Myanmar made finally its entry into the UNESCO World Heritage List, following the announcement of new accepted sites into the prestigious list. Two more sites, one in Vietnam and one in the Philippines , made it also into UNESCO World Heritage listing.
BANGKOK – Since Myanmar began its transition process of turning itself from a military dictatorship into a democracy, most experts in tourism and culture were expecting to see the UNESCO acknowledging the country, one of the wealthiest in Southeast Asia for the maze of natural and cultural sites.
Anyone bet that the ancient city of Bagan with its thousands of stupas spread along kilometres of plains, would probably become one of the first future UNESCO heritage sites in the country, a grandiose Burmese equivalent to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Ayutthaya in Thailand or Borobudur in Indonesia.
The last assembly of the World Heritage Committee hosted ten days ago in Doha confirmed indeed Myanmar entry into the World Heritage List. But to the general surprise the first site being adorned with the prestigious title is not Bagan but Pyu ancient cities- in fact three urban settlements of Halin, Beiktahano and Sri Ksetra- in the lower basin of the Irrawaddy River. They all were part of the Pyu Kingdom which was alive from 200 BC to 900 AD.
Today, the Pyu site with its brick monumental stupas, citadels’ vestiges and burial grounds attract some 60,000 visitors per year, according to Daw Me Me Khaing of Myanmar’s Ministry of Culture. The inscription on UNESCO World Heritage List will help collecting international funds and bring more tourists to a new area of the country. Myanmar is now pushing to see Bagan being also listed but controversial constructions on the site as well as haphazard restoration works have partially diminished the chances of Bagan.
The two other ASEAN sites being yet on the World Heritage include the new mixed site of Trang An Landscape Complex (Viet Nam) in northern Vietnam. The beautiful river area in Ninh Binh Province, hundred km away from Hanoi, stretches on 4,000 hectares of rainforests with karst formation, underground rivers, caves and a series of historical pagodas. The area is already classified as a national park. In the past, Trang An was also the seat of three short-lived rulers dynasties. Vietnam is blessed with a high number of UNESCO World Site with Trang An beeig the eighth listed site.
In the Philippines, Mount Hamiguitan Range Wirldlife Sanctuary in the Mindanao Oriental, near to Davao, is ho;e to the last Philippines eagles. The bird is the second largest species of eagles in the world. The mountain has not only eagles but a very fauna including Philippines tarsiers, hornbills but also pygmy bats. The UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site is the first located in the Mindanao and will also stimulate tourism in that part of the country. The Philippines has now six sites listed on UNESCO World Heritage List.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
