Did you know ... Burma

• Myanmar ranks 172 out of 176 on the corruption scale
• Three years ago, only 100,000 tourists visited Myanmar; that number grew to 1 million in 2012.
• UNESCO has declared Mandalay, Yangon and Bagan World Heritage sites.
• Burma used to be the second-richest country in Asia 1,000 years ago; now it is among the poorest.
• U.S. dollars are welcome as long as they are of small denominations and crisp bills.
• Showing the soles of your shoes or feet is considered disrespectful.
• Patting a child on the head signals bad luck.
• In addition to Burmese, there are four written languages and hundreds of dialects.
• Life expectancy is 65 for women, 60 for men.
• Polygamy is legal, and the last king had 54 wives.
• This is the year 1274 on their lunar calendar. The calendar also has days in a week, and each is named after an animal: Monday (tiger); Tuesday (lion); Wednesday morning (elephant); Wednesday afternoon (elephant without tusks); Thursday (rat); Friday (guinea pig); Saturday (dragon); Sunday (Garuda).
• Buddhism arrived in the 11th Century. Today Theravada Buddhism plays a big role in the lives of most Myanmar citizens who support 460,000 monks. The Burmese believe have been four Buddhas in the past; the fifth is to arrive by the lunar year 2400. Buddhism is based on four principles: 1) life is suffering, 2) detachment is necessary, 3) end of life is a blessing 4) reincarnation is a given fact.
• Those who choose to become monks are revered. Older citizens can become monks later in life if their wives give them permission to do so.
• Pagodas and temples, many with golden domes built during the last 1,000 years, are everywhere. Those damaged in the 1975 earthquake are being renovated by architects from India under UNESCO supervision. Building of pagodas by newly married couples and other citizens is encouraged.
• Every child, in his or her 7th year, spends a week in a monastery and does so again before the age of 20.

Above: A parade, led by mothers in fancy dress, head to the pagodas, causing a traffic jam in this remote village. Oxen pull colorful displays and a band played music as young children.on horseback, protected from the sun by colorful parasols, went to the monastery to become monks.