Fisherman boat - click for more photos
A Day Trip in Hle Gu
Just over an hour's drive from Yangon, a few more kilometers before Bago town, lies an interesting place called Hle Gu township. This is where I made an unforgettable trip, which included a number of outdoor activities and a lot of natural scenery to delight my eyes.
Hle Gu is a farm village teeming with crops like rice, peas, gourds, chillies and some sunflowers.
On my recent tour, the first stop was at Htauk Kyant World War II Cemetery. This is the place which made the entire trip for me. Htauk Kyant World War II Cemetery is a very skillfully kept and preserved compound with 27,000 tombstones of fallen Commonwealth and Allied soldiers. The place exudes serenity and beauty. In the middle of the cemetery are giant poles which engrave the names of valiant soldiers.
The cemetery was built in 1951 and is the largest among the three war cemeteries in the whole of Myanmar. Every year, thousands come to this place to pay homage to the courage of the fallen warriors. Despite the colonization of Myanmar by Japan and other foreign countries, it is very notable that the people here do not hold any sort of hatred, which is largely evident by the existance of this site. This cemetery is of most interest to photographers, but we stayed here for only 30 minutes.
From Htauk Kyant World War II Cemetery, we traveled to Hle Gu market. Here a variety of crops and fruits are sold.
From the market, we rode a boat to see some parts of the village. It was rainy and so the water was a bit yellowish. Along the river banks, there are a lot of big shady trees. Fishing can be enjoyed and if we had wanted to cook our catch we could have made arrangements for this. After our boat trip, we walked along the paddy fields and then proceeded to the farm garden. It was already lunch time when we got there. We were welcomed very warmly with towels and fruit juices. It was almost like a picnic. The people there cooked food in front of us while we were resting. Relaxing while learning how to cook Myanmar foods is simply fun! Others opted to take pictures. We all enjoyed our hot lunch meal, which included a roasted fish and an enjoyable Chinese tea.
After a very delightful meal, we relaxed for awhile. Then some of us toured the whole garden or helped the farmers, and some of us opted to go bicycle riding. There are numerous fruit trees throughout the garden, from which most of us were delighted to take some fresh seasonal fruits.
With so much outdoor activities in store at Hle Gu, a day is never enough.
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