When I initially arrived in Yangon / Rangoon, I wanted to fly up Bhamo - one of the bigger towns north of Burma. I also considered exploring Myitkyinã - a town further north of Bhamo.

My Lonely Planet guide indicated that the only border crossing into China was to the east of Bhamo. My initial plans to Burma also included exploration of western China. However, I was disappointed by the military turning me back, despite the fact that my Lonely Planet guide said I could cross into China at Ruili.

I decided instead to fly to Mandalay, not only because it was cheap to do so, but it saved me a 20-hour bus ride there from Yangon.



I heard about a song for sailors.

“To be a real sailor, the sailor would have to have been to Mandalay way upriver”

I quite liked Mandalay.


The photo below, is of Mandalay Hill.
During World War II (20 March 1945), the British and the Japanese fought one another to gain control of the position on this hill.



The photo to the left is taken from the hill itself facing east - as you can see, it has an aerial view of the whole city, and puts any oncoming enemies at a disadvantage. Control of Mandalay was important during the war, as the soldiers were able to set up artillery and attack anyone approaching the fortress.

This hill was of big strategic importance.

The building you see near the shrine is a monument to the British regiment who managed to take control of this hill from the Japanese.

At the eastern part of the delta, a lot of logging takes place. There was a train line built that used to cart all the trees/wood for export to Thailand.



The moat around the fortress is man-made.
Although man-made, comes from the local river.

The original fortress was burnt to the ground.
The whole fortress covered an area of 2.5 x 2.5 km







The design of Mandalay was quite colonial, and surprisingly, most of the streets were at 90º to one another.

Overall, I found Mandalay the most expensive city to travel to in Burma.

No matter what one does in Mandalay, be it explore Mandalay Hill or the city itself, the locals always had “special” foreigner prices. It really annoyed me.

I tried to use local currency as much as possible. However, FEC (Foreign Exchange Currency) was more valuable and worth more to the locals. FEC is also used in China, and one tries to use local currency as much as possible. Any item you buy has 2 prices - and obviously it is cheaper to use local currency than to use FEC.

I must admit, even Mandalay Hill was not that nice for the price I paid to explore it. It was also expensive just to go into the fortress.

Surprisingly, I could not find maps of the area that was not more that 40 years old.

Politics . . .


There is a lot of politics going on in Burma that an outsider should not get involved in - Burma is one of those countries where political opinions are best kept to oneself.

In Burma, use of the Internet and mobile phones is illegal. This is the government's way of controlling the information entering the country. Even access to equipment such as laptops is illegal - the country is so poor that many could not afford such a piece of equipment.

I saw many young women queueing for their rations. They were standing so close together that I thought they were lesbians! *laugh* The girls stand close together so another person cannot jump the queue by pushing in.










The girls here are very young, some have barely reached puberty and are doing some very hard work.





There is a lot of critique by Amnesty International, of Burma's use of young girls to provide maintenance for the roads.

Medicine . . .

My girlfriend, Arumi, tells me one sees the wares of a 'Medicine Man' quite often throughout Asia.

Whether they sit by the roadside, or whether they own a shop in a building, one will see very similar items being sold around Asia.

The “pellets” you see here are in fact different types of roots such as ginger or some unknown vegetable, that have been sun or air dried.



You will see the antlers of various animals such as deer or even rhino. There are also skulls from different animals - some of these animals may be endangered species, but somehow you will see them being sold in these markets.




These skulls are definitely not being used as “trophies” around the house!

The Burmese, like many Asians, believe in using very 'natural' remedies to cure common ailments.




A Medicine Man may not necessarily be a “doctor” according to western standards - that means he may not have a university degree.

However, a Medicine Man, may be what we know as “witch-doctors”. Some of the remedies they know are very natural and useful.

Unfortunately, not all of these remedies work. Around Asia, you will see shops or Medicine Man selling items like tigers' paws and skulls, or ground ivory tusks. Many of these are sold as cures or enhancements for the sex life.

In Burma, there is virtually no wildlife left.





