Random Photos

 Here's a few random photos from our first few weeks here. I'll try to get Mike to take more photos.

The first Pagoda we went to in Myanmar on the way home from the airport- a relatively new one constructed from Jade.

Street scene from our apartment window. Break time?

A guy rolling betel. They brush slaked lime on the leaves and then fill with tobacco, betel nuts, little pieces of coconut and roll it up into a little pouch that you put between your cheek and gum. Then suck on it then spit out the bright red juice. There is betel spit EVERYWHERE!  You really have to watch your step when passing by someone in a car, bus, truck etc. because they just lean over and spit. I haven't been spit on yet. It is highly addictive. Also causes oral cancer, rotten teeth and the slaked lime can cause liver failure. Nice!

Our favorite teahouse in Mandalay. Tea is super sweet and milky. Very similar to the chai in India. Most of the employees are young boys. You get their attention by making a smooching noise. There are also women going around selling cigarettes and they put little bowls of cigarettes on the tables. I guess you pay as you smoke them?

Nice little street snack at a market down the road from our flat. Hardboiled quail eggs and fried locusts. Haven't been brave enough to try either one.

Sunset over the Ayeyarwady River.

A festival we went to in a nearby town. A dance competition to promote donation to temples. There are a couple of dancing guys in the elephant suit. Other guys singing and dancing around the elephant. It was very crowded and hot. Couldn't imagine being in the suit.

Buddha inside a Buddha. 

Snake Temple. Every day at 11am they bring the snakes out to be bathed. 

U Bein Bridge over Lake Taungthaman- It was the last day of the biggest Festival and it was packed with people. We decided to wait until a less busy day to walk across.

Boats on the lake.

Buddha at Mahamuni Paya. Men apply gold leaf to the figure (women aren't allowed.) The Buddha weighs 6 tons and the additional gold leaf adds another 2 tons.

Boarding passes for our flight from Bagan to Yangon. Flying domestic here is like air travel was in the US 40 years ago. Nobody looked at our passports, they checked our names off on a list and seating on the plane was not assigned.

The plane was probably 40 years old too but we made it!!