text: 27 OCTOBER 2015 - YANGON, MYANMAR: People pray and make merit at Botataung Paya (Pagoda). Botataung Paya is located in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, near the Yangon river. The pagoda was first built by the Mon around the same time as was Shwedagon Pagoda—according to local belief, over 2500 years ago. The paya is hollow within, and houses what is believed to be a sacred hair of Gautama Buddha. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