You will even find that even tobacco is sold naturally.

Not in cigarette form, but in leaf form! The laws in Burma are not quite the same as they are here. Marijuana is also sold very freely.




Lotus Fruit . . .


Quite often in Asia, you may see lily pads floating on the water. In fairy-tales, you hear about frogs sitting on a lily pad.

You will be amazed to associate that this fruit here, comes from the flowers/plant growing out of the water near the lily pads.

The yellow seeds come from the flower itself. The seeds are used often in many Asian desserts, and said to promote better blood circulation.

While, the root of the lotus plant is also a delicacy. It is white when cooked, and has a crunchy texture, similar to that of the water chestnut. Mainly used in savoury meals, although used as a dessert as well.

Personally, I think it is too much hassle retrieving the fruit! *smile*

Created: 31 Oct 2001

Schwedagon was a holy place with extremely large and beautiful temples.

To get to Schwedagon, you had to travel up very long escalators. I took this photo because these escalators were the only escalators I had seen during my whole trip in Burma. As Schwedagon is a very religious place for the locals, I guess to travel up these escalators give the sense of travelling to a higher and holier place.



The temples at Schwedagon were really impressive.






I was told that collectively, these temples were built with 39 tonnes of pure gold.








At the end of the day, the locals all contributed in cleaning the place. They clean all the tiles and are very organised.







Here is the 'Big Stuba'. All that gold...

Up close, the temples are a glorious sight. Especially at night!

Can you see those lights at the base of the Big Stuba? Each is a 'mini temple', illuminating a Buddha.






You can really see the magnificence of these temples!



There are lots of rules or procedures about the way one prays to the Buddhas - very complicated to an outsider!

I saw a couple of the buddhists pour water onto the statue of the Buddha. Depending on the day of the week a buddhist is born, the individual would pour the respective number of bowls for the day of the week. A buddhist believes that by doing this, it would bring them luck.

At Schwedagon, I noticed there were hardly any tourists, mostly locals paying homage.

Can you see how intricate the carvings are in the foreground?












The monks rung this bell to announce prayer times.

It brought luck to ring the bell.
For example, if you were born on the 1st day of the week, you rung it once to bring good luck. If you were born on the 6th day of the week, you rung it 6 times etc.

Burma/Myanmar surprised me in many ways. I would have liked to see more of Burma than I did, but due to military restrictions, I only had access to certain parts of Burma and was not able to see any of the indigenous people along the border as I had initially planned.Burma is a very poor country. It was difficult to travel... travelling 100 kilometres could sometimes take up to 6 hours.

One of the most beautiful places in Burma, I thought, was Bagan.

I took many photos in Burma, and tried to order them in the following pages:

• I spent some days in Yangon, which had a heavy colonial influence.
• Schwedagon was another place full of temples, a place laden with pure gold.
• Whilst travelling, I could not help notice how influenced the people were by religion, and Burma's politics is one thing an outsider should not get involved in.
• I was fascinated by what the Burmese used for medicine. They also had some rather interesting local fruit.
• Mandalay also had an interesting colonial battle history. Whilst there, I watched the “Mandalay Marionettes”.
• With the restrictions up north, I did not get to see much. But you would not believe how the Burmese play volleyball!
• Finally, at Mt Popa, I went there to see a local monastry, and saw a lot of wild monkeys there.

Yangon ( Rangoon ) . . .




This is the city-centre of Rangoon. Rangoon is the capital city of Burma.

It is actually a pretty big city if you compare it with other parts of Burma on a map.

Most of the buildings are from the old colonial period when the British occupied Burma. Unfortunately they have not been very well-maintained.

Can you see the green bits on the clocktower?





If you are thinking it is vegetation growing on it, you are right! There is quite a bit growing on most of the buildings in the city.







There were so many pigeons!

I managed to catch a pictures of a pigeon flying mid-air - can you see the blurred grey thing near the tree in the middle of the photo?



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Created: 22 Sept 2001

I took part in a photo competition in November 2001, using one of the photos I had taken during my trip to Mt Cook in January 2001. This photo was of Kevin, the alpine guide from my group in the technical climbing course.

