Foot and Fire

Here I am sitting on top of a temple in Bagan during my April 2014 vacation. 1. No Visa anymore for Filipinos to travel in Myanmar; No Exit Fee of crisp ten dollars. 2. There are banks and money changers in Myanmar but they accept crisp dollar bills only. As far as I can recall, the money changer at the airport only accepts Singapore Dollars and another currency aside from US Dollars for exchange to kyat. There are atm machines too. 3. There are budget hotels that can cater to backpackers with rates of about $10/person but they have no websites. Big hotels are the ones which can maintain websites. (I will post the top ten budget hotels in Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay which I got from the local maps in the next post). 4. Myanmar trip is one for culture exploration. You will be heady with temples after days if you are not prepared yourself. No beach as Myanmar is landlocked and has lakes and rivers only. No classy malls too. Look at me who can explore a temple like a mall. ...

The Nuns of Mandalay passed by the oldest and longest teakwood bridge  called U Bein bridge at 1.2km. *** The famous U Bein Bridge. *** Monks passed by the bridge too. *** One of the nearest temples from the bridge. *** The serene Taungthaman Lake. U Bein Bridge is a crossing that spans the Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura in Myanmar. The 1.2-kilometre (0.75 mi) bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world. Construction began when the capital of Ava Kingdom moved to Amarapura, and the bridge is named after the mayor who had it built.[5] It is used as an important passageway for the local people and has also become a tourist attraction and therefore a significant source of income for souvenir sellers. It is particularly busy during July and August when the lake is at its highest. The bridge was built from wood reclaimed from the former royal palace in Inwa. It feature...

Across this river are portions of the white-temple-dotted hills we conquered. *** We started the day with a van-trek to the hills of SAGAING, where a temple filled with sitting statues of Buddha and one standing Buddha, which represent his enlightenment, is located. It was a sight, not of gold temple grandeur this time, but of the numbers of serene-looking Buddhas, each represented a stage in the life of Buddha. It was sure hot but the temple housed us and our bare feet away from the sun. We saw interesting way of life such as a family eating their lunch in circle at the temple floor and a painter doing his watercolor paints using blades, and later, a lady in the restaurant where we lunched giving spoonful of rice to  the nuns who gather them. *** This is the facade of the U Min Thonze Cave that houses many Buddhas in sitting positions with the last one as the enlightened one, the Standing Buddha.  *** The Public Drinking Fountain. *** ...

Photos of people from my travels remind me of how different  and how similar we are at the same time.  We are separated by our differences in culture but bound by our similarities as human beings. --Gerlie M. Uy *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***