MandalayHil

From Kalaw I would move on to Mandalay, where I have the most interesting encounter with a trishaw driver, Mr Win Tin. Mr Win Tin offered to drive me around Mandalay. I told him I would get him to give me a ride down to U Bein Bridge in the afternoon if he was still around when I came back after a walk around the town. I walked away thinking that he would not be waiting at the same spot after a span of a few hours since he could ferry other tourists around. Guess what! Mr Win Tin was still there when I walked back in the afternoon. He had no customer from morning to almost 3 pm in the afternoon. Life certainly is not easy in Myanmar! Anyway I struck adeal with him to bring me to U Bein Bridge to watch the sunset for 3,000 Kyats.

Along the way, I found out that Mr Win Tin was in his forties and rented a trishaw everyday. He could speak English well and was knowledgeable. He appreciated independent travellers as they would contribute directly to the locals’ earnings as compared to tourists who signed up with the government tour agencies.  The best sunset that I saw during the trip was at U Bein Bridge and I really thanked Mr Win Tin for bringing me there.

Final Destination
My final leg in Myanmar was to Bagan where I stayed in Nyaung U. I rented a one-speed China made, Hero brand bicycle from the hotel for 500 Kyats. One would immediately start to feel the spirit of Old Bagan .
There are simply too many great pagodas in Bagan. A few magnificent ones are Thanibyinnyu Pahto, Gawdawpalin Pahto and Ananda Paht. It was a pity that the staircases leading up to the second and third levels terraces of these pagodas were barricaded. After two hours of walking and cycling I felt tired and took a rest at a local restaurant. I spent some time sitting and chatting with the restaurant owners. One of their family friends (named Zaw Zaw) was an artist and started to join in the chat. With evening approaching, I left the restaurant to find a good spot to capture the sunset.

With my map I navigated to some unknown pagoda where I did get my shots. Then came the challenging part- cycling in the dark. It was different cycling in the dark. You could feel some insects bumping into your face while you were cycling on the dirt track. The main road was better but there were no lamp posts to light the path. I was cycling slowly and at times vehicles behind shone the path for me with their head lights.

Temple at Old Bagan

The next day I decided to venture further by going to New Bagan which was several kilometres away from Old Bagan. In 1990, the residents in Old Bagan were given one week notice to move from Old Bagan to New Bagan. New Bagan was just plots of peanut fields then. New Bagan was quieter, though there were some guesthouses there. I did more pagoda visiting and in a twist of fate, I saw Zaw Zaw, the artist I met the day before at the restaurant. He was selling his art pieces there and warmly invited me for a cup of tea afterwards.

Something interesting happened that night. There was a stage show going on which was similar to our lunar seventh month Ge-tai show. They have drama, songs and dance. The only difference was that the show can last from 9 pm to 6 am in the morning. In between they just blasted music from the loudspeakers. Obviously I did not sleep a wink that night as I could hear the music from my room loud and clear. Lesson learnt-Bring ear plugs!

When it was time to leave Myanmar, I realised that the beauty of this country is in the people and its beautiful scenery. Never mind the political situation, I would recommend you to visit Myanmar and experience it yourself.

Related posts:

1. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
3. Remembering the people of Myanmar

Inle Lake Rower

Inle Lake

 

 

 I was glad I visited the Golden Rock temple and happily I set off for my ride back to Bago (K2500) the next morning. This was the start of a backbreaking 16 hours bus journey to Inle Lake via Bago. I paid and another 500 Kyats to upgrade my seat to sit next to the bus captain. Was it worth the ‘upgrade’? Well my 1.78cm body frame could use whatever extra space I could pay for. Again, this was not a tourist bus but a local bus. Ninety percent of the passengers were local. At times, you might have goats as company too.

Did I mention that the driver like to sound the horns ery often? Finally after about 18 hours of bus journey (multiple unscheduled tea/pee breaks, dinner break in between), I reached Shwenyaung at 4 am. With four
other fellow independent travellers, we shared a minivan to take the five of us to Nyaung Shwe.

I spent the next day exploring Inle Lake on a motorized canoe. Here is the place where you will see the famous leg rowers. It is a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. The calm waters of Inle Lake coupled with the blue sky and green vegetation, made it a beautiful sight just to sit down and admire. We visited pagodas, an umbrella making factory, a silverware factory,weaving factory and other industries that the villages depended on for a livelihood. Of course, no visit was complete without going to the Jumping Cat Monastery where the monks trained cats to jump through
loops. Not really useful skills to have but the monks and the cats were quite entertaining.

