Sunday, October 30, 2005

Five "Must Do" things for a visitor visiting Myanmar/Burma?



From NYI LYNN SECK:

Rather than a "Must Do" list, I've just listed some things that will usually be done by a tourist visiting the country.

Sooner or later, some local is going to shovel a mouthful of mohinga into some foreigner, claiming "It's a national dish, you will like it!" If the visitor does not find it too hot already, and he or she usually will, there will be the long procession of nangyee-thote, ohn-no-kaut-swe, chinhmaung-hinn, etc. A memorable spoonful of durian usually finishes off the strongest of them.

After that, there is the inevitable tour of the religious sites closest to where the visitor might be located. If in Yangon, the first place would usually be the Shwedagon. There, the ignorant visitor is introduced to the custom of taking off one's footwear while at the same time stepping into large murky puddles of what look like betel nut juice, and is made to rejoice in his realization of the sufferings of life. If possible, he'll be driven, flown, dragged, etc, over to Bagan to marvel at the beauty of the now newly renovated stupas and temples, that somehow remind one, in terms of color, design, and technique, of all the Yuzana Construction sites in Yangon.

Then there is the visit to the lacquerware store, where the poor expatriate will be expected to inject large amounts of foreign currency into the local market in the form of purchasing a variety of lacquerware sets that will often end up collecting dust in some glass-case in, say, Tokyo. Or Kuming.


The next thing he'd be expected to do, after all this shopping and meals and whatnot, is to sit down and relax at a nice typical Burmese teashop, sipping sweetened tea while listening to contemporary rock musicians, which will remind the foreigner of the glorious "eighties" rock music that has lost popularity elsewhere in the world. Occasionally, they might end up sitting in a teashop where "rap" is being played, in which case the tourist will drop down on the ground and die a painful death.

Finally, as the evening sun sets into the distant horizon, the now fatigued tourist, after all the religious, culinary, and material delights he has experienced, will be taken to the closest karaoke bar where all forms of traditional Burmese decency is thrown aside as he enters the neon-lit world of the local commercial sex trade. Dollars are, of course, kindly accepted forms of currency.

Via: SethLoop's Oct 25 post


From NYI LYNN SECK (feed)
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Saturday, October 29, 2005

Friday, October 28, 2005

Yahoo! News Search Results for myanmar



From http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=myanmar&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&c=news_photos:
No hay contenido disponible

ARLOO's Myanmar Books Collection



From http://arloobooks.blogspot.com/:
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Thursday, October 27, 2005

Thinking



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/letho/56591808/:

Letho posted a photo:


Thinking


Happy kids with no future

The kid monk



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/letho/56591807/:

Letho posted a photo:


The kid monk


Meeting in the jungle

Never too late



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/letho/56591070/:

Letho posted a photo:


Never too late


Old monk still studying, Burma

Gold



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/letho/56589946/:

Letho posted a photo:


Gold


The teak tenmple covered by gold

Dust



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/letho/56589945/:

Letho posted a photo:


Dust


Landscape at sunset in Burma

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Myat Thura Blog at Blogspot



From http://myatthura.blogspot.com/:
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My Photo Album



From http://thantzinmyint.blogspot.com/atom.xml:
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ARLOO



From http://arloo.blogspot.com/atom.xml:
No hay contenido disponible

Monday, October 24, 2005

Sunday, October 23, 2005

The best orange in the world is in Shan state.



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyome_wallen/55321205/:

nyomee wallen posted a photo:


The best orange in the world is in Shan state.


Saturday, October 22, 2005

Burmese visa



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54957792/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


Burmese visa


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54954114/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54954041/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953980/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953904/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953830/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953792/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953734/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953691/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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From http://www.flickr.com/photos/case/54953607/:

elcaseo posted a photo:


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Thursday, October 20, 2005

mother & child



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/54421627/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


mother & child


A young mother holds her little one at Mingun. This is behind her.

spotted



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/54421591/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


spotted


I've been seen. Stealth mode off.

little purple flower



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/54421547/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


little purple flower


All alone on a blanket in the middle of a large central area of a tiny village, this little one played with flower stems while her mother & older sister gathered wood.

fresh thanaka



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/54421493/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


fresh thanaka


You'll see thanaka on the faces of many of the women & children in the photographs. Here it has been freshly applied, still wet, for the photo of this little one. Often, they wanted me to photograph their little kids so much that I would do so only to appease, when the image I wanted to get was eluding me. In this case, his mother was an amazing woman, but very shy. She had such a piercing look that I quite wanted to shoot her, and this kid wore this slightly dopey expression much of the time and really wasn't that much fun to shoot (sounds terrible, I know, but ya like what ya like). Unfortunately, his mother was always a shadow in the background.

sisters



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/54421446/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


sisters


This child was an angel. Though I tried, I never got one of those smiles pointed at the camera.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Shanghaiist: China and Burma sitting in a tree …



From http://www.shanghaiist.com/archives/2005/10/19/china_and_burma.php:
No hay contenido disponible

Monday, October 17, 2005

child



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/awfulsara/53468580/:

awfulsara posted a photo:


child


B&W version of an old favorite. The original of this one had a very dark background, making it very easy to remove for an even simpler feel. In this case, I just duplicated the layer and burned the background away, taking care at the portions where it touched the subject. Either set your burn tool to shadows at 5% or use the paintbrush set to color burn, color set to black, again no higher than 5% where it meets the area you want untouched.

small temple



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/11973893@N00/53304750/:

chillntravel posted a photo:


small temple


inle lake