Introduction

This album is from a photographic journey around Myanmar (Burma) with Gary Latham in January 2014.

Yangon

The former capital of Burma, Yangon (formerly Rangoon) displays some of its colonial past, having the highest number of colonial buildings in Southeast Asia. The Shwedagon Pagoda is a large, 99m high, gilded pagoda in Yangon. It is the most important pagoda in Yangon. Every day people circumperambulate the pagoda, especially at dawn and dusk.

Irawaddy River

The Irawaddy River runs for 2,100km and is Myanmar's longest river. The ferry from Mandalay to Bagan leaves before sunrise and pases misty riverbanks populated by the occasional fishermen's hut.

Inle Lake

Inle Lake is 116 km2, is home to the Inthas, the native lake-dwellers, with their unique leg-rowing. Moreover, floating villages, colorful daily floating markets and textile and metal working centres are places worthy of a visit.

Indein is one of the small villages of Inle Lake located on the western bank of the lake. On the summit of a hill, a Buddha image was enshrined at a whitewashed stupa. Below the stupa are clustered hundreds of ancient stupas; most are in ruins overgrown with bushes - some are being renovated.

Golden Rock

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, also known as the Golden Rock, is a well-known Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mon State. It is a small pagoda built on the top of a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by devotees. According to legend, the Golden Rock itself is precariously perched on a strand of the Buddha's hair. The rock appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill, Mt. Kyaiktiyo. It is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Burma after the Shwedagon Pagoda and the Mahamuni Pagoda.

The Golden Rock area is reached by truck carrying pilgrims to the top of the hill. The area is a mix of funfair and religious pilgrimage - food stalls, souvenirs shops are scattered around the temples and provide for the pilgrims who spend the night on the mountain.

People

The people of Myanmar comprise some 135 recognised ethnic groups.

Mainly Theravada Buddhists, tradition requires that men spend periods of their life as a monk. Burmese boys celebrate the festival of shinbyu, or novitiation, a special rite of passage by which a boy enters the monastery for a short time as a novice monk. Shinbyu may be regarded as a rite of passage or coming of age ceremony as in other religions.