Olympus OM-2n | Kodak Portra 400NC
This boat is called the Moe Cherry, owned by a pretty assy guy. This is the low-budget option for the private boat ride (available on days the government boat doesn't run). Some private boats might take only tourists, with the standard rate being $15, although I met some tourists who bargained hard to get it for $12. I bargained even harder with this guy to get it for $10, although he also tried to charge the other tourist double while filling the boat with a full crew of locals who were probably paying just a few thousand kyat.

We didn't have much interaction; maybe we would have if I'd been alone but it was easier to just converse with the other tourist.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Canon A630
Always room for one more body on these trucks.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X
Food in Yangon is a bit more international, and it's international food that I love—Chinese and Indian.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X
Waiting for traffic to pass. The end of a long line of monks (ordered by height but followed up by an elder) crossing in front of one of Yangon's mosques.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Portra 800
View of the downtown landmark, Sule Pagoda, from the 5th floor lobby of Garden Guesthouse.

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Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Portra 800
The only truly gold pagoda in the whole country...the rest are yellow paint.

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Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Portra 800
For the life of me, I don't know how Buddhist shrines came to look Vegas style. These lit-up halo-type things behind Buddha heads were all over Shwedagon.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Portra 800
Monks in Myanmar had more material goods than I would have expected. There were a few with digital cameras, lots with radios. Later in an airport, I saw one with a huge DSLR. I was never lucky enough to find myself in conversation with some of those English-speaking monks that flocked to the white tourists, I only got the ones who didn't know a single word...otherwise I would have asked if these items were leftover from their non-monk lives, or gifts, or possibly even purchased with donated money? I was especially curious about the DSLR.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Reala
Lighting incense.

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Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Reala
The elephant statue represents a specific day of birth—there are eight total animals in a pagoda, with Wednesday being split into morning births and night births. Visitors find their animal and wash the statue from the fountain above. The number of times they wash the statue corresponds with their ages.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Canon A630
Than is an amazing cook. We were lucky enough to have three meals at Naing Naing's house, starting with breakfast the first day of the trek, a late lunch the day we returned to pick up the motorbikes, and a final lunch the day we parted.

Than's relationship with Naing Naing was an odd one—it was hard to tell how much of their bickering was real. Technically divorced in order to provide him an easy escape from the government, Naing Naing had mainly married her because her mother had saved his life. I assumed they'd learned to love each other, as they had reached middle-age with three beautiful daughters, but Naing Naing's obsession with Britney Spears and his greater ability to connect with tourists while she was stuck in the traditional wife role seemed to wear on Than's nerves.

Well, the Britney thing was stated explicitly.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Reala
On the way back to Kyaukme, we made several stops to see locally-produced items. One was bamboo paper, another was rice noodles, and of course, this was rice. The farmers were familiar with Naing Naing, who'd helped one of them quasi-legally get a motorbike driver's license.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Canon A630
We did a somewhat puzzling visit to Man On, apparently the smallest village we'd visited, yet a village containing noodle stalls and shops according to Naing Naing. We didn't take a look as we weren't hungry. After 2 days of no running water we had come here to bathe in the hot springs.

I was not in the best mood because I couldn't understand why we had come here when I would have preferred to trek another day, plus I'd been knocked off the motorbike I was riding from Kyaukme by Naing Naing's inexperienced 16-year-old nephew. We were staying in the home of a Shan man that Naing Naing knew from way back, which held a few too many people for my tastes and didn't allow for a good night's sleep.

But the next day the kids next door were thrilled to pose for photos, practically laughing themselves sick looking at themselves, which certainly improved my spirits.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Reala
Briefly back in Kyaukme after a steep hike from Who Quit to the road and hitchhiking on a speedy cargo truck back to town. On the outskirts we saw a large group of girls in Palaung dress and screamed for the truck to stop but the driver couldn't hear us over the noise. Suddenly we hit a tractor. No one was injured, although the tractor had seen better days, and we took the opportunity to disembark.

The girls were going around to Palaung homes in Kyaukme—complete with a map detailing all the Palaung families—singing and dancing for donations. With the donations they would throw a spectacular New Year's party in their village on January 4th.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
This village, which may have been bigger than it looked but certainly looked small, actually had TWO monasteries. It's hard to imagine how such a small place could support so many monks.

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)