Mandalay, day 2 (part 2)

January 28, 2014. Mandalay, Myanmar. Part 1 is here.

After a busy but fairly awesome morning, the Myanmar Crew ferried back down the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay and made our way to Mahamuni Temple and U Bein Bridge. Some sights along the way: creepy faceless Buddha statues, neglected but really amazing art, sunset, reflections, and a Burmese fire station.

Our favored but not quite preferred form of transportation in Mandalay.

First up after the ferry was a quick stroll through a market. Then there was a pit stop at our hotel and a truck ride to U Bein Bridge. "Oh, but wait, Neal! You said you went to Mahamuni Temple first?" Calm down, audience. I'm getting there. Basically, the men driving the truck stopped at almost every intersection to try and pick up more people, and after we realized we were only halfway to the bridge after 45 minutes of stop-and-go-ness, Borut and I (the navigators) decided to check our maps. Discovering that we were only two blocks away from a major temple, we just hopped off and walked over.

Our route took us through a creepy kind of Buddha production plant. There were several white plaster Buddhas in various stages of finish, the scariest of which were faceless and just sitting there next to their faceless friends.

Anyway, we found Mahamuni temple, which -despite its vendor-filled entryways - wasn't too terribly touristy and was actually pretty astounding. The long entry hallway was broken up by small square rooms full of beautiful but poorly lit paintings. I have no idea how old anything was, but at that point, it really hit home that I was in a country very different from my own. Souvenir stalls lined grimy, dirt-encrusted and cobwebbed walls, hiding vibrant blues and yellows. Cracks, brick revealed, script broken by age, art and history, and all around are mass-produced trinkets and people just trying to make a living. It was a revealing, surprising moment, but did not at all dampen my experience in this beautiful country. 

The temple itself was a welcome sight full of gold, red, and shiny things. There were several locals, some male monks in their dark maroon garb, and younger female monks in pink. The courtyard surrounding the temple ushered the coming sunset light inside, a fitting advantage to all of the gold. We roamed and gawked and watched for only a little while before departing for another attempt at U Bein Bridge.

This time, we skipped the truck nonsense and boarded a bus instead. It was full of very helpful locals who saw us off of the bus with lots of emphatic pointing, assumedly in the general direction of the bridge. The small, house-lined roads and the train tracks we had to cross didn't seem too promising, but we eventually came to a lake crossed by the one, the only U Bein, famous and frequently touristed as the longest and oldest teak bridge in the world.

The time was sunset and the sky was a living, breathing thing. The water was still. We had cut it pretty close, so I was running around in a light state of shock trying to figure out what one does when they want to take awe-inspiring photographs of something like that. There were all kinds of people standing on these dirt paths reaching out into the lake. They were pointing their cameras towards the bridge, and for whatever reason, it never occured to me until after the sun had set that they were getting pictures of the reflection of the bridge. I guess I thought they were just trying to get more of the bridge in their pictures. Maybe they're cameras wouldn't let them zoom out very far, right? Wrong. I took a few pictures of Kaley and Anja and a random lady, along with their various reflections, but it absolutely did not at all spark in my head that if I just stood where they were, I could get the reflection of that cool bridge and that whole sunset thing going on behind it in the very same water. Silly, silly me. 

The sun finally left us, so we crossed the bridge and met many, many mosquitoes along the way. Dinner was served on the other side of the lake, and then we crossed back in the dark on a much less crowded bridge to catch the bus back. But there was no bus. There we were, five foreigners, standing on the side of the road looking longingly for that large motored thing that was surely on the way, when a guy rides up and gestures for us to hop on. What we hopped on is best described as a riding lawnmower retrofitted with a short truck bed for passengers. I'm not kidding. We joined his one passenger and made our slow but surprisingly enjoyable way back to our hotel. He picked up a few other people on the way. The woman that was already aboard flirted with the driver the entire way, then there was an old, talkative man chewing betel leaves and spitting the red juice along the road, and finally a woman and her two very cute children. Entertained, happy, and full of a wonderfully sunshiney day, we foreign few arrived back at the hotel to prep for the journey to Old Bagan in the morning.

This isn't an appropriately Thanksgiving-ish post, but I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Avoid whipping out the Christmas music too early. Enjoy the break from work. Enjoy that way-too-much-food feeling. Enjoy the silly arguments and all of the "I'm thankful for"s with your families and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving and I'll see you next time.

Mandalay, day 2 (part 1)

Januart 28, 2014. Mingun, Myanmar.

Close enough.

It was our second day in Myanmar with Anja, Borut, and Vitia, and there is plenty to share. For part one, we've got the town of Mingun, a handful of its temples, and the ferry there.

Say hello to Vitia and Anja! In the back of the truck headed for the ferry.

"Boats this way" maybe?

The ferry ride up the Irrawaddy River was a great relief from the dust of Mandalay. It lasted a little under an hour, and it consisted of mountaintop temples in the distance, fellow ferries alongside, and a bunch of nice clouds above.

Rowing along the Irrawaddy on a beautiful day.

Kaley and Anja became fast friends. There's also Borut and Vitia in the back.

Upon arrival, we were met with a small army of taxi carts, food stalls, and souvenir shops. Since we were all pretty cheap, we of course skipped the taxis and the food stalls. And went straight to the souvenir shops for some cool hats!

Kaley loves her hat. She also loves when I take pictures of her. 

Shortly after the hats, we discovered Settawyar Pagoda, a small white temple protected by two large lion statues and other seated figures flanking the stairway up. 

A pretty cool place!

Greater than what?

Kaley and Anja waiting on me (left), and the western entrance to Mingun Pagoda (right).

