Ask the random question to people what they think about first when they hear the name “Myanmar”, most of the answer will be the pagodas and temples. Of course yes Myanmar is considered as the Golden Land with around 85 percent of the population being Buddhist and heavily influenced by Theravada Buddhism. You can see thousands of golden pagodas throughout Myanmar.

Is there anything Myanmar is popular for?

The very first place you have to go after landing in Yangon is the Shwedagon Pagoda. This is the most magnificent place of Yangon you must visit. As a signature of Golden land, Shwedagon pagoda is known as the most famous national landmark. In some auspicious occasions like Novitiation (Shin Byu), all the people wear nicely and come to pay respect to the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Particularly, the former kingdom Bagan (recently regarded as a UNESCO World Heritage site) is the major tourist attraction and become the main reason to come to Myanmar. Bagan, located in the Mandalay region of Myanmar flourished as a royal city. Also known as the heart of the great kingdom, it was founded in the early 2^nd century. The buildings and pagodas were built both with wood and brick. But the wooden buildings have been destroyed and only the brick remains. There are about 2000 of pagodas and temples you can easily find.

Architectural style

Some of Myanmar Architectural forms are derived from India. As Myanmar is a former British colony, you can see the colonial buildings along the strand Road mostly in the downtown area, and later found modern renovations and structures. If you want to see Myanmar architectural style, you can visit Bagan as I mentioned above. On the basis of the parallel development of culture, early style “Mon Style” and “Myanmar Style” of buildings are found there.

Tradition

The country known as Myanmar is the union of over 100 national races and most of the culture and tradition are mainly influenced by Buddhism. Traditionally, masses of local people believe in Theravada Buddhism and they offer to the shrine and images of Buddha. They strongly believe “Do good deeds and good things will come to you”. As Buddhism is predominant, every man has experience of monastic life in a period in his lifetime. Myanmar people call it the religious ceremony of Novitiation (Shin Byu). You can see the boys wearing Burmese royal costumes and Myanmar orchestra band or musical troupe as an entertainment. Apart from Buddhism, you can also see other national groups celebrating their tradition and norms.