Yellow Light
Yellow chrysanthemums, ready for sale as offerings to Buddhist temples and home shrines, reflect their colour back on their vendor.
Our private tour bus pulled over on a nondescript patch of road, somewhere between Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin. It seemed a quiet spot, with broken-down-looking vehicles parked at the side, and bamboo shop-fronts sitting back from the earthen verge.
Old Jeep
Parked on the side of the “highway”, an old jeep looks almost abandoned.
Ten photographic-tour participants, photographer Karl Grobl and Burmese guide Mr MM piled out of the vehicle, and onto the dirt at the side of the road.
For a moment, everything was still…
But, behind the huts and trees that lined the highway was another road, where Pyin Oo Lwin’s busy mobile morning flower market was taking place.
Because of its altitude (1070 meters – 3510 feet) and temperate climate, Pyin Oo Lwin was established as a hill station and summer capital during British colonial rule. The weather, perfect for growing fruit, vegetables and especially flowers, means that the popular resort town is sometimes called Pan Myo Daw, “The City of Flowers“.
Flower Seller
Huge bundles of neatly tied …
Beetlenut Bearer
… and carefully balanced chrysanthemums …
Flower Street
… are transported by foot…
Market Chat
… and …
Yellow Chrysanthemums
… by motorcycle.
Flowers are a central part of burmese life. Everyday, freshly cut flowers are offered to the Buddha at household and business shrines and in temples and pagodas.
These flowers are grown in the cooler hills and transported to the markets daily by truck and by motorcycle. At the morning flower markets, chrysanthemums, asters, gypsophila (baby’s breath), and weeping goldsmith flowers (padeign gno in Burmese), in purple, pink, white, cream and yellow are on sale. Yellow flowers, the colour of gold, are particularly auspicious as offerings.
Yellow
Gold is the colour of auspicious offerings.
Flower Delivery
Light and dark contrast sharply – even this early in the day –
Woman in the Midst
– as the crowd buys, sells and trades the various blooms.
It is early morning, but already the light angles in sharply, creating dapples and strong shadows as the trucks, buses and bikes, laden with bundled blooms, continue into town.
Local Bus
Locals are piled into old buses which trundle through the street …
Transporting Flowers
… as the flowers keep coming …
Street Scene
… and going.
Hands at Work
Even while they chat and laugh, people in the market are busy at work.
Shy Smile
Pink Aster
A Woman and her Bouquet
Bundling
Having finalised her purchases, a woman ties up her blooms ready for the ride home.
While I was fact-checking for this blog, I came across a delightful post from a gardening enthusiast who visited the same markets two months after we did; The Frustrated Gardener is well worth a look.
My group and I, however, had to leave. We were heading off to visit some of Pyin Oo Lwin’s colonial splendours.
But, the next day as I wandered around Mandalay, I was very aware of the fresh flowers at the shrines and local temples.
Chrysanthemums in the Temple
Yellow Asters at the Workplace
It made me think about the love and work that goes into these cheerful and environmentally-friendly offerings.
It’s enough to make you smile!
Happy Travels.
Pictures: 16September2012
[…] insects (e.g. Morning Markets and Bugs for Lunch, Cambodia), others specialise in flowers (e.g. Pyin Oo Lwin Flower Markets, Myanmar; Fragrant Flowers … Battambang Market, Cambodia). You can buy talismans (e.g. Golden Treasures […]