Mingalabar my dear friends,

Mingalabar is a greeting in my language.

How are you all doing?

Some of you know very well that I am from Burma. Some of you still ask me where I am from.
Some of you ask me where is it? Some of you have visited Burma numerous times.
Some of you know Burma because of this man; the Third Secretary of General of the United
Nations, U Thant (from 1961 to 1971).




Some of you know Burma because of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Noble Price Winner 1991
(for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights) and Our Democracy Leader.


Yes my dear friends, I am from Burma (the name changed to Myanmar in 1989). It is a beautiful
country with full of friendly people.
We are very proud to have the oldest pagoda in the world, Shwedagon is the most sacred
pagoda, over 2600 years old. It is well known in the Buddhist world and enshrined with relics of four
Buddha.

Kyaik Htee Yoe, a glimpse of the "gravity defying rock" known as Golden Rock.


Ancient Bagan


Inle Lake, the only lake where leg rowing is practiced in the world.

U Pein ( U Bein) Bridge, the longest wooden bridge in the world

There are many more historical pagodas and a lot more to discover all over Myanmar
For those who dont know where Myanmar is.
Myanmar has existed for centuries. It is the largest country in the South-east Asia Peninsula and
is bordered on the north and northeast by China; on the East and southeast by Laos and Thailand; on the
south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal; and on the West by Bangladesh and India. Total land
area is 676,577 sq.km. It is about the size of Texas and United Kingdom and France combined. Nay Pyi
Daw is our new capital city.

Myanmar is rich in natural resources such as petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper,
tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, and hydropower.
Myanmar is made up of 135 national races, of which the main national races are.

Kachin (12) Kayah (9) Kayin ( 11) Chin (53)

Mon (1) Bamar (9) Rakhine (7) Shan ( 33)
The population is estimated to be over 60 million. The nationality is Myanmar. There are more
than 100 ethnic groups in Myanmar. Some of the Ethnic groups are listed as Akha, Palaung, Padaung,
Naga, Taron, Eng and many more nearly extinct tribes.




By the way, I am Bamar and Buddhist. This photo was taken in 2012 during my 28 days of
Samatha and Vispassana meditations

.
Over 80 % of the population in Myanmar are Theravada Buddhists. Theravada Buddhism is the
"Doctrine of the Elders," and one of the three major sects of Buddhism. It emerged out of a series of
schisms that began in the 4th century B.C.E. in the Buddhist communities of India and became
prominent in Sri Lanka and South East Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, which
has led some to call it Southern Buddhism. Pejoratively labeled the "Hinayana" (the "Lesser Vehicle") by
Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada schools claim to adhere most accurately to the original practices and
doctrines taught by Buddha. The Theravada claims to trace their lineage back to the original followers
of Buddha, to those who literally heard his sermons. The Theravada canonical writings, a collection of
Buddha's teachings written in the Pali language, are divided into Buddha's sermons (the sutta pitaka),
the monastic rules (the vinaya pitaka), and philosophical enumeration of Buddha's teachings (the
abhidamma pitaka). Theravada doctrine is founded on the distinction between samsara (the cyclic
realm of suffering) and nirvana (or nibbana, release). The ultimate goal of the Theravada is to escape
samsara and enter nirvana. This is accomplished by achieving the status of an arhat, a perfect saint who
has been released from the cycle of samsara and will never be reborn again. The Theravada is typically
understood to be a rigorous monastic tradition; however, laypeople actively participate in the religion
by providing material support to the monks (which produces positive karma, or merit), meditating, and
following the basic ethical principles of the Buddha's teachings.
Yes, there are also Christians, Muslims, Hindus and even some animists. However there is full
freedom of worship for followers of other religions. Christian missionaries have been active in
Myanmar for over 150 years. Among them, the American Baptists were first on the scene.
Myanmar has three distinct seasons: the hot season from March through May with average
temperatures in the 30*C and occasionally over 40C, the monsoon or rainy season from the end of May
to the beginning of October with frequent short rainstorms and high humidity, and the cool dry season
from October to February which is dry and with temperatures ranging from 21*C to 28*C. Myanmar
proudly has a tourist friendly climate. People know Myanmar with other famous names too such as
Golden Land and Asian Rice Pot.
I left Myanmar in 1999 for about three months to see what was happening outside of my
country. When I came back home I decided to leave again to discover more and left for the United
States. I spent two years in Phoenix, Arizona. I met some of you there. Then I left the United States for
Switzerland. So I met most of you here in Europe through Voyageurs International every summer in
Paris.
When something was happening in my country these past years, your thoughts, calls and
messages were always numerous. When you heard someone talking about my country and when
someone was planning to go to Myanmar for vacations, you contacted me. We even arranged a vacation
trip to my country for some of you.
Those of you who went to Myanmar, had a great time and told us how beautiful my country is,
how friendly my people are, about the genuinely heartfelt smiles of people and how safe you felt
traveling in my country. Thanks a lot for all those beautiful messages.
Since 2008 I have retured home once a year, right after the Cyclone Nargis hit my country, to
see my family and friends. I talked with friends about doing a little business whenever I went back to
Myanmar. But nothing developped till 2013.
My dear friends, I went back to my country in February and began something I have often
wished for. All those positive messages we received from you, contacting us about organizing a trip to
my beautiful country made my wish stronger.






