Legend has it that two Mon princess saw a female Hinthar standing on the back of a male Hinthar on an island in a huge lake. A Hinthar is a kind of bird like a goose that is a mythical creature similar to a phoenix. They took this as a sign to settle here and thereafter built the town of Bago. Bago is a town about two hours outside of Yangon. Well actually it is only around an hour outside but with all of the Yangon traffic it takes twice as long to get out of the city itself. Kim and I took a trip to Bago a couple weekends ago with our friends MeMe and Alex. Lucky for us, Meme knew what there was to do and see in Bago so I didn't have to do any planning. We just hopped in the car we rented for the day and set off! 

Our first stop was more by happenstance, I spotted an awesome looking temple on the side of the road and we wandered around what turned out to be a Chinese temple. There were golden dragons on every inch of it, lots of Buddhas, an eccentric old woman who took to following us around, and ornate detailing on every surface. 

As we walked in Alex spotted this tube of sticks and got very excited. "You wanna? You wanna?" He asked us giddy as a little kid. Meme, who was just as enthusiastic, replied with a bubbly "Yes!" Then they both turned to us with expectant looks. Kim and I turned to each other a confirmed that neither of us had any idea what was going on and finally Alex began explaining. 

The tube of sticks turned out to be Kau Cim, Chinese Fortune Sticks. It is a chance for you to ask God or Buddha or the Universe (whichever suits you) a question and get an answer. Alex demonstrated the process for us. You first have to think of a really good question that is not too broad or too specific then you kneel and you concentrate on that question with all your attention. When you are ready you begin shaking the tube of sticks back and forth in a steady motion. If you are holding it at the right angle then the sticks will jump around and at some point one stick will come all the way out. You pick up the stick and before checking it you have to make sure it is the right one. You do this by taking these two rounded blocks of wood (I think they were wood) and dropping them on the ground like dice. If they fall in opposite ways (one face up and one face down) then it is the wrong stick and you have to start over. If they fall the same way then it is the right stick. At this point you have to find the number on the stick which corresponds with a number of a paper in a cabinet (seen behind us in the pictures below). When you retrieve the paper it will have the answer to your question on it. 

One side of the paper was written in Myanmar and one side was written in Chinese. Alex was able to read the Chinese and Meme the Myanmar so they both helped translate our answers. I had to try mine a couple times because the stick wouldn't come out. At first Alex said it was because I was asking the wrong question but then we realized (on the third try) that I was just holding the container wrong. 

Also known as The Four Seated Buddhas, Kyaik Pun Pagoda stands at 88 feet tall. Each of the four Buddhas which are seated to face the four cardinal directions, represent the four Buddhas that have reached Nirvana. One legend relating to this Paya involves four Mon sisters who, when helping to build this, pledged to never get married or shall the Buddhas come crumbling to the ground. When one of the sisters broke her vow and married it is said that one of the Buddhas did in fact collapse. 

This spectacular place was built in 1553 by a famous Mon King, King Bayinnaung, founder of the 2nd Empire. Most of the area was destroyed in a foreign attack but has been under excavation since the early 90's. The originally walled palace contained 4 square miles of land and 76 buildings. I could not believe how much gold there was, it was literally covering every inch of the palace. The details were unbelievable and the throne room was just spectacular. 

The Beehive is another building on the grounds of Kambazathadi Golden Palace. I was surprised at the amount of people just hanging out at this building. Apparently sleeping, kissing, chatting, and just general meeting up is what this building is good for. 

Okay, so I kind of lost track here and I can't seem to find the name of this pagoda anywhere. It was all under a covered roof and had different covered stairways. The most interesting part of this pagoda was the lady boy.

While we were visiting this pagoda we stumbled upon something very interesting: a drag queen. Okay, that may not be exactly what this was but it was pretty darn close. It was a man dressed up as a woman dancing and singing. He had his own band and people were watching and cheering him on. The audience also provided alcohol for him and tucked money in his clothes. I have heard about so called "lady boys" here who have a connection with the ancient Myanmar religion that believed in spirits. The idea is that sometimes, especially on special holidays, men can become possessed with a spirit and this will cause him to act like said spirit. Hence you find men dressed up as woman, dancing and acting out of character. I'm not sure if that was what was going on here but either way it was really interesting to see and I would love to learn more about this custom. 

I tried to find the name of this pagoda but all of the information about it just refers to it as the snake pagoda. Well, you can't say that the name isn't accurate because what this pagoda is best known for is housing a GIANT snake. We took a few dirt roads in the general direction that we were pointed in but our driver had to continue stopping to ask for directions because there were nothing posted to guide people here. This was very off-the-beaten-path. When we arrived we saw a very small golden pagoda that was only 10 or so feet high but we were pointed to a small building right next to it where we walked in to this:

The story behind the snake involves a ancient monk who had a vision that Buddha was sending a snake to live at the monastery with him. I'm unclear if the snake was just sent there from Buddha or if it was a part of Buddha or . . . I don't really know how the snake was connected to Buddha. Anyway, sure enough a snake showed up so they build a house for it and so it came to live at the monastery. It now lives in it's own building where it has it's own Jacuzzi sized pool and lots of bedding. There are people who sit with the snake (to watch him/her?) and you can give them a donation and they will pray to the snake for you. 

Another golden pagoda stands in the center of this town. Shwemawdaw is actually the tallest pagoda in Myanmar (although Shwedagon in Yangon claims to be). It is 375 feet tall and has been rebuilt multiple times due to earthquakes and other natural disasters, with it's origins dating back over 1000 years. It is said to enshrine 2 hairs of Buddha and at least one sacred tooth. What I found out recently was that things like sacred teeth may not actually be from Buddha, rather they are someone else's teeth that were placed next to one that is from Buddha to gain it's energy or merit or holiness or whichever. 

