The Pagoda Platform

Although similar in concept to Mecca's kaaba, surrounded by a vast space, the pagoda platform where people may make rounds of the stupa, is a religious space without pomp and circumstance and is one of the best places in the world to sit and people watch. Find a comfortable step, or sit on the floor, and look around. Children run up and down, perhaps singing and shouting with abandon. Women cluster in groups gossiping. Couples, young and old stroll up and down. Burgundy robed monks are everywhere. Here and there, at the many shrines that dot the platform and sit around the stupa, people pray, seriously and silently. Bells ring. There is no awe here, only life, religious and secular life. Sit there long enough and someone will stop to chat with you, to ask questions, to exchange information.

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