A little further on and we came to the main attraction: Mingun Pagoda. This pagoda is pretty ridiculously large and very, very cracked. As it's a pretty popular tourist attraction, the Burmese government charges people a few dollars to visit, and in an attempt to bypass that fee, we all avoided the main entrance and just walked around the entire complex. Regardless, me, Kaley, and Anja wound up catching the eye of the government guys chilling in their little house, and after we paid, they asked us where our friends were in order to make them pay, but they had gone ahead and we honestly didn't know where to.

This is the eastern and main entrance to the pagoda. There was an entrance on each side, and they all contained a single, shallow room with a small shrine.

The southern shrine.

The southern side. This was the closest I got to capturing the entire place in one shot.

The western entrance held the coolest shrine. Easy to graffiti since it's the back, I guess.

We wound our way along a shop-lined street full of paintings, jewelry, and more hats, and foud our final two stops, the Mingun Bell and Myatheindan Pagoda. The bell is more than than 200 years old and was a nice enough break between pagodas. I first glimpsed the final pagoda after walking away from the street between houses, dogs barking, and climbing a small wall. Myatheindan is a circular pagoda that is all parts sprawling and gigantic and very much white. There were small children toward the top and some of the other foreignors were teaching them some english words or handshakes or something. It was all very cute and touching, and afterwards we found our stray companions and back to the ferry we went. 

Hello, taximan.

After ascending the first set of steps up Myatheindan Pagoda (left), and the Mingun Bell (right).

This is the view I found after walking among some houses. Next time I'll include humans for scale.

As amazing as the three hours in Mingun were, it was only the first half of our very full, very awesome day. Stay tuned for part two! And if you want to see what my first day in Mandalay was like, check this out. Thanks for stopping by.

A Jaunt to Boston

September 18, 2014.

Hello there! Today we're featuring a two-month-old set of pictures from a two-week-long trip to Boston, Massachusetts. On this particular day, I meandered around Harvard's campus while the ladyfriend was in class, and then meandered a bit around town with her when she finished.

Harvard's Memorial Hall (left) and Boston Public Library's Bates Reading Room (right).

This was my first stroll around Harvard's main campus, and I wasn't expecting to see the tours or the tourists or the people touching the statue's foot (still not exactly sure what that's all about). I mean, I know it's Harvard, but there were flocks of people all over the place and it just has to be weird going to school there. Sure, there were tour groups at UofL, but they were full of potential students and maybe one person had a camera. And they weren't really using it all that much. So there I was, a Harvard tourist with my giant camera hanging around my neck, trying to steer clear of the other Harvard tourists. I didn't take that many photos.

This fenceline ran around some buildings across from Memorial Hall. No idea what the numbers are for, but they look nice!

The best part of my this visit? Despite the giant camera and the slightly confused look in my eyes, someone asked me where something was located. I obviously had no idea, but I apparently looked like an Ivy League student. Or maybe I just looked less lost than everyone else around.

Memorial Hall and the neighboring firehouse.

The insides of Memorial Hall. Unfortnately, both rooms branching off of this area were off limits to me.

Really, the only pictures I took were at Memorial Hall. After that, me and Kaley were off to explore Boston a bit.

First up: Boston Public Garden. We walked. Sat down and chatted for a bit. Watched a small crew filming something. Thought about doing one of those swan boat things and then thought better of it.

Did I mention that it was a really nice day?

This is the view outside of...

Next up: Boston Public Library, which is right next door (more or less) to the Garden. We checked out the map room. Very cool. We walked around the courtyard and made our way upstairs to the Bates Reading Room and the Sargent Gallery. Odd thing, that. The murals were all very beautiful and some strange. It has been a long while since I've had an Art History class, and I never did an intense study into Sargent, but  there were patches of red in a few of them that seemed flat and incomplete. Maybe something to do with a restoration project? 

The central courtyard of the Library (left) and Kaley mimicking a statue on our way to the Library (right).

The Bates Reading Room.

We actually finished our visit with the staircase coming up from the lobby, which was wonderful because I like saving the best for last. 

Creepy faces? Check.

This was not my first day in Boston, but it was my first sight-seeing adventure in Boston. I got some quality time with a great person, the weather was perfect, and I got to explore a new place with my camera in tow. Not a bad start.

Gwangdeoksa(n)

April 3, 2014. Cheonan, South Korea.

The Gate.

Spring was barreling in to South Korea. It was the day before Fulbright's Jeju conference and I happened to have the day off, so I hopped on a couple of different buses and made my way to yet another temple and yet another mountain. Gwangdeoksa (광덕사) is the name of the temple, and it's found at the base of Gwandeoksan (광덕산). I hiked, strolled, and generally just pictured my way around for 4 hours.

And here is what I left with:

Not the main temple, but I don't remember the name.

The magnolias were in full swing.

After the main temple complex, I made my way up a random trail and found a fairly creepy abandoned building. As with most other creepy abandoned buildings I come across, I daydreamed about showing up one night with my tripod, some steel wool, and a few good matches, but I'm sure that would have resulted in some kind of raging inferno.

Then came the actual hike up Gwangdeoksan. I told one of my coteachers that I was going hiking there and all he had to say was something to the effect of "wow, that's a really tough hike." Alas, I never discovered just how difficult it is. I came across some burial sites and took a break on a rock surrounded by the purple blossoms that plague mountainsides across Korea every spring. It was there that I decided to make my way back. I was only halfway up the mountain, but I had what I went for. There was a hectic week behind me and a fun-filled weekend ahead of me, but there I had a quiet mountainside all to myself.

I have so many pictures of these.

Above the entrance to Gwangdeoksa.