December 2010

Rangoon Sunrise, the first thing I saw when I woke up

Botataung Paya, on the bank of the Yangon River

Mosque on my way to the river

Botataung Paya

1000 year old bronze bell


Most stupas are solid, Botataung is hollow with passages around the base to where the Buddha's hair is. The inside of the temple was covered in gold. The golden walls, up to about 8', were covered in plexiglass, so you wouldn't touch them

Baskets of cash where the Buddha's hair was enshrined

Jade rocks at Bogyoke Zai market. In the next room they were cutting, carving, and polishing little Buddha statues, half the size of your fist, that sold for $500.00. I asked him about the jade, and he showed me this. Probably a half million dollars worth of jade, and this wasn't the only pile

The old British prison is now the 2000 stall market

Yangon train station

Fresh food on the train



Plumbing


Local Transportation

This is in the middle of beautiful golden temples, and 20 story modern high rises. Very surreal

Yangon Harbor Lightships

The Circle Train around Yangon, how the locals transport their goods

Not much room for passengers




Karaweik Hall, floating mythical birds covered in gold.

Bamboo scaffolding for the reguilding of Sule Paya

19th century British Colonial Architecture



The only modern thing left I could find that still said 'Rangoon' on it.

My friend Marilyn from South Africa






The story of the Buddha's life

The 23 ton Maha Ghanda Bell. The British tried to ship the bell to London but dropped it in the river. After weeks of trying to raise it, they finally gave up, and told the Burmese if they could raise it they could have it back. The locals raised it using bamboo

As the sun set the colors were incredible!




Something I will always remember, watching the sun set on Shwedagon Paya

Waitin' for my train for the 14 hour overnight ride to Mandalay

Rural Myanmar



Dining Car, don't have the chicken and rice.....


The soccer hooligans(kids) were everywhere


Royal Palace wall and moat


Priorities!

Local handicrafts

Rice For Sale

Tourists!

Entrance to Mandalay Hill




The Temple at the top of Mandalay Hill




Someone To Watch Over Me

729 stupas, each containing a tablet. Considered the World's Largest Book. Basically the Buddhist bible.

One of the tablets

Studying

The longest, and oldest working teak bridge in the world. 1200 meters end to end

Traffic on the bridge


View from half way across

Local transportation

Beautiful, peaceful, and serene

When water levels are down, the restaurants pop up



Dinner?


The surrounding landscape was amazing

Local schoolgirls on their way home, checking out the fishing

The Mahamuni Image. One of only five images of the Buddha cast during his lifetime. Around 546 BC. Solid bronze, 13 foot high, 6.5 tons, covered in 2000 years of gold leaf, 6 inches thick.

Applying gold leaf to the entire temple


He didn't look happy

Wish I could do that!

The local hospital

Sagaing Hill was incredible


Beautful tile work was everywhere

Something you don't see every day

Even the water supply for the many monasteries was ornate

View from the top




The Golden Land

From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 4000 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.

Local Transportation

Shwezagon Paya

The pile of busted marble statues

Locals

Not sure....Was in the most remote place down near the river

Local kids followed me around for hours, and took me places I would have never found on my own.












The view from my balcony

In the heat of the day, this was heaven

Once I realized the enormity of Bagan, there was only one thing left to do...Rent a mountain bike! $1.50 a day

Inside almost every temple were 1000 year old murals and Buddha images

Even the gates were beautiful

4000 temples in a valley the size of Monterey Bay

Most were more than a thousand years old

On top of Shwesandaw Paya, looking towards Dhammayangyi Paya

Time for re-gilding

Miles of trails, thousands of temples, and no one there but me

Along a bend in the Ayerwaddy River

I told them I was checking out, I came back to this

On my way to the beach

This was tough duty

Local fruit stand

The only place I saw Tabasco!

The air was 90, the water was 80, perfect!

Watching over the bay and a guide for the East India Company ships to come in

Typical squid boat set up

Squid Lights On The Horizon


Tied Up For Bad Weather

My favorite restaurant

Amazing how they get these heavy wooden boats around with no motor

Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

Drying the days catch

Mmmmmmmmm, more squid than you could possibly eat!

They used the oxen to pull the boats up onto the beach for repair and unloading, and then back in.
Who needs a Travelift when you have these?



She came running out so I would take a picture of the baby. Most of the women her age chew Bettlenut. Over time it rots the teeth, and turns your mouth red. Even the monks use it. Supposedly medicinal....and a nice buzz

Your upscale Myanmar Fishermans house

The food was cheap, delicious, and you can't beat the view!

The sunsets were amazing. Looking over the Bay of Bengal towards India

I had lunch here, 6 out of 9 days! About two hours walk down the beach from my bungalow

More local transportation

The Burmese Beach Boys. They had no idea who the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were, Zhaw, with the other guitar, was the only one who spoke english, but they knew all their chords, played all original songs, and had never seen anyone flatpick before. We got along great!

The daily grind

After three nights of this, Zhaw's mom, who ran the place and was the cook, refused to take my money for the lobster and prawns. I still had to buy the Burmese wine..Good Though!

This is why I was booked for three days, which turned into four, and then into six, and then nine...etc.

Coconut Whiskey. There's a reason it's still full.

Free Breakfast Buffet, brought to your bungalow.

Local temple with Stupa

Not a bad place to have breakfast every morning
Ngapali Beach, and the people of Lin Thar Village left an impression on me like that of the people and area around Luang Prabang, Lao. One of the most special places on this planet. I will definately be back.

The monks I met, trying to cover up their gazillion dollar camera equipment! Made mine look like a toy



8500' Doi Inthanon

All the temples were beautifully decorated for the festival.

The parade that night



At the monastery north of Chiang Mai



Trully Incredible!

Hi All tried to email from here in Myanmar but it won't work, just lettin' everyone know all is good, havin' a great time. see ya around Christmas!