Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
statuesandassortedbric-a-bracaimedatvisitingChinese)plusconsiderablequantitiesoflac-
querware,paintingsandtextiles.Themainalleywaythroughthecentreofthecoveredmarket
islinedwithdozensofjewellerssellinggold,silver,rubies,emeraldsandyetmorejade,fash-
ioned into bangles, pendants and necklaces, plus a few touristy souvenir places. Shops get
gradually more downmarket as you move away from the central alleyway.
Along Bogyoke Aung San Road
East of Bogyoke Market,
Bogyoke Aung San Road
is usually busy with pavement hawkers
selling an entertaining medley of stuff ranging from old coins and colonial-era bric-a-brac
through to tropical fruit, original oil paintings and Aung San Suu Kyi T-shirts. At the end of
the block, you can't fail to see the fine old
Yangon Railway Building
at the junction with
Sule Pagoda Road, another of the city's colonial landmarks currently under restoration.
The extensive buildings of the
Yangon General Hospital
of 1899 are another of the city's
British-era landmarks and scene of a particularly vicious massacre on 10 August 1988 when
soldiers fired into the hospital, killing injured patients (who were assumed to have taken part
in anti-government protests) along with doctors and nurses. Two weeks later, Aung San Suu
Kyi made her first ever public speech in the hospital grounds.
Holy Trinity Cathedral
Corner of Bogyoke Aung San and Shwedagon Pagoda roads • Free • Daily 10am-5pm
The
Holy Trinity Cathedral
is one of the largest of the many colonial-era churches which
stilldotYangon,andMyanmar'sprincipalAnglicancathedral.Thefoundationstonewaslaid
by the Viceroy of India, Lord Dufferin, in 1886, although a lack of funds meant that it took
eight years to complete, didn't acquire its spire until 1913 and had the indignity of being
converted by the Japanese into a brewery during World War II. Designed by Madras-based
architectRobertChisholminHighGothicstyle,thecathedral'ssoaringspireandstridentred-
painted, white-trimmed brick exterior are hard to miss, even if it does looks more like a giant
piece of Lego than a place of worship. The whitewashed interior beneath a dark wooden roof
is contrastingly plain, bar some fine stained-glass windows. A moving little Forces Chapel
commemorates the many British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Burma Cam-
paign of 1942-45.
Sri Kali
Anawrahta Rd • Daily 6-11.30am & 4-8pm • Free
The colourful
Sri Kali temple
is where the area's sizeable local Indian population come
to pay their respects to the fearsome mother goddess Kali, whose black image sits in the
temple's inner shrine, surrounded by shrines to Shiva, Ganesh, Laxmi and Karthik (more
commonly knownasKartikeya orMurugan).ShivaandParvati sitinasubsidiary shrineout-
side (on the right as you enter the inner building), with Shiva's bull Nandi carefully looking
on.
