National Museum

08.02.2011 National Museum
Wow, wow and triple wow, this place was fantastic! Obvs like super frowned upon for being a government whatsit and paying them my $5 entry fee is like, supporting them and whatever but I mean, what a place! How could I resist the lure of a national museum so vast, so cool and quiet, so EMPTY?
Of people, obviously, not things. Oh no, lots and lots of lovely things to look at and spread over 4 massive floors we didn’t quite manage it all, but it was so nice to have somewhere cool to push Alfie round in the buggy (after an hour he got bored and just wanted to play in the lifts) and some of the things were very impressive. The Lion Throne for starters, which is their pride and joy and is a 25’ arch thing with lions and dragons and gilding and carving and all sorts, displayed in its own special room.
Then there was a model of the palace at Mandalay. My goodness but it was impressive. Not such a stone mausoleum as we’re used to in the west, but a series of interconnected pagodas and timber framed buildings stretching, well, far! They had so many buildings they even had a Flower Distribution Building, which I think you’ll agree is fairly opulent.
Then on the top floor were mannequins dressed in national dress from all the different ethnicities in Myanmar and not only was this really fun, it also went on forever. I think there are over 35 recognised tribes so with male and female dress represented, it took a while to walk round them all.
But my absolutely favourite thing was the ceremonial robes from the old kings and queens. Oh My Days but they were covered in stones. And I mean COVERED in gems of all descriptions. They literally stood up on their own and those queens may have been tiny (I reckon a 12 year old would struggle to fit in to them) but my they must have been strong. Those things looked like they weighed a ton! Like bling with added superbling and had they bothered to dust them properly and put a light in the display case, we would have had to wear sunglasses I’m sure.
Clearly there is more to see, I completely forgot about the calligraphy and old manuscripts, musical instruments, paladins and a whole room full of Buddhas and there were more sections I didn’t see. So when you come to visit, guess where we’ll be going!