Welcome to Myanmar, where Buddhist temples cover the landscape as noticeably as the light from the breathtaking sun as it rises in the mornings.
Highlighted on the Semester at Sea Spring 2015 homepage, Myanmar (also known as Burma) is a colorful country that was only opened to the public for tourism in the last decade. The SAS program has traveled there with prior voyages before and was well-prepared with field programs for students to sign up for, ranging from visiting an elephant conservation center on the popular Ngwe Saung beach to moving inland to the temple-city of Bagan.
Although the country is just as large as some of the religiously diverse places the voyage has already encountered, almost all of the Burmese people practice Theravada Buddhism. The country itself is covered in religious relics dedicated to peace and mindfulness, meditation and good will. The plentiful pagodas excited many students as the disembarked from the ship, especially University of Colorado Boulder student Sophia Bagi.
“I picked up a book in the ship's library about Buddhism and had been reading up on it. The enthusiasm for the religion kind of caught me off guard in Myanmar because of how prevalent it was everywhere I went, which I found fascinating. It was honestly perfect timing," Bagi said. “This was a chance for me to apply what I was learning to real experiences and that was special for me. I definitely know more about Buddhism than I ever could from a book because of the time I spent there."
Bagi's interest in the Burmese Buddhism was common among Semester at Sea participants. For example, the field program that visited Bagan, the temple capital of the country, offered multiple ways to see the magnificent and ancient religious prayer sites. Students, staff, and lifelong learners were encouraged to sign up for the program that allowed them to observe thousands of temples via hot air balloon in the morning, tour them later in the daytime and see them from on top of a temple itself in the evening.
From bustling cities to peaceful riverside towns, Myanmar was a perfect example of the unbelievable amount of experiences and sights most countries have to offer. University of Wisconsin-Madison student Josh Levin took his trip inland, where he hiked over 40 miles in three days, from Kalaw to Inle Lake.
Accompanied by his guide, Momo, and a few other hikers, Levin stayed with the Pa'oh people during a rare Novid ceremony, in which the parents of young Buddhist children decide that it is time for their children to begin their studies to become monks. Occurring only once every three or four years, the hikers were aware of how special this opportunity was. It was during this ceremony and later celebration that Levin made the memories that make Myanmar so special to him.
“They were not only so welcoming, but also so happy to have us there because they wanted to show us about their culture and their life," Levin said. “They were the most hospitable, appreciative, and happy people I've ever met. The Pa'oh people have really changed the way I will look at Myanmar forever."
