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Burma is known as the 'Golden Land'. And if you're in a town or village of any note you'll find a gold topped pagoda.

Mawlamyaing is a sleepy, dusty port city southeast of Rangoon on the Andaman Sea. But in its British heyday it was a big port. We took a 6 hour bus ride there on Christmas day.

The town lies in Mon State. Relations with the Mon as with many ethnic groups in Myanmar have been dicy. You can't yet travel completely freely, only in organized tour groups. As part of our tour we boated to Ogre Island and saw pagodas, beautiful landscapes and 'handicraft villages'.