On the Way to Mandalay

Because most of Vietnam shuts down for family dinners and drinks all around for the Lunar New Year (aka Tet, aka Chinese New Year), I slipped out of Vietnam on a tour of one of the world's most isolated countries: Burma (also known as Myanmar). We traveled to four main areas - the former capital city of Rangoon (Yangon), the temple-strewn plains of Bagan, Mandalay and its concentration of monks and novices, and the pristine waters and valley of Inle Lake. Each place, while bearing the markings of a government that doesn't disguise its contempt for its own population, also presented constant reminders of the rich heritage, spirituality, and culture of a large, multi-ethnic/-linguistic country. Since it's hard to distill 10 days of touring a diverse country into just 30 pictures, I've put together a 30-photo album of each site.

In Rangoon, we were introduced to the mixed culture of a country that has seen centuries of successive rulers, dominant dynasties--touring giant Buddhist stupas like Shwedegon Pagoda (a sacred site for the over 2000 years old) and wandering through Chinatown and Indiatown, past Chinese New Year displays and Hindu temples. Click here to see an album of photos from Rangoon.

The stunning scenery of Bagan's pagodas, temples, and stupas started with the conversion of a king to Buddhism over a thousand years ago. Over the next 200 years, devotion turned to oneupmanship, and left the door open for Kublai Khan's invading armies. Click here for an album of 34 photos from Bagan.

Even just taking the road to Mandalay (which rubs elbows with exotic placenames such as Timbuktu and Abu Dhabi) evoked images of exploring the hinterlands of a faraway land (the bumpy asphalt road, and the sand track detour, confirmed that). In hundreds of monasteries, some carved from teak, Mandalay houses the greatest concentration of monks and monk novices in Burma, as well as a shrine containing Buddhist sacred texts carved onto over 820 stone tablets (both sides, single-spaced--kind of beats the Ten Commandments on two slabs). Click here to see 31 pictures from Mandalay.

The last stretch of the trip was spent on motorized canoes on the peaceful waters of Inle Lake, learning fisherman's tricks in the shallows, touring local markets and villages, wandering through temple ruins, and cruising through the floating gardens. Click here for 41 pictures of Inle Lake.