On October 8th I joined a group of photographers to capture some snap shots of our city. Every year Scott Kelby, a world famous photographer, hosts his annual World Wide Photo Walk. It is a time for photographers to get together and take photos of their neighborhood. It is labeled as the "social photography event of the year," as one of the main goals is to bring together a community of people with this common interest. On the single day hundreds of Photo Walks are held across the world with thousands of photographers participating. 

I joined in my first Photo Walk when I lived in Auburn (Maine, USA) two or three years ago and was thrilled when I saw the announcement for the Yangon walk. Taking my camera out to the streets is one of my favorite things to do but it was made even better by the great company. More than a few of these photographs have gone in my "favorite photographs I have ever taken" folder. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them! 

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. 

On Saturday Zoe (the middle school principle), along with a few other returning staff, led our group of new teachers on a walking tour of downtown Yangon. We spent five hours traipsing around the busy streets of the largest city area in Myanmar. We started at what used to be Trader’s Hotel, one of the highest end hotels in the country, we walked down for a view of Sule Pagoda which is in the center of the city in the middle of a round-about. Turning down another road, Zoe pointed out many of the government buildings and important places including the independence monument (a symbol of Myanmar’s independence from the British).

With the country just recently opened, it is under constant construction on every corner. Literally everywhere you look there is something under construction. Here is one site we came across. 

It was such a fascinating walk with so much to see around ever corner. 

We came across a few stalls that were selling books which seemed kind of strange. Zoe explained that when the country was closed there was strict control over reading material of all sorts. Now that it is open and the regulations are majorly loosened, the people love to read. It is a privilege to them. So they copy books and prints hundreds of more of them (they certainly don't follow copyright laws here) then sell them at low rates so everyone can afford to read. 

There were so many fantastic buildings, bunches of them left over from the time of the British rule of the country. All of them crumbling, peeling, cracking, and covered with vines and/or mold from the tropical climate. 

We passed many embassies on the way to The Strand Hotel, another high-class establishment, where we rested our feet and viewed the fabulous art gallery. 

Crossing several busy lanes of traffic we passed through a small wet market on our way to the riverside. Zoe showed us where we can take the ferry over to another town across the river.

Only staying near the river for a few minutes we continued through the busy Yangon. There was so much to see! At one point we saw a group of men playing some sort of game on the street. After I had snapped a photo they asked others to please not take any photos so I am lucky to have this one. 

We also saw a couple "pay phones." If people want to make calls but don't have a phone they can find one of these stalls where the ladies will let you make a call for a price. These are regular house hold phones that are attached to landlines that run all the way from the street to a nearby building. 

There were plenty of stalls selling all sorts of things to eat. From snacks in the form of bagged chips and what not to fried food to meat on sticks that you put in boiling broth to cook. 

 We meandered through the streets for quite a long while more until we came to the Indian Spice Market (I believe the true name for this is Theingyi Zay Market). It had many tiny entrances all along the walls between stalls selling all sorts of goods, I wouldn’t have even noticed how to get in if they hadn’t pointed it out. The inside of this market was pure madness. It was so cramped and had so many people in it I have no idea how people manage their way around. I barley made my way in before turning back around to come out. Kim had a similar experience went into find the spices with Sharon. It is very overwhelming being around so many people. 

I had been carrying around little K who is about two years old and it is amazing how much the locals just LOVED him! Almost everyone we walked by, especially women, would gawk and smile at him. He was given many small gifts, a banana, a flower, a fruit, along with multiple people asking to hold him. Whenever we passed someone who was close enough, which was all the time, they would touch him or squeeze his cheeks. We even got our picture taken. It was a strange experience and I was very glad that he didn’t mind it because otherwise it could have been awful for him. We enjoyed looking at the produce and other foods for sale outside of the market.

After the Indian Spice Market we traveled another twenty minutes or so to Bogyoke Aung San Market. This is probably the second biggest tourist attraction in Yangon (second only to Shwedegon Pagoda). It is a huge exotic place that sprawls over a couple levels and a large area of land. Defiantly designed for tourists it has a huge expanse of shops that include high-end jewelry stores, many shops to buy fabric to be made into clothing, and so many souvenir shops including lacquer ware, shoulder bags, puppets, slippers, gems, and t-shirts. We probably won’t be returning to this market anytime soon because it had a strong commercial feel to it. Plus there were more touts here than anywhere else we had seen in the city (a tout is someone who persistently tries to get you to buy their product – they many follow you around pushing their merchandise in your face for a long period of time and are very annoying).  

Right around the corner from Bogyoke we found a phenomenal Shan Noodle shop where we both had a bowl of Shan Noodles that were amazing! We also shared some dumplings that were simply to die for along with some fresh mango juice and fried tofu (that Kim especially enjoyed)! Here, drool over some pictures of the deliciousness: 

We were very thankful for Zoe and the others to show us around town but it was an exhausting and over-stimulating experience. I’m glad we kind of have the lay of the land down and we will defiantly go downtown another weekend soon so we can have a (hopefully) more relaxed time getting to know the area.