My trip to Southeast Asia - 2008/2009 - Part 2 (LARGE post)

Jimbojack · February 14, 2009

Here is the second part of my S.E. Asia trip. The first part can be found here

http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=120927

Myanmar (Burma)

Stack of our 1000 Kyat notes laying on a hotel blanket. Officially valued at a little over $2, the biggest bank note in Myanmar is worth less then $0.90 on the black market. In the past, the Myanmar government declared all bigger bank notes invalid (to "punish" the rich). People that had them found they were worth nothing overnight. Imagine the U.S. or E.U. declaring all bills/coins worth more then 1 dollar/euro invalid one morning when you wake up....

Sule Paya, Yangon. 2000 year old (supposedly) temple housing a piece of Buddha's hair.

Local market, in front of a Telugu (South India) Methodist Church, Yangon

Shwedagon Paya, a 2,500 year old (according to legend) temple in Yangon. This is the biggest and most holy temple in the city.

Government propaganda, Mandalay.

Mandalay Palace, rebuilt (very badly) with the use of prison and forced labor in the late 1990's.

Sandamani Paya, Mandalay. Built as a memorial to prince Kananung on the spot where he was assassinated in 1886.

Mandalay Hill

Buddha statues for sale, Mahamuni Paya, Mandalay

Local Buddha statues workshops, near the Mahamuni Paya, Mandalay. The marble statues are all hand carved, polished and painted here, then sold to temples, monasteries and local people (as well as some tourists).

Small temple at the top of Sagaing hill, Sagaing.

Woman planting rice, Inva (Awa).

Young monk studying at a school housed in the Bagaya Kung monastery, Inva (Awa).

Small shrines with Buddha statues, Inva (Awa).

Painted ceilings in the Kyauktawgyi Paya, Amarapura

The famous U Bein bridge, Amarapura. The 1.2 kilometer bridge over lake Taungthaman lake is made completely out of Teak (with some concrete reinforcements in parts where the wood decayed). It was built in 1849 and contains 1,060 teak posts. Since this was the dry season, there is very little water in these pictures. During the wet season, the lake sometimes covers the footpath of the bridge.

Sunset

The most famous archeological site in Myanmar, Bagan consists of a 42 square kilometer plain housing over 3,000 temples. Originally over 4,400 temples were built from the early to the late period, in the years of 850-1300. During the high period, the Bagari kings built an estimated 20 temples a year, for over 230 years. Eventually I will describe the photos in a lot more details, giving the names of individual temples, etc.

Initiation ceremony, these young kids are dressed up as little princes right before they are to become monks. Most kids ride on horse carts, if the parents can afford it they hire an elephant.

More temples in Bagan

This is our 2008/2009 New Years Celebration. Along with some other travelers that we met, we hired 2 horse carts to take us to the temple area before midnight. After gaining permission from the local temple guardians, we climbed to the top of this small temple, put up candles around the edges of a small terrace and toasted in the New Year with some local wine. It was the most memorable New Year I've had in a long time.

These photos are from a 3 day, 67 kilometer trek that Aggie and I went on between the city of Kalaw and Inle Lake. I will post a seperate series from the trek soon, here are a couple of photos to get you interested

Part 3 coming soon!

CraftyChristie · February 14, 2009

So colorful, rich, and lively. Am really enjoying your series of photos here. Will be back to view more later. You should be working for National Geographic!