The road to Mandalay

Myanmar! Shrouded in mystery, hidden for decades behind a shadowy steel curtain of tyranny! The land that time forgot! The last nation untouched by the corrupting influence of the West! Right?

golden-triangle
Yeah, not so much.

It is a fascinating place, though. Still deeply culturally independent,

perfect-children

and still more economically influenced by China than by the West, though that's changing fast.

mandalay-carnival-1

bus-passenger

It's also quite a visually extraordinary place.

guardian-lions

text-arches

sunset-solace

lonely-trees

shwedagon-sunset

Especially in Bagan, land of ten thousand temples (once literally):

bagan-scape

5*-bagan-1

irrawaddy-sunset

Spot the Buddha!

bagan-buddha

yt-bagan

I took, at a conservative estimate, approximately nineteen zillion pictures, of which these are but a sample. More to come.

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