Inside the 2,000 year old monument, devotees light candles and touch their heads to the marbled ground.

Elderly monks collect alms and give out blessings, as though encouraging the faithful to keep their hopes up for the future.

Along the streets leading up to the Sule Paya Pagoda where troops fired on unarmed civilians, pavements are a riot of colours with stalls hawking goods such as tomatoes, multi-patterned longyis, cameras, gems and watches.

Everyone seems happy, everything seems calm. But of course appearances can be deceptive.

Many of the monestaries which were shut in the wake of the crackdown are still closed.

Dissident monks are banned from returning to their sanctuaries and the dreaded undercover police are everywhere, watching for any signs of agitation that could lead to more protests.

The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 people were detained following the protests.

Up to a thousand remain in detention or have disappeared. Many activists have gone underground and even those who sympathise with them live in fear of being arrested in the middle of the night.

I found one man willing to talk, but we had to walk through the streets for an hour before he found a place he felt safe enough to talk.