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Burmese And Thai Esoterica: From The Golden Pagoda Of Shwedagon To The Sacred Sites Of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Rosita Dellios

Rosita Dellios

Extract: There are few cities in the world whose skyline is still dominated by religious architecture rather than brash skyscrapers. Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, Myanmar's capital, is one such city. The Shwedagon Pagoda rises high above Yangon with a splendour that Rudyard Kipling described as "a beautiful winking wonder that blazed in the sun" and W. Somerset Maugham compared to "a sudden hope in the dark night of the soul".