Yangon & Bagan Myanmar
Yangon is a former capital of Myanmar (Burma) and the capital of Yangon Region. Yangon is the country's largest city with a population of nearly six million, and is the most important commercial centre, although the military government officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw in March 2006. Although Yangon's infrastructure is undeveloped compared to that of other major cities in southeast Asia, it now has the largest number of colonial buildings in the region. While many high-rise residential and commercial buildings have been constructed or renovated throughout downtown and Greater Yangon in the past two decades, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be deeply impoverished.
The Shwedagon Pagoda is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar. At 99 meters (325 ft) tall, the pagoda is situated on Singuttara Hill and 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. The gold seen on the stupa is made of genuine gold plates, covering the brick structure and attached by traditional rivets. People all over the country, as well as monarchs in its history, have donated gold to the pagoda to maintain it. The practice continues to this day after being started in the 15th century by the Queen Shin Sawbu who gave her weight in gold. The crown is tipped with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies. The very top—the diamond bud—is tipped with a 76 carat diamond.
Bagan, Myanmar is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.