Fine Circuit

Recently I ran the Yangon Half Marathon. The course passed in front of some stunning colonial architecture at an hour when I’m not usually downtown.

The beautiful facades at sunrise made me think about the city proposals under debate to establish historic districts, or at least to protect specific historic buildings.

I hadn’t expected this section of the route to stand out. The Yangon River lies across the road from the buildings I was admiring, but you can’t see it. A mile-long wall of stacked shipping containers blocks the view.

Now I began to imagine a waterfront without the port. Several schemes in recent years have suggested moving ship facilities further downstream, closer to some newly built industrial zones.

Then the race course turned north toward Shwedagon Pagoda. We ran slightly uphill toward the temple, at exactly the moment when the sun hit the top of its spire. Gorgeous!

Finally we ran alongside a large lake, originally designed by British city planners as a reservoir. Now the lake’s gardens offer one of the few places in town to be surrounded by nature.

Such a fine circuit, linking the historic, religious, and scenic parts of the city!