Burmese Buddhism, Not influenced by Khmer?

[Smurkster]

I recently visited Burma for the first time. I was totally impressed with everything, culture, people etc..It was smelly and dirty in places but so goes undeveloped third world countries...

It was very devoutly Buddhist, I think I read somewhere the most Buddhist country in the world based on monies donated from the population to the temple...I had a few guides who were very knowledgable in Buddhism and unlike Thailand, the people I talked to were genuinely informed of what Buddhism is about, i.e Eight fold Path, Nirvana, the Dharma and the whole "life being full of suffering" thing..unlike Thailand were I feel the people are "automatic buddhists" a sentiment coined directly from my wife, after realizing that whilst calling her self "buddhist" she really doesn't understand yet simply goes through the motion.. I've jokingly (seriously?) drawn the conclusion that the majority of thais are only really buddhist in the sense that they want to "tam boon" to benefit their lives/future lives only...

Anyway besides the rant, my question is directed to anyone out there who is knowledgable about Therevada Buddhism in Southeast Asia..Unlike the temples and Buddhist "art" in the Lao/Khmer/Thai style, the Burmese Therevada Buddhism seems very different, many of the buddhas images I saw in Myanmar had white faces and open colorful eyes, also there was no such "Wat" that you would see in Laos, Cambodia or Thailand....I understand that it was Khmer Buddhism/Architecture that spawned the Lao and Thai style, the styles of temples seen in those three countries are mostly very similar in style to each other..The pagodas in Myanmar (Khmer, Lao/Thai "Wat", I think in Burmese its "Paya") look very different. So I am wondering, did the Burmese school of Therevada Buddhism develop independent from the other three styles of which Lao and Thai were descended from? and if so, where do the influences lean more towards. I have never been to Sri Lanka but I have read that it was the Sri Lanka buddhism that was spread by monks throughout Southeast Asia, interestingly, it was the "Mon"people who spread it thereafter throughout the region

Any thoughts or ideas/formulated opinions would be great, I'd love to hear what anyone has to say about the topic, including their experiences with Therevada Buddhism anywhere in Southeast Asia...