Pick Me Ups at Kalaw
The staff at the guesthouse arranged for a taxi driver to bring me to Shwenyaung where I would then take a pickup to Kalaw. I was enjoying talking to this young taxi driver who was taking a correspondence degree course when I noticed that both the odometer and speedometer of his taxi were not working. I decided later to let him focus on his driving instead. When we reached Shwenyaung, he quickly found me a Mektila-bound pickup that would pass by Kalaw.

Monk at Kalaw

Kalaw is 1,320 metres high and reminded me of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Even the British colonial houses looked similar. The weather was cooling as I walked into Myoma Kyuang, which is a monastery. A 10 year old monk led me into the halls where he was staying. These kids were fun to be with. They were curious about the digital SLR camera that I had and would crowd around me looking at the photographs I took of them. No package tours could give you experiences like this. If you interested to rough it out, you could sign
up for a day trek or simply relax in Kalaw. When I was there, there was a fun fair where many “gambling”
stalls were doing business. It was basically a dice game played by releasing three giant dices onto a board and
one could bet on the sum of the three dices. The stalls were well-patronised including monks! Guess gambling is enjoyed by all people.

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3. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3

The hotel website said the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon is within walking distance. Well the truth was- it would be a very long walk! I took a taxi instead. Shwedagon Paya is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within. It is best visited at night when the marble grounds are cooled. The local crowds came to perform offerings and prayers or simply to sit and gaze at the Buddhas. The main stupa was lighted throughout the night by tungsten lights giving it a warm golden glow. 

Of  Wheels and Thrills
After the visit, I tried to catch a bus back to the inner city of Yangon. A visiting monk from Mandalay helped me by asking a Yangon local which bus to take. All the bus service numbers were written in Burmese text which added to the difficulty of navigating around. Most buses do not have many seats in order to allow more standing room and it could get pretty squeezy. I took a taxi to the area where pickup trucks going to Bago were based. The pickup truck was fitted with benches on both sides and it would depart once the seats were filled up. The back seats might start off comfortable, but along the way when seats ran out, you had to stand and hold on to the railings. I paid a bit more to sit next to the driver.

From Bago, I did a quick transfer to a bus that would bring me to reach Kin Pun, which is the base village to Kyaiktyo. To go to the famous Golden Rock Temple from Kin Pun, you need to take a 45-minute truck ride. The experience was worth it! It was a like a roller coaster ride as the truck went up and down the slopes and going around tight corners. The truck had about 6 wooden benches laid across it. Each bench would sit, very uncomfortably six people. You will be packed shoulder to shoulder and not much room to move about. If you have long legs, more bad news for you! The distance between each bench was short. My legs can only go under the bench in front. So my thighs were pressed up against the bottom of the bench in front of me! At the end of the truck ride, you would still need to walk up the slopes for about 45 minutes. Porters and sedan chairs carriers were around to help if your legs and knees could not take the walk. Of course I
braved up to the challenge and walked along with the locals. The temple was crowded maybe because it was a Sunday. Most of the visitors were locals making an overnight trip to the Golden Rock temple. I reached
the temple at about 4 pm and decided to wait forsunset. The sunset was great with golden glow radiating
through the clouds.

Sunset at Kyaiktiyo where the famous Golden Rock Temple is.

I could not stay too long as I needed to descend to catch the truck back. It was a long wait before the fully loaded truck moved off. Later I found out that due to the lack of lights and the steep slopes, they have to wait for the five trucks that were coming up the slopes to reach first before we could travel down. With no street lamps along the way down, another rollercoaster ride, this time under the starry sky. Due to the tight squeeze and lack of space, my limbs were numbed when we reached Kin Pun. The next morning I found that I have bruises on my thighs! I must have pressed too hard against the bench in front of me.

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2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
3. Travel Photography

I experimented with the various mode like the iA, Scene, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority. I found the ISO3200 settings useful in low night environment which I encountered a few times in my trip.

Here are just a few photos taken during my trip. (Post processing done includes a Level adjustments and image resizing)

Japan Maple Leaves

Japan Maple Leaves

Hell Valley at Night

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I stayed at BaBa House the 2 previous times  at Malacca and this time I decided to stay at Hotel Puri which is at the same street as BaBa House this time round. A quick call to the reservation line and 2 standard rooms were reserved. It costs a bit more than Baba House.

We met that Saturday morning at 8am at Golden Mile Complex and started the journey. Wow everything was smooth on a non-long weekend. Both customs checkpoints were quick and fast. A few hours later, we reached Malacca, why didn’t the coach go to the bus terminal? At Century Makotah, we alighted when Richard of Gunung Raya Travel told us he could send us to Hotel Puri for RM$8 . So finally we check in at Hotel Puri at about 2pm.