Although it is larger than Shwedagon it is certainly not as popular, in fact it was almost completely abandoned while we were there. It was strange to walk around this ginormous space practically alone. There were fortune teller shacks that were closed up (above) and community water bowls available (below). Just like most everywhere in Myanmar, there was a confusing juxtaposition between the glittering, glitzy gold and jewels that adorned the pagoda and it's surroundings and the warn, decrepit, aging, falling apart as the general state of many things throughout the area. 

Above is a sort of game that I found at the pagoda. You make a wish then throw a folded dollar into the area trying to get it into one of the bowls. The whole contraption spins. If you get it in then your wish will come true. 

Our last stop of the day was to Shwethalyaung Reclining Buddha. This Buddha was built by the Mon in 994 but it was lost  to the jungle when the town of Bago was destroyed. It was rediscovered in 1880 and restored several times. It is 180 feet long and 52 feet tall. It claims to be the second largest reclining buddha in the world but I know of a few others just here in Myanmar that are bigger. The feet and the pillows are adorned with mosaics and jewels and the entrance to the hall is lined with souvenir shops. 

There is also another reclining Buddha right next to this one that is outdoors. We could see it from the car and decided not to go up close because we were thoroughly exhausted at this point. What an amazing day visiting Bago! It was so nice to get outside of Yangon and see life outside of the city. Looking forward to our next day trip already. 

The first ever FotoMarathon Yangon was held last weekend I was was lucky to be one of the 80 participants for this internationally known event. FotoMarathon is an opportunity for photographers to gather together and show off their skills. Contestants are asked to photograph towards specific themes that are released throughout a 24 hour period and then submit their top two unedited photographs for each theme. A variety of prizes are awarded to the most outstanding photographers.
 

I noticed the event on a Yangon facebook group but all I could read was the logo because the rest of the information was in Myanmar. After having my helpful assistant translate the information I was able to apply and get accepted into the marathon. At this point I still didn't know exactly what this FotoMarathon consisted of. I tried calling one of the organizers but my questions were not understood, I also looked at other FotoMarathons in other parts of the world but each had different expectations. Without any success all I knew is when the event started and ended and that I would be taking photographs. But that was okay because things seem to have a way of working out here and they certainly did for this. 

All of the participants were separated into different groups, thankfully they put me in a group with an English speaking leader named Zwae. The first theme was presented to the whole audience then we talked as a group about where we wanted to go to photograph for that theme. There was no limit on where to go or subject matter. You could also go solo if you preferred but I was perfectly happy sticking with my group. After a few group pictures we were off. 

For our first theme "I love Yangon" we decided to go down to Monument Park which is the center of downtown. Lots of people use this park because it is the only nice, clean, green space in the downtown area. There is a large monument in the center of the park that symbolizes Myanmar's independence. From here you can also see some of the fancy government buildings as well as Sule Pagoda. Although I have walked around the park countless times I had never actually been in it so it was nice just wandering around and photographing what interested me. 

Our second theme was "Human in Yangon." It was just about sunset so I presented the idea of going down to the jetty. I wanted to hire one of the small boats to take me to the middle of the river so I could get a picture of Yangon from afar but when I got there they said that it was illegal for them to transport foreigners. I didn't want to take the ferry over so I just settled for some jetty pictures from land. 

To finish the night we went to Kandaji Lake where there were a whole bunch of things happening. There was a huge German punk rock concert put on for free by the German Embassy, in one section they were holding an event for World AIDS Day where they had another concert, and I also found a live comedy show. I was great to see the variety of entertainment that the city can offer. 

Early Sunday morning my group met up at a well known breakfast spot called Morning Star Cafe. After some coconut noodles and Myanmar style tea we walked over to the zoo. I had been meaning to make it to the zoo but hadn't had a chance yet so I loved that this gave me the perfect excuse. Shortly after we arrived we got our first theme of the day "Green," and what a perfect place to be for it! As I was looking for green (which was everywhere) I got to see porcupines, lions, crazy ostrich looking bird creatures, monkeys, alligators, and more!

After two hours we met back up with the group to find out the next theme which was "Transportation." Luckily the train station was just a few minutes walk away. We all scattered around the station photographing anything that we found interesting then we hurried off to get a quick lunch at Cafe 365. After some fish and chips we found out that our last theme was "Faith." I felt pretty good about already having photographs that I could use for that theme so I followed along with my group who wanted to go to Sule Pagoda. This was another area in town that I have been by a dozen times but never actually walked in. It was nice to have a reason to be photographing around. Before heading back to the ending area we were tasked with one last mission "A group photo with a dog." I recalled walking by a box of puppies for sale so we went back there and got what has got to be the best group photo each holding a little puppy. 

Returning to the Royal Rose where we started the marathon, we each took turns uploading our cards to the group computer and selecting our favorite two photographs for each theme. The hardest part of the whole marathon was submitting UNEDITED photos. Not that I do a lot of editing to my photographs but it is like seeing someone who always wears makeup with just their bare skin. On the bright side at least I know that all of the contestants had the same expectations so we will all be on the same playing field. 

The following week we had a closing ceremony where they announced the winners. They printed out all of the submitted photos and held a huge exhibition where you could see each contestants work. They brought in expert judges like the lead photographer from the Myanmar Times and the president of the Yangon Photographers Association. 

I know this was A LOT of writing without any photographs but here they are, my submissions for the 2014 FotoMarathon Yangon. 

These are the other photographs that I took throughout the day.