Thanksgiving in Myanmar

Serving as a PCV in Thailand has many benefits, one of which is the opportunity for incredible vacations, both in country and in the surrounding region of Southeast Asia.  A few months ago, on little more than a whim, I found myself booking cheap airfare online for a trip to Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma that borders a great portion of Thailand’s western border.  I didn’t know much about the country other than the fact that it was politically unstable, used to be closed to the world and had some amazing places to visit.  I started doing a lot of reading on the country, the history, and all the amazing travel possibilities.  This trip is explained mostly through pictures...they can say much more than I could through words.  I took a lot (well over 1000) and tried to pick out some that are representative of the places I went.

Silk weaving

Temples in Bagan

Ancient pagodas. I'm in there somewhere too.

On a boat, Inle Lake

The waiting squat; waiting for the train

Boys on a bike wearing longgyi's, a garment that the majority of men in Myanmar wear instead of pants.  Even in places like Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, men wore these with their dress shirts to work.  After seeing them for a couple weeks, I really started to appreciate their simplicity and versatility, maybe just as much as men appreciate their comfort.

I started my trip with a couple days in and around Mandalay, continued to Bagan for a few days of biking through valleys of old temples, went to Inle Lake for a boat trip around a community on the water, saw some of the sights of Yangon and finished with a train ride to one of the most revered Buddhist sites in Myanmar, a 'golden rock' that is balanced on a mountain.  Myanmar is an interesting country in the midst of a democratic transition.  The people are curious and friendly, although seem to be somewhat jaded by tourism in the areas overrun by backpackers and package tour buses.  One man I met told me I must be poor because I had an iPhone 4.  If I come from the USA, the land of Apple, why did I have to settle for an out of date iPhone 4?  Obviously I was poor - a logical conclusion I suppose.  He had a good laugh at this, as did I.  Another man told me of his desire to save up enough money to move to Thailand to be a teacher.  My answers to the question of “where do you come from?” were met with enthusiastic responses like, “Obama!” or “America! Great country”.  My trip occurred shortly after Obama's visit to the country, so I’m not sure how much of this was common reaction and how much people had been stirred by his recent visit.

Horse buggy ride through the ancient city of Ava

Sunset on the U-Bein bridge, Amarapura

Looking out from the top of the Mandalay hill

Mandalay Marionettes 

Kids dressed up at the temple

Mahamuni Temple in Mandalay: a major Buddhist pilgrimage site.  Only men are allowed to enter and place gold flakes on the Buddha , women must sit outside and watch through doorways (seen above) or on video screens that are placed at various areas around the temple.  

Silk weaving

Handmade art for sale outside a temple

On top of a temple in Bagan

Sunset on a temple with too many other tourists, Bagan

Sunset over a field of temples in Bagan. Absolutely incredible...it received a round of applause from all spectators

Sunrise in Bagan.  Just as incredible as the sunsets, if not more so

After enjoying the sunrise, complete with hot air balloons

Hot air balloons, sunrise in Bagan

Making/smoking local cigars

Selling art on top of a temple in Bagan

Fisherman at Inle Lake

Local market on Inle Lake

Rolling local cigarettes

Traveling around Inle Lake via boat

Burmese sweet tea and local snacks

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Around Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset, Yangon

On the train outside of Yangon

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, one of the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Myanmar.  The rock is said to be balanced on a hair from the Buddha that was given to a hermit and then enshrined in this boulder that was shaped like the hermit's head.  The name of the Pagoda (Kyaiktiyo) means 'pagoda upon a hermit's head'.

Looking up, wondering how that rock is still attached (ok maybe not, but that's sort of what I was doing)

Another view; you can see how little of the rock is actually touching the base

Making Buddha images

Old temple ruins in Ava