Memories of Myanmar

February 2021 has been a month that many in Myanmar would rather forget. A military coup has shattered the country's fledgling liberal democracy, achieved in part through Chinese-style authoritarian practices, as I previously commented. Seeing the pictures of these events has prompted me to revisit my own trip to Burma in late 2018, a time of relative political stability and rising economic prosperity. Here are some of the people and places that I saw.

A boy plays on his phone outside a temple in Yangon.

In a Yangon temple, ladies work at a loom.

Laundry hanging out to dry in Dala village near Yangon.

Two boys in Dala village near Yangon.

A boy climbs on one of Bagan's ruined stupa.

Bike sharing, a common sight all over Myanmar.

A tricycle and shacks in Dala village near Yangon.

Kids dressed in monks' robes carry bowls for alms.

At a temple in Bagan, children wear the 'thanaka' ground bark paste their faces, a custom said to be centuries old.

A child stands on a garbage trolley.

Kids playing in Dala village near Yangon.

Local tourists pose in Mandalay.

School pupils at a stupa in Bagan.

A monk at rest on a temple floor...

...and a dog doing likewise.

Yours truly posing with two trainee monks at Mandalay Hill temple.

Every day at sunset, these trainee monks come to practice their English with tourists.

At a market, a young monk flashes a backward glance at my camera.

This monk lights candles at a temple in Bagan.

Spectators at a (crazy) annual light festival in Taunggyi.

Crowds gather as hot air balloons covered in candles and fireworks are sent skywards.

A woman walks through a fish market in Yangon.

More colourful Yangon market scenes.

Mandalay's jade market.

Tourist police relaxing by a pond in Pyin Oo Lwin, a colonial-era resort town near Mandalay.

Pigeons gather on the streets of Yangon.

Ladies carrying birdcages on their heads in Mandalay.

Youngsters playing ball in Yangon.

Yangon railway station at dawn.

A boy runs across weed-covered tracks.

A couple sit on disused tracks in Yangon.

A man rides the Yangon slow train, formed of old Japanese rolling stock.

Passengers and their baskets wait overnight inside Mandalay station.

Aerial views of Yangon (above) and Mandalay (below).

Street blocks in downtown Yangon.

Old-world buildings in Yangon in various states of disrepair.

A colonial-era building undergoing restoration.

Buildings dating from the 1930s depression era show how it was felt less acutely in parts of Asia. (See my previous post on buildings in Shanghai that bear dates from the same era.)

An old red-brick house in Pyin Oo Lwin.

Vestiges of British colonialism can be found all over Myanmar.

Yangon's Salvation Army and YMCA speak to the city's cosmopolitan, multi-faith heritage...

...while Colonel Sanders embodies a more recent wave of Western cultural imports.

Free copies of a Chinese government-run newspaper at a hotel lobby in Yangon.

New direct flights to Italy and China show how much Myanmar has internationalized in recent years.

As do shipping containers from foreign lands.

Maha Bandula park in central Yangon.

A colossal rock temple in Mingun near Mandalay.

At Inle Lake, a boatman perches on the end of his vessel.

Ladies dress in traditional longyi board a boat.

More scenes from Inle Lake.

Boats moored at a port in Yangon.

The Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon.

Three guys in sports gear and longyi pose for a photo at Inle Lake.

A dishevelled Western tourist poses for a photo with local tourists at a Yangon temple.

Sunset at U Bein Bridge in Mandalay.