The following photo and comments appeared on the Planet Fear website, in the Front Line Photography Competition - not long after I was notified that I was one of 20 winners, and I was even more surprised to find out that I had come third!

The comments above the photo were my comments that I had emailed to them when I sent the photo. The comments below the photo were (one of the judges) comments about my photo.

3. Rene Pallesen The attached photo was taken in New Zealand on the main range near Mount Cook. The valleys to the west are filled with clouds formed by the moisture from the forests underneath. The snowcovered mountains in the north are visible through the clouds. The photo was tak Home 23. January 2014 12:28 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley Trip with family 23. January 2014 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet hunter valley trip with family Share Last weekend we made an overnight trip to the Hunter Valley a couple of hours drive north of Sydney. The main reason was to see the lights in the Hunter Valley Garden (see separate post), but also to go and taste some wine and generally have a good time. Pretty soon after we arrived the girls were distracted by the chocolate and cheese places. We did however go to a couple of places for wine tasting. We also had some really nice food up there. I was especially impressed by a really nice gnocchi salad I had....it was yummi. Outside it was really hot...like 39 degrees in the shade. There were a couple of horses relaxing under a couple of trees. We decided an alternative approach of checking into our hotel and jump in the pool to cool off. In the evening we went to the light show and on the following day we just did a number of wineries before heading back to Sydney. 17. January 2014 12:11 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Ten Pin Bowling 17. January 2014 12:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet ten pin bowling Share On the weekend we did some ten pin bowling with the family. Kim had managed to secure some cheap tickets so it was great to play against the family. We had one lane for the kids (with rails) and one lane for the adults. I had a bad start and was behind much of the game, but my luck eventually caught up and I started playing a good game. Afterwards we had a bit of a play in the games arcade Aiden was absolutely terrified of the big scary bear (I can see why). The kids also tried to figure out what this machine was for: I love some of the old 50's style decor. 17. January 2014 12:08 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Water Play 17. January 2014 12:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet water play Share It is summer and Lucas and Aiden is enjoying a bit of water play in the back yard on warm days. 15. January 2014 02:32 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Baptism 15. January 2014 02:32 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet babtism Share This Sunday we had Aiden and Lucas baptised in the local church in Maroubra. Lucky that both Aiden and Lucas behaved throughout the 2 hour long service. 15. January 2014 02:29 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - Rocks 15. January 2014 02:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay rocks Share The rocks at Malua Bay were quite spectacular and dramatic. A couple of times I ventured down to try my luck with some photos around sunset (grey every day)...I really suck at this style and constantly got my tripod soaked. These were the two best results. 9. January 2014 11:38 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - The Beach 9. January 2014 11:38 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay the beach Share Having the beach so close was great. I went for a run every morning before breakfast. We also had a lot of fun playing at the beach with the kids. And everyone was just really enjoying the time there. 9. January 2014 11:33 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - Indian dinner 9. January 2014 11:33 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay indian dinner Share On news years day we had a very nice dinner at an Indian restaurant (I was soooo full afterwards). The restaurant also had lice indian music as entertainment. 9. January 2014 11:29 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - Amusement Park 9. January 2014 11:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay the fair Share On New Years eve there was a fair on and we let the kids have a couple of rides. They also had a visit to one of the fire engines. I actually did a ride as well, which is the most awesome one I have seen in years...but because of the scare factor it is censored from this site. 9. January 2014 11:24 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - Fishing 9. January 2014 11:24 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay fishing Share Chong brought his little tinny along and him and Kims dad went fishing every second day. I went along one morning out in the open water. I caught a small flathead (and a puffer fish) which was too small to keep. 9. January 2014 11:17 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Malua Bay - Playground 9. January 2014 11:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet malua bay playground Share At the beach not far from the house there was a playground. It was great to let the kids play together. Aiden was obviously keen on going on the swing. But also the other kids had a go. << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts 1 2 ... 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 ... 92 93 Older posts