In 1999 I was allowed to visit Myanmar (formerly Burma) for the first time and was especially enchanted by the indescribably beautiful light. Especially in the morning, when this colorful land awakens from garlands of mists and golden sunlight! I wanted to go back there and repaint this beauty in photography.
Myanmar is about 676,577 km² in size and in 2016 it had about 57 million people. The republic borders in the northwestBangladesh, in the northeast to India, in the north to China and in the east to Laos and Thailand. In the southwest it has a long coastline, on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. But Myanmar is more than what one can find from scientific information on the Internet. The heart of Myanmar must be felt on the spot…
“Their hospitality knows no bounds and if there are already doors to the houses, they are wide open to the curious tourists”
Myanmar is a country that one can travel very comfortably. The many tribes that live far away in the mountains such as the Shan, Bamar, Karen, Rakhine and so on you really have to experience on the spot. Their hospitality knows no bounds and if there are already doors to the houses, they are wide open to the curious tourists. Tea comes immediately to the table and the typical properties per strain are explicitly discussed. It is obvious that the cameras of our eight visitors are on edge to take these stories with you. The conversations that are usually translated from local Burmese into English by our excellent guides are always a lesson in humility for us. We stand still and full of admiration for that wealth that comes from the simplest logical thinking of these people.
Mandalay still breathes exactly as I used to experience it, with the many temples, pagodas and monasteries with monks that give color to a rich past. Joining in long lines for lunch in Amarapura, agriculture and fishermen, the small markets that hump life and color, the boat ride on the Ayeyawady River to Mingun; wherever we ask for the cooperation of the local people to create a striking image that should be a synthesis of their lives, everywhere it is immediately filled in the right way. A real dream for photography!
Thanks to the very well-organised intermediate flights, we can cover great distances and see things that might never otherwise be seen.
The visit to Lake Inle is and remains a top performer in Myanmar. The butchers who turn off their nets or fish baskets in the golden light in the early morning. Stories that go away in the morning fog. The many boats that come to the marten, every day in a different place.
On arrival in Nam-pan Village there are already hundreds of boats docked. People carry the goods on their head or on the shoulders, on a thick bamboo stick between two persons. Everything goes to the local market near Lake Inle. The first thing they do here is eat something hot. The smoke of the noodles and warm vegetables circles their heads in the backlight like a moving halo…
On the same day we visit several small islands with floating gardens and colorful flower fields. We see weaving and spinning lotus fibres into beautiful carpets and seams.
“The Ananda temple is a feat of masterful architecture”
The people respect Buddhism and the temples that breathe a rich past. Thin sheets of gold leaf are attached to the stately statues and stupas. An open-billed stork shaves low above our boat and shows its exceptionally beautiful open beak floating. The sun on its black wings creates a green-blue sheen.
Bagan has a completely different story, but in the beautiful weather he continues to paint his own splendour of colour over the landscape. We are overwhelmed by the thousands of temples and pagodas. The Ananda temple is a feat of masterful architecture, one uses the light that enters it in an exceptional way. By coach we swing along the dusty paths so that the dust in the backlight gives one nostalgic image after another.
There are so many highlights in Bagan that you can stay there for weeks and still make new discoveries. Everywhere there is also the expert restoration of temples after the earthquake damage of September 2016.
The beautiful large cylindrical Shwezigon Pagoda rests on four large square terraces. The praying locals and monks fill this unique décor. In this area we still get to enjoy the dark Dhamayangyi temple and the amber Sulamani temple; all masterpieces in a soothing nature that is doused by radiant sunlight.
Mrauk We reach you via Sittwe,with a four-and-a-half hour boat ride across the Kaladan River where no camera is silent. One cannot reach this beautiful remote area by road because there are two mountain ranges between them. During this boat trip you will come across some very authentic very small villages where time has really stood still!
We visit Chin villages where we pass the Lamyo River. Older women whose faces are fully tattooed weave colorful naps and scarves. Younger women go with round silver jugs to get water by the river where we also see mothers hitting the wax on stones. A little further, a young girl drives three cows. A young woman joins three pigs near the river to feed them there and in the meantime give them a refreshing bath with a bucket of water.
Men sit on the ground and a woman is purging some rice from the chaff by throwing it up on a round bamboo dish. Some chickens try to pick up the blowing leaves. The accompanying little chicks are already learning quite a bit from their mother. A little further, a powerful woman with a vertical movement is crushing the rice with a thick stick in a wooden pot. In doing so, her hands go as high as possible above her head and then the thick rounded stick pops down as hard as possible in that wooden pot.
“What didn’t change are the very beautiful light, the open friendliness of the people and the beautiful Shwedagon Pagoda”
At the end of this spell in Myanmar we are going to visit the old capital Yangon (formerly Rangoon). Now the capital of Myanmar is the city of Naypydaw. Rangoon has changed a lot since my first visit, but what hasn’t changed are the very beautiful light, the open friendliness of the people and the beautiful Shwedagon Pagoda. The latter has become even more beautiful after the restorations and some adjustments. Also visiting the Kandawgyi gardens and Lake Kandagawgyi is exceptional. The traffic in this ancient capital is also single. No two-wheelers on the main roads, only cars are allowed. Sometimes it’s almost hilarious what you see and experience. It has only been forgotten that cars also require streets and as a result everything gets stuck every day.
So Myanmar is a country that also needs to think about its future. Hopefully her indescribable wealth can be preserved and kept alive. It is precisely for this reason that it is extremely important to be careful which travel agency one visits such a country with. Only an extremely large network, experiences and contacts with local people who pass on the right information to the organizers, give some guarantee for an incredibly rich trip. I know from experience that Untamed Travelling is particularly successful and that the recognition it receives as the best tour operator in the Netherlands for long journeys is not just a coincidence!
At the end of this year we go to Ethiopia! Are you coming?
