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Tea time on the eve of a new Burma
The Htilominlo Pahto, a temple built in the early 13th century by a king.
Maps are being sold on the streets and the pavements are immense spittoons of red-mouthed betel nut chewers.
Most men are rocking the longyi, a type of wrap-around fabric not unlike the sarong, and women are made up with thanaka (a white paste that can serve as a sunblock). Photographs of Gen. Aung San and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi are everywhere—the possession of which would have easily brought someone to prison two years ago.
I took a trip to Burma in mid-2012, when talks of the West easing trade sanctions against the former military junta was all over the news. Coca-Cola had just recently officially re-entered the market after 60 years. Hundreds of political prisoners had just been released, the clamor for newspaper dailies by private media was getting stronger, and Aung San Suu Kyi had gone from house arrest to working among former generals in Parliament.
On my last day, hours before my flight back to Thailand, I passed the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy, where people bearing NLD flags thronged the street, along with monks and ever-visible armed security forces.
I didn’t know it was Martyr’s Day, the day that commemorates General Aung San’s and seven other independence leaders’ assassination in 1947. The crowd was gathering to see the General’s daughter. I did not see her from my moving taxi, but I was glad I’d somehow shared space with one of the world’s most courageous leaders.
I spent only 11 days in the country, and these pictures will show how every single one of them was remarkable.
I tagged along with people who were doing local work there, so I learned about both the good and the bad—from the strong local movements that the outside world was only starting to get to know, to the plight of the country’s ethnic minorities.
I was a tourist for the most part. I will not deny that. I met an English-speaking student in Shwedagon who I asked to be my guide around town, and we started my tour with tea. I took long car rides to Mawlamyine and Hpa-an, saw the countryside, had all of the Burmese salads I could possible consume, and saw Bagan, the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Here are the things I found along the way. – KDM, GMA News
Most men are rocking the longyi, a type of wrap-around fabric not unlike the sarong, and women are made up with thanaka (a white paste that can serve as a sunblock). Photographs of Gen. Aung San and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi are everywhere—the possession of which would have easily brought someone to prison two years ago.
I took a trip to Burma in mid-2012, when talks of the West easing trade sanctions against the former military junta was all over the news. Coca-Cola had just recently officially re-entered the market after 60 years. Hundreds of political prisoners had just been released, the clamor for newspaper dailies by private media was getting stronger, and Aung San Suu Kyi had gone from house arrest to working among former generals in Parliament.
On my last day, hours before my flight back to Thailand, I passed the Yangon headquarters of the National League for Democracy, where people bearing NLD flags thronged the street, along with monks and ever-visible armed security forces.
I didn’t know it was Martyr’s Day, the day that commemorates General Aung San’s and seven other independence leaders’ assassination in 1947. The crowd was gathering to see the General’s daughter. I did not see her from my moving taxi, but I was glad I’d somehow shared space with one of the world’s most courageous leaders.
I spent only 11 days in the country, and these pictures will show how every single one of them was remarkable.
I tagged along with people who were doing local work there, so I learned about both the good and the bad—from the strong local movements that the outside world was only starting to get to know, to the plight of the country’s ethnic minorities.
I was a tourist for the most part. I will not deny that. I met an English-speaking student in Shwedagon who I asked to be my guide around town, and we started my tour with tea. I took long car rides to Mawlamyine and Hpa-an, saw the countryside, had all of the Burmese salads I could possible consume, and saw Bagan, the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Here are the things I found along the way. – KDM, GMA News
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