Above is one of the four 10-meter (31 foot) tall Buddha images at the Ananda temple in Bagan, built in the 11th or 12th century. Girl at lacquer shop (center) and woman near market near Bagan.Below, a boy holding his sister on his lap at the Moustache Brothers' theater in Mandalay. The yellow stuff on the face is tanakan from tree bark that protects from the sun and is said to keep the skin beautiful.
(Below) Our friend, Mr. Soe, of the Kumadara hotel in Bagan. In his e-mail, sent after our trip, he said that he "would never forget us”.
Win kyi, our Pa-O Hill tribe guide at Kakku, a 3rd century BC site with 2,478 stupas.
Mr. Win, our guide at Bagan and friend, previously a teacher. Our last day with him, he told us :
"The most important thing is to try to love, even your enemy. Like the story of the Buddha taming the elephant. Buddha went to the village where the local people had fed alcohol to a wild elephant that became very violent. When Buddha came, the elephant tried to push him and kill him, but Buddha gave his love to the elephant. The elephant then knelt down before the Buddha."
Mr. Win continued, "Love can conquer everything. Control your own mind and remember that we can't own anything. The best way to delete our stress is to make meditation".
Than Dtay, our Inlay Lake Guide and Shan Hill tribe friend, who works very hard to send his son to university. He invites village children to his home to teach them English ( the police have visited twice about that, warning him not to do it at night).
Below right is a young girl who lives in a simple bamboo house in Bagan, behind our hotel. As we walked in the fields, we were greeted by her two older siblings and her. They took us to small temples and ruins nearby.
At right, young monk novices at meal time at a Yangon monastery.
Pole, our Inlay Lake boat driver, and Armelle, my Parisian born and raised colleague and traveling companion.
