Despite the inauspicious start to my journey (where I was desperately sick from food poisoning on the way there, with me ending up literally crawling to the door of my suite at The Strand to open the door to the hotel staff who brought me some aspirin), my trip to Burma remains one of the more memorable trips I have ever taken. Our trip started in Yangon, the capital. Then we took the Road to Mandalay and on to the best part of the journey – Bagan.
Yesterday I shared some photos of the wonderful faces of Burma. Here are some more photos from the trip, sans faces this time:
1) Those of you who have read or know of Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace will find this photo familiar. It is the U Bein Bridge in Amarapura. We were on this bridge at dusk and it was just so beautiful. The is supposedly the longest teak bridge in the world. This photo hangs next to the one of the old lady with the cigar on our wall.
2) The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. I can’t remember exactly, but I think the guide mentioned that parts (or all?) of this pagoda were made of gold.
3) A giant reclining Buddha
3) The palace. Sorry, I don’t remember the name. I am assuming that this was part of a palace, because it was surrounded by a moat and I remember that we stopped here for quite a while and the guide was going on and on about something. This was in Yangon. That much I remember.
4) I do not remember the name of this place either. Sorry… pushing 40, childbirth, motherhood. All I remember is that this was on the grounds of a place with many, many pagodas. Here, you take off your shoes not only if you want to enter a pagoda, but you take them off at the entrance to the grounds itself. This is the same place where the photos from yesterday’s post were taken, where the people were not wearing any shoes.
6) Bagan - The land of stupas. We were told by our guide that the word ‘stupefied’ came from the word ‘stupa’ –because when whoever-coined-that-word was greeted by this sight, he was struck dumb by what he saw --the many, many stupas dotting the land, as far as the eyes could see.
See that hint of rainbow?
If you are to visit only one place in Burma, definitely head for Bagan. Seeing all those stupas was just mind-boggling. The whole vista just breathtaking.
20 COMMENTS:
Woah honey, those shots are better than the ones you see in travel brochures. Gorgeous!
Glad you're better - and yes! These shots are lovely!
My mouth is hangin open. These shots are truly breathtaking. Indeed I am stupified. Just amazing!
Thanks for sharing your traveling adventures with us!
Beautiful images! They really look like postcards.
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I really appreciate it.
Have a lovely day!
Are stupas temples? Sorry to hear that the beginning memory was one of having food poisoning. The pictures are breathtaking. I liked the one with the rainbow!
Great pics!!!!
WOW... beautiful photos. looks like a pretty amazing place.
It's just absolutely breathtaking! I hope to do some extensive traveling at some point again!
These could be postcards. My favorite is the one with the rainbow. Gorgeous!
Those really are beautiful and what a gorgeous place to visit! I love looking at interesting buildings. The shot of the lady with the cigar is awesome too!
Beautiful photos! Thanks for letting us have a glimpse of those places too.
A moat?! How freakin cool is that...
These are beautiful! We never see this side of Burma/Myanmar, only the ugly side that they show us on the news. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing!!!!!! You should add a little map on your sidebar, with all the places you've visited!!
Beautiful pictures! The buildings are all so amazing.
Wow! YOu have been to so many beautiful places!!! It does look breathtaking, and your pictures are wonderful!!!
Postcard perfect. You could bind these into a coffee table book!
Those are all beautiful!! Have you ever considered selling those pictures to a travel magazine or a website? Seriously, they are gorgeous pictures!
Beautiful sights! What a wonderful place.
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