Burma (Myanmar) -The Land Beyond

Visitors 180

39 photos

After a gap of 5 years, I was fortunate to visit Burma ( Mynamar ) once again in the spring of 2015. During this visit, I found Burma's political situation to be much different and slightly more liberal and democratic than the rigid military regime that existed during my earlier visit in 2010. There was evidence of more economic activity, certainly lot more autos, more traffic, higher prices, more tourists , stabler currency etc--Burma seems to be flexing its muscles a bit to grow economically and improve its image in the world.

I visited a few new places especially the area around Monywa and the Chindwin River with its impressive Po Win Taung Caves carved on the side of the hills. Additionally I spent a lot of time exploring several villages around Bagan and photographing the villagers involved in their daily activities. A large part of this trip consisted of road travel by car which was fascinating for it provided an up close view of rural Burma, its poverty, simple people, and its countryside. Several roads were under construction using 19th century model of manual labor -both men and women working in primitive conditions--certainly providing interesting photo opportunities.

Of course, this trip also included visits to several important Buddhist temples and a repeat visit to the breathtaking Intha leg rowers in Lake Inle, who always provide wonderful photo opportunities. Some of my best photos of this repeat visit to Mynamar are being shared in this gallery.