Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Bamboo Grove
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

Post by Bamboo Grove »

The down side of the lull is that the hawkers are relentless; they’ll follow you around offering info on the temple then directing you to their lacquerware stall or whipping out a reel of postcards, or even a copy of Orwell’s Burmese Days for 3 bucks. Some will ask where you’re from then pull out some of your own currency and ask you to change it for kyat, others will try flattery in order to sell a trinket or two, and even the kids are on the hard sales pitch. Women would give you a glass of water to douse a sacred effigy then ask for a 5 dollar donation for the privilege.
Sounds like Varanasi or Agra in India. This is why I never liked touring India. Although it was 26 years ago, I still have no interest of returning there.
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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The next day I take a bicycle and head deeper into the plain which is so vast that you may not see another person for several hours. This leads to some exciting discovery missions where you can find yourself alone in a thousand year old temple complex with nothing but the ever watchful Buddha gazing down in quiet contemplation and the resident bats to keep you company. The heat becomes oppressive as midday approaches so it makes sense to stop pedaling and seek out a local eatery to shelter from the searing sun.

The temples are best experienced at dusk where the golden light of the dropping sun affects the hues of the ancient structures and offers up some fantastic photo opportunities, especially from the top of a pagoda. There are a number of sunset spots offering breathtaking views which can and do get very busy in high season. Cycling back down dusty lanes through fields dotted with stupas and ruins as dying light of the day dwindles, eerie shadows and silhouettes are cast like the tendrils of history itself - it is as surreal as things get in Myanmar.

I’m going to miss this place, the timeless ephemeral aura that surrounds it, the way that the light changes the colours of the ruins depending on time of day, and the spiritual calm you can get when stumbling into an empty temple and finding a bit of solitude. The hotel has also been one of the best I’ve stayed in, outstanding describes The Bagan Princess, I will miss its overwhelming hospitality, the ever smiling princess at reception, and the in room Jacuzzi, a welcome end to a day - jet blasting the dust of the Bagan plains from weary limbs.
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To follow: Inle Lake

Full photo gallery here: http://www.ontheroadasia.com/bagan.php
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Phew!!! I approached the bottom of that post fearful that there might be a jet blasting demo photo :twisted:
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Bamboo Grove wrote:
The down side of the lull is that the hawkers are relentless; they’ll follow you around offering info on the temple then directing you to their lacquerware stall or whipping out a reel of postcards, or even a copy of Orwell’s Burmese Days for 3 bucks. Some will ask where you’re from then pull out some of your own currency and ask you to change it for kyat, others will try flattery in order to sell a trinket or two, and even the kids are on the hard sales pitch. Women would give you a glass of water to douse a sacred effigy then ask for a 5 dollar donation for the privilege.
Sounds like Varanasi or Agra in India. This is why I never liked touring India. Although it was 26 years ago, I still have no interest of returning there.
I was wondering about that problem as well, I visited that place in Mynarmar down near Ranong a few years ago and was constantly followed around by about five or six people with their hands out and at times by men wearing a lot of make-up for reasons of which I declined enquiring. If the rest of the country is anything like that, it must be pretty annoying.
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Bagan was by far the worst as it is one of the most visited places in the country. You'll get it at every major tourist spot in Asia.
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Again the road beckons, I was heading across country to Inle Lake and not being a 25 year old backpacker any longer I opted for a 45 minute flight at 55 bucks as opposed to a ten hour bus ride. I know it is low season but being the only one on the plane really puts things into perspective. Heho airport (field and small building block) is around 45 minutes from the township of Nyaungshwe at the north end of the lake. The town is a little collection of touristy restaurants, guesthouses and travel agents; it is the main backpacker hangout and starting point for trips out onto the lake. Accommodation on the lake itself is primarily upmarket five star resort style where they have a captive audience and can charge whatever they want for food and beverages.

Having arrived 8 hours before the bus would have I decide to cycle out to a hot springs today, the single lane track takes me through the wetlands north of the lake and between two vast ranges of green carpeted hills. Locals will compulsively wave at you and call ‘mingalabar’ as you ride past; you begin to question your own sanity after a while when going round all day with a big smile and saying hello to pretty much everyone you meet, it is certainly a world apart from Thailand. After a dip in the scalding hot pool I pedal the 15km journey back and rest up in town with a Mandalay beer and some tea leaf salad (a little like the Thai somtam but with tea and less chili).

There are about 20 young Burmese girls working at my empty hotel, all wearing identical orange uniforms, smiling and singing to themselves, and tirelessly buzzing around meticulously cleaning everything. Thailand could learn a lot from the hospitality industry here.

