End of Journey

This journey has been ended. But the real journey is still a long way to go ... but I am sure I will reach the end as long as I keep stepping on the path.

I am very glad and grateful having a chance to do this journey. It is an enriching journey. Many thanks to my boss, my friends; especially the one in the office that has to work hard covering my work, my family and everybody that make this journey possible.

Dhamma Sumeru

J'ai encore Feb 2011 pour mon vacance :-) ...  J'ai passé tout le mois dans Dhamma Sumeru, situe au Mt. Soleil. C'est une place tranquil et tres beau. Le lever de soleil et le coucher du soleil sont étonnants.

Je sense que je suis a la maison la. Mes amis, les participants, l'enseignants sont trés gentil. C'est une experience inoubliable. Je suis trés content pour avoir la chance d'être là

On the way back

After one month of travelling, it is time now to go back home. So from Bagan to Yangon and then Yangon to Ho Chi Minh. Atmosphere in Ho Chi Minh is a bit changed as it is approaching the Chinese New Year. The park turned into flower selling market. Beautiful ... a lot of Chrysan flower. You can enjoy some photos below.

 

And from Ho Chi Minh, I am supposed to fly back to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt - Zurich and supposed to arrive at home at noon on the 29 Jan 2011. But due to technical reason, after more than 6 hours waiting in the check-in queue, the flight got cancelled and I am re-routed via Seoul ... hehehehe.

So here below are the pictures of Seoul - Incheon International airport. A very nice airport. They have Korean cultural exhibition and also museum in the airport. So 6 hours transit time turned into a fun time.

At last, after long journey ... I managed to reach home by 02:00 AM in the morning on 30th Jan 2011 hehehehe. Home Sweet Home.

Enfants du Myanmar

Ils sont trés mignons ... ci dessous, quelque images des enfants

Village in Myanmar

Life is simple and calm in the villages. And each of the village has its mean of living. Most of the village do agriculture in rainy season and then in dry season, they do something else like tourism , the cotton spinning, basket weaving, weaving, joss stick making, etc.

Village house are mostly made of bamboo wall and palm roof. The house normally has only one big room for the family and a small kitchen. One bamboo house cost about 3500 USD to built.

Each of the village has primary school but to go to high school/ university; they have to travel to the big town. School are not free. For high school, they have to pay about 300 USD per year. One of a boy that I met in a temple, he cannot continue school as his parent cannot pay for it. He learned English from foreigners ...

Here are the pictures of the villages.

 Village road in Aneth Village

 My driver is a nice guy. He stopped in a small shop and bought 2 bags of candy. I thought it's for his kids at home but apparantly it's for the kids in Ma U Alai village.

Since then, I also joined him buying biscuits and candy for village kids :-)

Village house in old Bagan. No bricks, they are all made of bamboo. The roof sometime is made of palm leaves, sometime made of metal.

I became a guest in a village house - the grandmother's house of my horsecart man.

It's middle class house in the village, it is big. The grandmother was rich.

The man with me is the uncle of my horsecart man. He worked for tourism office before. He proudly showed me his photos.

Those people, they are not rich in term of economy but they are rich in their heart.

Bagan (Pagan)

Avec 1.5 heure de bateau, j'ai traversé le fleuve d'Ayerwaddy de Pakhoku à Bagan.

Bagan est l'ancienne capital du royaume du Pagan. Il y a plus que 2000 temples à Bagan. A cette epoque- la, Bagan était trés riche et fertile. Chaque famille a construit un temple.

Maintenant Bagan n'est pas aussi riche et fertile qu'avant. Pendant la saison des pluies, ils font l'agriculture. Dans la saison sèche, ils comptent sur le tourisme.

Ci dessous, les photos du Bagan

 Vue du Bagan le matin - a pris du ? Je ne sais pas le nom du temple. Il y a trop temples ici.

La colline en arrierre est Mt. Popa.

 Vue du coucher du soleil - a pris du Thin Gan Yon temple.

Vue du coucher du soleil - a pris du temple no. 2047












Ci dessous, les photos des statues du Buddha

Pho Win Taung Cave

Pho Win Taung cave is about 1.5 hours drive from Monywa, mostly off road. Along the way to go there, hardly you see house/ village. But indeed worth to visit. There are more than 700 caves - some natural, some is man made. In each of the cave there is at least one Buddha's statue. The wall painting in the caves are beautiful.

