Myanmar has a large population of monks, which often surprises visitors even from the neighbouring Buddhist country of Thailand. One possible reason being, monasteries are not only religious institutions, but they also offer shelter to anyone who is needy. Any person without a means of living can walk into a monastery and expect to get fed in return for serving the institution. In winter 2012, a high-season for travellers, a large number of backpacking tourists who were travelling without reservations spent nights in monasteries when the hotels and guesthouses were running packed.
Ywama Monastery is one of the many such institutions in Inle Lake Area. It is adjoining the more well-known Ywama Market in the middle of the lake, approached only by boats!
Nearly three months ago, a hand injury forced me suspend posts on this blog. I then hoped to be back online in six weeks, but it took longer than expected to return to posting/writing. Let me restart with posting an image of this little curious fellow, which I made in Ladakh last week when I was leading a photography tour to the region to capture its winter landscapes.
I have been seeing the sights of Yangon, Myanmar, and am enjoying my first look at the country. One of the first things that I did after arriving was to take a local train that took me through the rural outskirts of Yangon City. The trains here are much older and much slower than what we see in India. While a local commuter would long for something newer and faster, for a visitor, they are like a living history.
The air in the coach is very casual and easygoing. Many traders use the train to ferry their goods into and out of market. Stuff that I saw entering into the train that day included this large load of Bananas, plenty of vegetables, bedding materials and a huge white sack of which I do not know the content. Conversations with strangers was easy to initiate and was much enjoyed despite constraints of language.
Food vendors also keep moving in and out too. On sale were beetle-nut to chew, groundnuts, quail eggs, grapes and fried snacks.