the road to town, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird. Flashlights in hand, we walked through black hallways and common areas of our sprawling, four-story guesthouse. “Sorry, the generator is a little broken,” said one of the half-dozen staff gathered out front. It wasn’t too hard to see why fixing the generator might not be…
Tag: Burma
Adventures in Burma, Part II: Bagan
Bagan stupa plain, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird. A thousand years ago, Bagan emerged as a place for rich and powerful Buddhist royals to build brick religious monuments to accrue enough merit to counter the misdeeds that made them rich and powerful. Today, it is a stunning monument to religious zeal—a huge, dusty plain…
Adventures in Burma I: We’re Big in Yangon
downtown street in Yangon, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird. Yangan is decrepit. There’s almost nothing new anywhere, and what exists is barely being maintained. Blocks of concrete housing sit with streaks of black mold replacing long-forgotten paint jobs. Sidewalks are cracked and broken, exposing sewers and drains beneath. Taxis drive with shot suspension, broken…
Back From Burma
Main Street, Burma, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird. “I do not like H-A. Very sorry, do you have anothers?” We were in the tiny office of a Yangon black market money changer. Two paperback-sized stacks of thousand kyat notes lay on the table in front of us. We had agreed on a rate, walked…