A little girl was my guide and she showed me around visiting the best caves.

Lives there yellow monkeys and these monkey are already there since 13th century; as you can see the monkey's picture on the cave wall. The girl explained to me that there is always only a male monkey that is also their king. As this male monkey kills all the male babies - no competition.

Here are pictures of Pho Win Taung cave.

This one has the most beautifl wall painting. Well preserved too. 

Rows of buddha's statue with beautiful wall decoration.

On bottom right hand corner you can see the monkey picture there.

It is me with a monkey climb on my leg asking for more food :-)

The monkeys are cute, they are not so agressive. They took food politely from your hand. But sure you are still has to be careful ... hehehehe.

Cuisine en Birmanie

Cuisine Italienne est trés connue au Vietnam et Birmanie :-) Il y a Pizza et les pâtes (spaghetti, fettucini, etc.). En Birmanie; si on parle du cuisine Europeanne, c'est egal cuisine italienne.

Ci dessous, les photos des panneaux du restaurant italienne à Bagan (Birmanie) 

On mange aussi charbon de bois (Charcoal) ici. Vous pouvez regarder la preuve ci dessous ... hehehehe

Cuisine Birmanie est une mélange du cuisine Indienne, Chinoise et Thai. Vous pouvez gouter un bol de potage chinois avec le goût de curry de dans :-)

Entre le repas, les gens habitualement prendre les 'snacks' - voir ci dessous.

Et pour le repas - on sers beaucoup des chooses. Vous pouvez manger tout si vous voulez ou peut-etre vous voulez mangez tout si vous pouvez. Ci dessous, le repas du midi pour une personne - et vous pouzez demander encore du riz gratuitement.

Amarapura and Mingun Temple

Amarapura is a former capital of Myanmar, located at the west of Ayeyarwady river. There is a very beautiful monastary made of carved teak wood. It was part of a palace of king Mindon - the king passed away in that house and then the son dismantled it and donate it to the monks.

And also there is U Bein bridge. The 1.2 km (the longest) teak wood bridge in the world. Built by the mayor U Bein salvaging the unwanted teak columns from the old palace during the move to Mandalay. See below, picture of sunset at U Bein bridge.



With a boat, I crossed Ayerwady river to go to Mingun temple. Mingun temple is a never finished temple.  due to an astrologer claiming that, once the temple was finished, the king would die. Only 50m high - compare to actual plan which was 150m.

And then damaged by an earthquate in the year 1800s. But still you can see that the temple is beautiful. You can climb to the top of the temple and from there you can see a breathtaking view of Ayerwaddy river.

Below is me in the buffalo cart - accompanied by 2 local guides. They are very nice, show me around and also helped me climbing to top of the temple and walk around to see view from all direction.

You need guide to do so as they know which part you can walk on and which part are dangerous due to the earthquake :-)



Mandalay

Située sur les bords de l'Irrawaddy, Mandalay est la deuxième plus grande ville de la Birmanie et l'ancienne capitale royale.

Ci desous, c'est le photo du couche du soleil a Mandalay Hill et élévation de lune sur l'autre coté

A gauche, Les moines ont fait la prière du soir au monastère Shwe Twin.

Vous pouvez regarder la posture accroupie (squat position). C'est trés speciale; peut-etre seulement en Birmanie, le moins faire ça.

A droite est Mahamuni Buddha - statue de Buddha trés connue. Situe a Mandalay.

Selon la légende, le Bouddha a visité la ville de Dhanyawadi d'Arakan dans 554 BC. Le Roi Sanda Thuriya a demandé qu'une image était creé de lui. Et apres fini, le Bouddha a respiré sur elle.

A gauche, c'est Kuthodaw Pagoda -  Elle abrite le plus grand livre du monde (par la taille), le canon bouddhique en pâli, ou Tipitaka.

Dhamma Joti

Below is the pictures of Dhamma Joti - a vipassana meditation center in Yangon.

More than 90% of the participants (men and women) wear longgyi (saroong) and more than 70% women wear black velvelt sandals. So a bit funny actually on end of the meditation session seeing them  trying out sandals to find which one is theirs hehehehe.

