Yangon is truly a golden city with its many beautiful golden statues and temples that majestically frame the famed Shwedagon Pagoda that overlooks all of Myanmar. The city that has sprung up around this wondrous pagoda is the largest city in the country and the commercial centre. Although heavily influenced by the British colonial powers the streets remain quite Burmese in fashion and remind of the preserved traditional ways.

Mandalay, situated in Northern Myanmar, is a quiet city with a little over a million inhabitants. Once the cultural center of Mandalay when it became the capital of the country in 1857, there are palaces and temples sprawled throughout the city which makes for a great visit. Not only was it the royal center power but it was also the seat of Buddhist learning. Over the decades the power would shift from Mandalay to Yangon, this scenic city still holds prominent sway over modern Burmese history.

One of the first capitals of the Burmese empire, Bagan is unmistakably Burmese. Images of Bagan always come up as most representative of Myanmar. The ocean of pagodas sprawled across the jungle and framed by the onlooking mountains evoke a quietude that the Buddhist tradition so embedded in the landscape stands for. Being the ancient seat of royal power, the many kings that made Bagan the capital brought a flourishing of Burmese Buddhist pagodas and temples that pepper the landscape until today.

If you'd really like a peak into the rural quietude of Myanmar, look no further than Inle Lake. With only a surrounding population of barely 70,000 people comprised of a handful of ethnic minorities who also practice Buddhism in their thatched hut villages along the lake's shore. The villages are famous for producing intricate woven materials including bags, clothes and hats that are subtle in their craft and cultural weight.