Our last major stop and probably the most beautiful place in Burma was Inle Lake. The lake is fairly large but not that deep (2.1m to 3.7 m at the deepest point). The main mode of transportation is a flat boat. The people of Inle Lake (called Intha), some 70,000 of them, live in four cities bordering […]
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Up to this point, we had done a fairly standard Burma trip. Two destinations on our itinerary were off the beaten path. First, on our way to Inke Lake we stopped for one day and one night in Pindaya. The second one was the Kyaiktiyo pagoda also known as Golden Rock, which was an extra two
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It’s this time of the year when you reflect on what happened to you this year? First and foremost I spent two extraordinary weeks in Burma. Seven of my top ten images are from Burma and I could have easily have more. I have started to find that challenging weather environment can result in unique,
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Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 445 miles (716 km) north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region. Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the center
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Monks are very present in Myanmar, there are between 400,000 and 500,000 professional monks in a country of about 50 million people. Our photo leader (Tuan) had arranged that we could photograph some young monks (called novices) during an entire afternoon. Monks rise very early for the alms offering and then have their lunch quite early
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After landing in Bagan early in the morning, we went directly to the Shwesandaw pagoda, which offers an impressive view of Bagan and makes you understand why it is so popular. From the upper terrace, you can see hundreds of Buddhist temples and monuments. Bagan was once the capital city of the first Kingdom of
Burma/Myanmar – Bagan pagodas and temples (Shwesandaw, Shwezigon and Sulamani) Read More »
Those three pagodas are not as visited by tourists as the Shwedagon or the Sule pagodas but are absolutely worth a visit. First the Kyaukhtatgyi is home of a 229-feet long reclining Buddha statue. Almost across the street from the Kyaukhtatgyi Pagoda, is the Nga that gyi Pagoda which contains the 5 story high sitting Buddha. The Botataung is near the Yangon river and is 2500 years old.
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Kandawgyi Lake (or Great Royal Lake) is an artificial lake in the center of Yangon. It’s a pleasant place where locals start their day exercising (it opens at 5am and it’s free for all until 7am). I went there twice during my stay in Yangoon. The lake is famous for the replica of the Pyigyimon Royal Barge (Karaweik). The barge is made of concrete and was build in 1972.
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In my previous post, I told you that the number of tourists coming to Myanmar is increasing at a rapid rate. In some area, like the Shwedagon Pagoda or in Bagan, it was very obvious. In other area, like the Sule Pagoda it was not that obvious as we only saw a few tourists. However I believe this will change quickly.
The Sule Pagoda was next to our hotel in Yangoon, our trip was only starting at 8am, so we woke up 1.5 hours before sunrise and went to take pictures of the Pagoda. Tuan, who had been there a couple mornings earlier, gave us a good tip on where to find a great view of the place.
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In january, I travelled to Myanmar (also known as Burma) for a 12 days trip. Myanmar is a controversial country and while travel is extremely safe and pleasant, the country image still suffers from the bad reputation. But Burma is the crown jewel of Southeast asia country. It’s the second largest country by landmass in Southeast Asia and one of the least visited. In 2013, a little over 2 millions tourists went to Myanmar, compared that to 26 millions that went to Thailand. The Myanmar government is trying to encourage tourism and the number of tourist are increasing drastically. The year before, in 2012, only one million tourists went to Myanmar. Knowing this, I was very interested in visiting Myanmar sooner than later.
I’m going to structure my view not by day but by location. Our first location is Yangoon, the capital city of Myanmar. It’s probably there you will arrive. The first thing you will visit is the Shwedagon Pagoda in the heart of Yangoon.
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