image via Tripadvisor

Mawlamyine is said to be the setting of George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant. This is also probably the Moulmein Pagoda Rudyard Kipling was referring to in his poem, "The Road to Mandalay" where he said, "By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea...There's Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me." (How many lovers have watched the sunset from here? )


I haven't read the book or the poem but I fell in love with how beautiful and peaceful the Mekong River winds its way across the islets that can be seen from the top of the Kyaik Tan Lan Pagoda.The tiny islands in the Mekong were bathed with a reddish tint as the sun went down and the panoramic view was very romantic. 

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

Photo credit: Dominik M. Ramík

I'm not much of a sunset person until just recently. Maybe because I always associated sunset with the time birds go back to their nests so kids have to scuttle home at this time as well. There is no chance to sit down and see how beautiful it is because you have to be home before it gets dark.

These days, I have began to appreciate its beauty when someone started pointing it out to me. The changing of the colors as if the clouds are slowly ombre'd in the sky before it gets pitch black and the silver moon peeps through is like watching an artist paint his empty canvas. How the nocturnal beings are slowly waking up. Try to sit and watch the sunset and you will feel a certain peace after a long chaotic day. It feels like cooling down.

Sunsets are beautiful endings. Do you like sunsets too? What made you love them?