28. July 2001 10:47
by Rene Pallesen
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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.
28. July 2001 10:46
by Rene Pallesen
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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.
28. July 2001 10:45
by Rene Pallesen
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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
28. July 2001 01:56
by Rene Pallesen
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15. June 2001 10:27
by Rene Pallesen
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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 taking using a Nikon FM10 using a Fuji Sensia 100 film.
Literally bathed in atmosphere. It would be easy to muff this high key exposure but Rene is spot on. The vertical format adds to a shot capturing all the euphoria of life on the tops. Reminds me of the legendary Mountain mag front covers.
~ Comment by Ian Parnell, Planet Fear
|
Feel free to see
my photo on their website.
Also, you could go to the Planet Fear website to view the other winning photos.
15. January 2001 11:14
by Rene Pallesen
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Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal