previous births (Jataka stories), Buddhist fables and stories, folktales and incidents in Burmese history, including the history of the pagodas. The last ten Jataka tales were very popular as they describe the perfection of 10 important virtues. A puppet troupe includes puppeteers, singers and musicians. The most difficult part is the marionette strings. 16 strings are attached to the head, hands and feet and these strings are then attached to a cross-piece handle. The puppeteer needs great skill to hold the handles in both his hands and pull the strings to make the marionettes perform delicate movements. The singers sit behind the screen and the puppeteers stand behind the screen to handle the puppets, working in conjunction with each other. Burmese Puppets: The Small Dolls of Burma: ebook by Jonathan Copeland https://www.murnis.com/ebooks/burmese-puppets-the-small-dolls-of-burma/ Jonathan Copeland tells the fascinating story of an ancient art form that almost became extinct in the isolated, fabulous country of Burma, now Myanmar. He goes into the history and purpose of the shows, explains how they are made, and describes the characters of these amazingly beautiful creatures