Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Min-ga-la-ba!

That's 'hello' in Burmese, the only word I could ever pronounce. Burmese was such an awkward language, it did not trip lightly off my tongue at all (as opposed to, say, Japanese, which is relatively easy to pronounce but was virtually impossible for this chickadee to remember any of). We spent a few weeks in Burma, travelling around the tourist-acceptable diamond-shaped route (the rest of the country being inaccessible to all but the most intrepid and daring of visitors). Burma has a special place in my memory. It had the most friendly people we've yet met, the most interesting temples, the most salty food, and the most smiley kids. It was the spikiest, prickliest, dustiest, grubbiest country to date. It has been the only place we've ever visited where it really did feel like we'd stepped back 60 years in time. I'd recommend anyone to visit Burma, with the proviso that you spend your money very carefully and thoughtfully with the locals.
Off we go!

(Thank you for visiting. Click on the 'Burma' tag to see what I wrote at the time we actually went.)

Bagan

Bagan: cactus

Bagan: Temples as far as the eye can see

Happy kid

Bagan: temple interior

Bagan: pensive

Lantern pods

Burma: the land of teashops

On the way to Bagan on the river.

Inle Lake

Moulmien temple tiers and palms.

Moulmien pup

Could be anywhere...

Yangon

Inle Lake: tall grasses

Inle Lake: roadside stupas




Inle Lake: silk work


2 comments:

allison tait said...

Gorgeous photos! It looks like an amazing trip.

Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro.

gregzak said...

I also spent 3 weeks recently in Myanmar - Yangon, Manadalay, Bagan. Very special place that has left an impact on me. Agree - beautiful people. And yes struggled with the language. Apart from min-ga-la-ba, I got thanks - jei: - zu:-be: also donw pat. I'll be back there again and will try to learn a bit more of the language before then :)