Upon arriving back in Yangon we made one more stop at a pagoda despite the impending temple-fatigue that I could feel coming on. Kyauktawgyi Pagoda houses a humongous Buddha statue that was carved out of a single piece of marble and sits around 11 meters tall and weighs over 600 tons. It was quite magnificent.
MH and KP were excited to show me the “famous white elephants” across the street, and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was walking over there. White elephants in Burmese culture (as in other Asian cultures) are revered as symbols of good fortune and prosperity, so I did not expect to see the three elephants chained from their ankles to the pavilion, with nothing but a few leaves to munch on an maybe two feet of chain with which they could move around. I was horrified, disgusted and just really sad for them. Does anyone know if there are efforts to save these poor elephants?
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