A lazy Burmese afternoon is spent in town as the power is out again and rain is fast approaching from the hills to the east.
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To follow: Out on the lake
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Today I’m taking a boat trip out onto the lake which is around 20km long officially but it is hard to tell where the lake ends and the marshes begin. My guide and I leave the jetty at 07.30 and head down the waterway that links the town to the lake. Local Intha tribe people fish the lake using small flat bottomed skiffs and rowing with a technique using one leg to paddle in a figure eight type motion.

We arrive at a market where Shan tribeswomen come down from the hills to trade produce, though the amount of stalls selling trinkets, amulets, longyis, t-shirts, and lacqueware to tourists far outnumber the traditional market vendors. Still there is a little buzz about the place and it provides for some good photo opportunities.

There are various small home industries around the lake such as silver smiths, umbrella makers, lotus and silk weavers, blade and knife smithing, and cheroot rolling. Naturally all of them have a little tourist shop attached to them where you can purchase the handmade wares for what are undoubtedly inflated prices. I grab some anise and tobacco cheroots and a longyi for the better half as my knowledge on silver and gemstones is minimal.
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To follow: more on Inle Lake

Full gallery and trip report here: http://www.ontheroadasia.com/inle-lake.php
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Some great photos, esp 1547.
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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We continue on to the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda where five ancient Buddha images have been turned into amorphous blobs by sheer volume of gold leaves applied over the years by worshipers. Lunch is taken at a small restaurant on one of Inle’s many canals and waterways before we head into the village of Nampan with its high stilt houses built over the water. There are small local shops and a post office with ample parking for canoes, kids paddle their way around the liquid streets and daily life here goes on at a much slower pace. A foliage cloaked river takes us a little inland to a town called Inthein where there are more tourist shops and a long walk up to the Shwe Inn Thein Paya with over a thousand weather beaten chedis.
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To follow: more on Inle Lake

Full gallery and trip report here: http://www.ontheroadasia.com/inle-lake.php
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Those gold blobs were quite impressive.
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Great reports and great photos once again Buks. Has certainly opened my eyes to Myanmar and put the country high up on my "bucket list" of places to visit.

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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My guide, who by now I have a little rapport with, then takes me across the lake to his own floating village whereupon I’m given green tea and snacks and introduced to his family. They are boat builders and are currently applying thick black layers of tar to seal the hull of a newly finished vessel which is essentially a very long canoe. His brother takes me on a tour of the village, paddling around tiny waterways and hollering at every stilted house he passes to broadcast the arrival of the white man. I’m then introduced to the family cat which has been trained to jump through a hoop for tidbits of fish; this definitely isn’t on the tourist trail. I’m told that during the wet season the waters can rise by up to a meter and there is literally no dry land to use.

The journey back is through the floating gardens where the local tribes grow tomatoes, squash and various produce to sell at Inle’s rotating markets. It has been one of the best days of the trip and seeing the lake without the crowds is definitely the way to go.

On my final day in Shan State I cycle to a local vineyard to sample some of the local wines which are not bad at all. The Red Mountain Winery also offers some great views across the valley and a perfect way to round of what can only be described as an epic journey through magical Myanmar. It was time to get back to Mandalay and fly out, my 28 day tourist visa was almost up but in the words of Arnie ... "I'll be back".
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To follow: Myanmar/Thailand comparison

Full gallery and trip report here: http://www.ontheroadasia.com/inle-lake.php
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Great photos as always! :cheers: A month trip, very nice!!
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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There has just been a documentary on True Visions TV: "A Journey to Burma", shot in 2007.
The whole documentary was filmed around lake Inle, where you have just been. The boat builders, the old lady and some young ones with the spinning wheels, the old Pagodas, in short just about all that you have posted.

Evidently the jumping cats are related to a long gone monk that used to meditate with a cat sitting on has lap. When he woke up and moved the cat would jump off of him, the end result now being a Pagoda named after the fact.

The gold lumps also have a story. They are taken out on a boat as part of a ceremony at the end of September every year. One year the boat sank and they were only able to recover 4 of the 5, despite a big search. When they eventualy took the salvaged 4 back to the Pagoda the missing one was sitting where it should be, draped in seaweed. Ever since, that one is never taken out again, only the other four.

I may have missed a bit, but I beleive that some of the weaving uses a fine thread taken from a Lotus plant. A lot more of it is woven with silk from China. :cheers:
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Re: Photo trip report: A month in Myanmar

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Your trip report has been fabulous reading, Buksi. Do you really have to leave? I was looking forward to more days of superb photos, and beautiful descriptions.

Thanks for the tour. :cheers:

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