"Myanmar offers an impressive blend of culture and modern life. Unique music, dance, exciting festivals, delicious food, and beautiful traditional crafts along the cities bustling with activities define the way of life in this exciting and unexplored South Asian country. Myanmar has been at the cultural crossroads of Asia where amalgamation of ideas went hand in hand with exchange of material, giving rise to a distinctive cultural identity to the country. Buddhism, with its origin in India, found its way into Myanmar in the 1st Century CE and blended well with pre-existing non-Buddhist beliefs. The splendid architecture and sculpture of Myanmar’s numerous temples and monasteries, notably those at Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan, the site of the ancient kingdom of west-central Myanmar, bears the testimony of Myanmar’s cultural richness, that has been surprisingly preserved in its pristine form even today. Among Myanmar’s most prominent cultural institutions are the state schools of dance, music, drama, and fine arts at Yangon and Mandalay, as well as the National Museum of Art and Archaeology at Yangon. There also is an archaeological museum at Pagan. A number of other museums focus on state and regional history..."