Delicious Burmese vegetarian food are served. Chili seems one of the vital diet here as everyday, breakfast and lunch; at least one of the dish is spicy and a plate of chili paddy always available on the dining table.

And apart from Dhamma Joti, I and my friends Hikaru and Sophie; we had a chance to visit International Meditation Center (meditation center of Sayagi U Ba Khin) that is also located in Yangon. 

On the left is a small pagoda where Sayagi U Ba Khin used to meditate.

While I have to go to the airport to catch my flight to Mandalay; Hikaru and Sophie were continued their journey to cross the river and visit Saya Thet Gyi's monastery.

As I went to Mandalay and Monywa; I had a chance to visit the monastery where Ledi Sayadaw gave dhamma teaching in Monywa. Below is the picture taken at Ledi Monastery.

  Ledi Sayadaw's statue

But did not have chance to visit the cave where Ledi Sayadaw used to meditate in the evening after teaching - which is accross the river but do not know where it is exactly.

In brief: Ledi Sayadaw is the teacher of Saya Thet Gyi, and Saya Thet Gyi is the teacher of Sayagi U Ba Khin and Sayagi U Ba Khin is the teacher of S.N. Goenka.


By the way, if you are interested in knowing more about vipassana meditation ... try to visit this web site: http://www.dhamma.org/

Bago

Bago est situé 18km du Yangon. C'est un ville des Mons. Les Mons sont un groupe ethnique vivant en Birmanie. Bago etais un grand commerce et aussi le centre du bouddhisme theravâda.

Ci desous, des temples trés connu en Bago.

Kyaikpun Pagoda -

image énorme de Bouddha de XVème siècle, près de bago

l'historie du Shwetalyaung Buddha: construite par le Roi Mgadekpa sur 994 AD - 55 mètres de long ; 15 mètres de haut

Shwetalyaung Buddha. Je ne crois pas que cette statue est du 10eme siécle.

Les Birmannes toujours prend de soin des temples très très bien. Ils sont comme nouveaux ...

Yangon

Yangon (old name: Rangoon) was the capital of Myanmar (Burma). Since March 2006, the capital is moved to Naypyidaw.

Yangon is quite a big city with quite a lot of high buildings. The hotel that I stayed is 10 storey high. The very wellknown pagoda in Yangon is Shwedagon - which I can clearly see from my room :-)

Here are the pictures of Shwedagon at night. It's very beautiful.

It's a place of worship. But still there are a lot of people here mixing Buddhism and Animism. They still believe in Nat (guardian spirit) also do a lot of offerring to the Buddha hoping for good luck, etc. But of course there are a lot of them too that practice pure Buddhism.

 On the left, a lady pour water on Buddha's status. Here people believe that it will bring you a good luck :-)

And in some temples, there are seven statue. One of each day, so you have to pour water on the statue of your day of birth.

This is an example where animism is combined with buddhism.

On the right hand side, a young lady do morning praying.
There are a lot of Burmese peope do pray and meditate in the temple in the morning.

Buddha's teaching is simple. It's basically composed of Sila (Morality), Samadhi (Control of the mind) and Panna (Wisdom). No superstition involved in it, very logical.

If you are interested to know more about Buddhism, 'Good Question Good Answer' book written by Venerable S. Dhammika gives a good explanation. Here is the link: http://www.buddhanet.net/qanda.htm







And here is my picture in Shwedagon Phaya

Le dernier jour au Cambodge

Aujourd'hui est mon dernier jour au Siam Reap. Le matin, j'ai visité Pasar Cha, le vieux marché. Ici, person normalement prend de la baguette, du riz ou de la nouille pour petit dejeuner. Tous sont vendus utilisant le chariot de poussée ... ci dessous est le chariot de poussée qui vend la nouille.

 et puis j'ai décidé de prendre le tuk tuk pour visiter une fois de plus Angkor Wat avant partir. C'est moi dans le tuk tuk, devant moi est mon conducteur :-)

Et ci dessous; c'est mon dernier souvenir d'Angkor Wat, une photo de statue du Buddha qui est situé dans le temple plus haut. Mon guide de touristes a oublié de m'amener ici hier. J'ai réalisé après regarder le DVD d'Angkor Wat. C'est une trés belle statue, vous pouvez sentir la sérénité dans elle.