Asia

Manila’s Many Faces

January 3, 2011 by Robert Schrader 7 Comments

Thanks to the many flags that have flown over it, Manila possesses a complex charm that calls to mind every period of its long history.

Mandalay’s Crown Jewels

December 30, 2010 by Robert Schrader 16 Comments

A trio of dazzling hamlets–one a hillside studded with pagodas, the next an ancient settlement with its very own “leaning tower” and the third a monastic base with an eponymous, ramshackle bridge–awaits you just an hour outside Mandalay.

Machismo, Gold and Grit

December 26, 2010 by Robert Schrader 9 Comments

The swanky Las Vegas hotel which apparently lifts its name from Mandalay will be the furthest thing from your mind as your vehicle pulls in.

Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda

December 22, 2010 by Robert Schrader 6 Comments

Around 500 years before a certain Messianic baby was born somewhere in the Middle East, legend has it that two Burmese merchants visited India, gave the Buddha honey cakes and took a few of his hairs back with them. Their reward? A 30-story, solid gold pagoda.