Hotel Puri  was the ancestral home of the descendants of Tan Kim Seng (1805-1864), the generous merchant. Remember the Tan Kim Seng water fountain at Esplanade Park? In the inner hall named “Hall of Welcoming the Swallows”. Swallows are building their nests on the ledge of the hall. Human and nature can co-exist peacefully together.

We didn’t stay in the Hotel too long. I bought them over to the oldest Chinese temple in Malacca , ???. It was about 2pm then and it was really hot. We decided to cool ourself down first by having some cold dessert at 4 Eyes Keong Dessert which is a few steps away from the temple. The temple wasn’t too crowded and we have some fun trying to decipher what was written on those hanging boards and its meaning.

Joss Sticks

Soon we moved out and continued walking down the street. The OrangUtan house is right at the end and provided an interesting spot for some spots. We also spotted a couple doing their outdoor bridal shoot. Our paths crossed a few times later.

Slowly we made our way to the Red Houses and St Paul Hill. The light was getting right- warm. Shadows casted also made interesting pictures. The usual stalls were still around. A busker was singing inside St Pual. The wedding shot couple has made their way here also and some of us tried to take a shoot of them.

Shadow at St Paul

It was a relaxing walk back to the riverside as we took more photos. After a while we walked back to the Hotel to freshen up before setting out for dinner. Back in the hotel rooms we realized we have a good sunset view right off the rooms’ windows!

Dinner was at Peranakan Restaurant along Jalan Tan Cheng Lock where Hotel Puri is. This Peranakan Restaurant  is also a restored house. Its furniture are interesting. There is a huge bedlike piece where it is not difficult to imagine some rich man lying there having a smoke. We have some peranakan dishes such as redang chicken before setting off to the night market.

The night market at Jonker Street was very crowded on that Saturday night. It was amazing that despite having it every Friday to Sunday weekly and still attracts a big crowd. Compared that to Singapore Chinatown night market! Or maybe you do not even know there is a night market in Chinatown in Singapore. We also  went for some night shots at the roundabout at the end of Jonker Walk. Somehow energy levels were pretty low that night. We must be all tired from the day trip. To end the night, we went to the drinking place opposite Geographer Place to have a beer! Beer with BBQ cuttlefish and live singing! Perfect way to end the day!

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I only had the chance to look at it from the outside as it is open to the public from 10am to 5pm. It look beautiful at night. Here is a photo I took.

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

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That usually requires a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. Of course this will depends on the water flow rate so do experiment with different shutter speeds.

1)Set up your tripod. This is almost a must unless you can find a good support to subsitute for the tripod.
2)Get the proper exposure setting The idea is to get a shutter speed of 1/4 sec or longer. So I usually set the ISO to the lowest (ISO 200 for my Nikon D70) and I close the aperture down to f/16 or smaller. I also use an circular polariser. It serves to reduce the light by 2 stops and it also cut down a lot of light flare commonly found in reflective water surfaces.

Despite all these settings,  the shutter speed might still be too fast especially if the day is still bright.  In that case,  you may need to add on Neutral density (ND)  filters to further cut down the light.

3) Shoot and review If you are using a digital camera, shoot and review the shoots. Make changes to your shutter and aperture settings if necessary. Do bracketing if using film.

Have fun! 

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To some, it means signing for a generic tour and taking photos along the way during the trip. To others, it means signing up for a tour organized by a photo club or school and go along to wherever the group where. There may be local models arranged for stage shoots. (Think of photos of monks praying in candlelight in a Thai temple). One photo school even have a tagline that say something like good photos are guaranteed.

Some folks may like to go to such trips because they only have limited days of leave and could not afford to spend time researching the places they go to. Or maybe they only want to take photos and not want to learn more about the places they go to. Well all these are valid reasons.

To me, travel photography is to travel first and take photographs later. Before I go on a trip, I usually spend time reading about the place I will be going. This can be done by reading a guide book or reading up on the Internet. Next on locations, I will take my own time to roam around. If I need to wait for good light, I will stay on and wait. I?prefer nonposed setting even for human shots and I am more than willing to engage them in a good conversation.

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Myanmar School Kids

A Myanmar craftsman enjoying his smoke.

A Child Worker resting

A novice monk

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This photo was taken using a 16mm fisheye lens. The fisheye lens can create an unique perspective not seen in other lens. However do not overuse it or your photos will look boring. Due to the wide angle, it is easy to include a lot of empty foreground or worse still , clutter foreground. In the photo above , some cropping is done after printing to reduce the bare foreground.

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