After the Bath
A Burmese woman and her child pause on a muddy riverbank so they can have their picture taken.
I’ve said it before: the hospitality, friendliness – and general willingness to be be followed around and photographed – of people in small communities off-the-beaten-track, amazes me.
Coming into Mandalay
Green fields and the muddy Ayeyarwady River below.
The sun was barely up as we descended over the Mandalay region last September, landing at that beautiful, modern facility in the middle of nowhere: the brand new Mandalay International Airport in Tada-U. Finished in 2000 at a cost of US$150 million, the airport is thirty-five kilometres south of Mandalay, and so necessitated the building of new roads to the city. Wikipedia suggests the whole enterprise was designed to turn the country into an Asian hub for tourism and business. Other sources have whispered that the building of the airport was intended to advantage a powerful general whose lands are located in the area.
Of course, as soon as you are off the modern “expressway”, you are plunged back into villages where water is pumped and carried by hand and electricity is a foreign concept. What a contrast!
Into the Village
Sometimes the “visitors” out-number the locals!
We were ten photo-tour participants, under the able leadership of Karl Grobl and local guide MM. In a village as small as this one outside Amarapura in the Mandalay region, we were at risk of swamping the local population. In spite of this, villagers stopped to smile, or simply ignored us and went about their daily business.
Water Carrier
A Smiling Welcome
Bath Time
Women Bathing
Baling
Still Life: Boats
Ferry Man
Portrait of a Burmese Family
As I was taking a picture of a proud dad and mum with their daughter, grandma snuck into the shot.
Old Woman on the Riverbank
A local man takes a break.
Portrait: Cow
I love these Asian cows with their gentle floppy ears.
At the Village Pump
Precious Water
Tomorrow’s Dinner?
Through the Window
It’s already white-hot outside, but little light enters inside to the breakfast table.
The Kitchen
Not a great photo, but an illustration of life’s challenges – imagine making dinner here every night!
A Boy and his Chillies
Just a Boy
Honking Road Traffic
Village Elder
Man at the Gate
“Say Good Bye to the Visitors”
Before long, we were back in our air-conditioned bus and driving north, and the villagers could go back to their work: pumping and carrying water, plowing the fields behind a bullock, tending the chickens and geese, rowing the boats on the river –
– and smiling.
Pictures: 13Septembe2012
What a contrast; multi million dollar airports with multi million dollar infrastructure but the locals are struggling. I hope that the new Burmese openness leads to better living standards for all.
Gabe …Life upside down, we really do get things wrong sometimes, The beautiful smiles on the faces of these people is so enchanting.
Ursula, thanks for posting this. It gives a feeling of being there, although I’ve never been to Mandalay. I was in Yangon 2 weeks ago. What a long way Myanmar has to come.
And I love the slideshow at the top. The pic of the Eiffel tower and the people bathing in the river, silhouetted with the reflection on the water – stick in my mind 😉
Hi Michael,
I’m glad you liked the post. Isn’t Myanmar wonderful? I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks there, More posts to come: watch this space! 😉
Sorry we didn’t catch up – maybe next time you are in Aus.:-)