22 Facts About Myanmar

Myanmar is a Southeast Asian country that was formerly known as Burma. Its official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Tea leaves, lahpet, are fermented and eaten in Myanmar's most popular dish, lahpet thohk - tea leaf salad.

The Shwedagon Pagoda houses a piece of the Buddha. This most sacred of sites is said to house eight strands of Gautama Buddha's hair, among other relics.

Face protection is provided by bark paste. Thanaka has been worn for at least 2,000 years and is said to keep skin smooth and protect against sun damage.

Myanmar once ran out of Burmese cats. Purebred Burmese cats were once kept as royal pets; when the British took over the country, King Thibaw had 40 of them in the palace. Purebred Burmese had vanished by the 1930s because no one was protecting their bloodline.

The Moken'sea gipsies' are one of Myanmar's many ethnic groups, living in the spectacular Mergui Archipelago off the Andaman coast.

In Myanmar, astrology is taken very seriously. The Burmese zodiac includes the 12 Western zodiac signs, as well as 27 lunar mansions and 8 weekday signs.

One of Myanmar's most famous astrologers is E Thi, a blind, deaf-mute soothsayer.

Diamonds adorn the Shwedagon Pagoda. This gleaming gold temple is not only entirely covered in gold leaf, but it also has over 4,500 diamonds set in it. The largest, at the very top, is 72 carats.

The country is home to over 1,000 bird species, six of which are endemic and 51 of which are endangered.

Thingyan, a multi-day celebration of prayers, offerings, traditional dance, parties, and water fights, kicks off the Buddhist New Year (around April 14-16) in Myanmar.

Putao, Kachin State, is located in the foothills of the Himalayas in the far north of Myanmar.

Roughly 135 ethnic groups make up the people of Myanmar and it's ranked 75 most culturally and ethnically diverse country in the world.

Myanmar is one of only three countries in the world that does not use metric measurements. The country still uses its own units of measurement, though gas is measured in gallons and distances are measured in miles. Weight is more difficult to calculate, with 1 viss (peittha) equal to 1.68 kilogrammes (3.5 pounds).

The local currency is the kyat (MMK), but you can also use US dollars when visiting Myanmar.

In Myanmar, men and women wear longyis, which are cylindrical pieces of cloth worn around the waist and down to the feet.

Yadaya is a type of'magic' that allows a person to avoid misfortune if a prescribed ritual is followed.

Naypyidaw, Myanmar's gleaming new capital, is about 320 kilometres from Yangon.

Myanmar's national sport is chinlone, a non-competitive game in which a team of six players uses creative foot juggling to keep a cane ball aloft.

Myanmar is home to some of the world's finest rubies. Untreated rubies from Mandalay Region's Mogok and Shan State's Mong Hsu are high in chromium and low in iron, giving them high fluorescence and the coveted 'pigeon's blood' hue.

Myanmar's mountains provide a favourable climate for grape growing, and a few vineyards have opened, producing their own wines.

Elephants, tigers, leopards, and rhinoceros, to name a few, live in Myanmar's thick, unspoiled jungles, as do 28 species of turtles and tortoises.