My dear friends, Im very very proud to introduce you to.








Please go and visit our website www.authenticpagodaland.com and share it with your families and
friends. I also created a page on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodaland I frankly would like
to tell you that the website is running now but not yet the way we want it; and some pages are still under
construction. You will see our website in English, German, French, Spanish and Thai.
At the same time I would like to introduce you to my special friends and our partners, who organized the
trip for those who had been to Myanmar before Authentic Pagoda Land and who put so much extra time into
reaching this point with Authentic Pagoda Land.
Ma Wint and Ko Swe , we thank you so much for accepting to work with us, being very patient and
doing everything you possible could with all the paper work in Myanmar.
AUTHENTIC PAGODA LAND TRAVELS & TOURS CO., LTD.


Nang Wint Sandar Win, Wint. She started as a
manager at Nay La Education center. Then she
changed her profession to hotel business and
worked as a receptionist at the Aye Thar Yar golf
resort and became front office supervisor. Next she
tried something different this time acting as a
guide. She worked as an English and Spanish guide
for about eight years. After that she worked as a
General Manager for Gold Kangaroo, Bright Dawn
International and Eastern Sky travels and Tours
Companies. Now she is very happy and proud to
use her experiences for Authentic Pagoda land to
give better service to our customers.


Ko Swe and myself met in a job interview
in 1995. We both got that job and worked together
four years on Road to Mandalay River Cruise under
www.Orient-Express.com (Its now running under
www.belmond.com). He worked in the hotel
business for about 10 years as a barman, senior
bartender on Road To Mandalay, F&B Executive for
Shine Cafe and Assistant Manager for French and
Italian Cuisine in Singapore. Then he changed his
professional life as an English and German guide.
As a guide, he worked for several Tours Companies
for about eight years. Since 2012, he has been
working for Road to Mandalay and Orcaella Cruise
ship as a full time English and German guide.
Ma Wint, Ko Swe and ourselves will try our best to give the best service to your families, friends and
our future customers who are planning to visit Myanmar through Authentic Pagoda Land Travels and Tours
Co., Ltd.
I would like to thank Olivier Kunz ( Ko Lu Chaw) who traveled with me in February to check out
some places in Myanmar. Hey my dear, it was such a pleasure to travel with you and thank you so much for
your generosity, patience, kindness and flexibility before and during the trip.

My dear friends, we thank you so much in advance for reading and sharing this with your families
and friends.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the near future. We wish you a wonderful day .