Hanoi (VNA) – Thousands of Buddhist followers gathered at Shwedagon pagoda in Myanmar on May 22 to mark the Buddha's birthday.
Crowds shuffled up a roofed stairway crammed with stalls to reach the hilltop complex that dominates the skyline of commercial hub Yangon.
Towering over them was the main, gold-plated spire of the Shwedagon pagoda that rises 99 metres into the sky and is believed to house four relics of the Buddha.
Some took selfies against the backdrop, umbrellas in hand as early monsoon showers arrived in Myanmar following a record-breaking heatwave.
Many people lined up to water a sacred and gnarled Bodhi tree, believed to have been born from a sapling of the tree the Buddha achieved enlightenment under thousands of years ago in India./.
