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.

 

Grand Circuit of Angkor

Visiting temples in Siam Reap apparantly is a good way of doing sport. Climbing up and down the steep stairs of the temple, good exercise for your tigh :-)

Picture on the left might explain the effort required :-)

Luckily not many temples require that ... hehehehe






Below is Preah Khan temple. Preah Khan is a buddhist temple built by King Jayawarman VII. It was surrounded by budha's carvings but all those carvings were removed by the next king as the next king is a Hindu king.

Preah Khan is halfly restored and some even will be retained as ruin to show how it was then it was found.

Then I visited Neak Pean (below left), also built by King Jayawarman VII. It was believed that the water can cure ilness. Today, there are persons doing praying in the middle of the temple (do not know how they reach there, swimming I guess). According to the temple guard, the lady praying to thank the god as the god has cured her sister. So in Siam Reap ... people still have a strong beliefs on offerring gods and asking wealth, health, etc.

Above on the right is Ta Som temple. That girl is the daugher of a lady that work for government to clean up the temple. They regularly sweep the temple floor and clean up the falling leaves. It helps to preserve the temple.

Then next temple is East Mebon. It's a temple in East Baray (water reservoir, but no more water there).

Then below ... Banteay Srei, is a Cambodian temple dedicated to god Shiva. This temple is beautifully carved but was only rediscovered in 19's due to a foreign traveller stole 4 deva statues and got caught.

Parc d'archeologic du Angkor

Dans cette parc, il y a beaucoup du temple. C'est le plus grand temple Hindu du monde.

Angkor Wat etait  le temple du ville d'Angkor. Trés trés trés beau.
Ci dessous, le temple avant et pendant lever du soleil. Pris à 05:48 et 06:50.

Angkor Thom était le capital du ville d'Angkor. Cette une ville special pour les royales. Dans cette quartier, il y a Bayon;  le temple central de l'ancienne ville d'Angkor Thom. Bayon est trés connu avec ses tours à visages. Ci dessous, les visages pris avec une technique special ... nez vs. nez :-)

                                       Qui a le nez plus grand ?

Watching Cambodian Show

Arrived in the Siam Reap airport, the adventure starts ... instead of taxi, i was offerred a moto taxi (motorcycle with driver). I took it. My luggage was kept by the moto driver at the front and I am with my heavy backpack at the back ... off we go. Most of the time, he drove only with one hand as the other hand is busy holding a mobile phone. He got phone calls many times hehehehe.

He is a nice guy and speaks English quite fluently. He said that he learned English at school and practiced with tourists. He is now studying history as he wants to be a tour guide instead of a moto driver. What a spirit he has. So I asked him to be my driver also my tour guide to go to Siam Reap Cultural village - happily he agreed.

In Siam Reap Cultural village, I watch the 'Peacock' story with the cambodians. Today is Sunday, it's a family holiday. See below the picture that I took before the show starts ... compact with people hehehehe.

And I met my little friend that always smile when a camera is pointed at her. Maybe she will be a model when she grows up :-)

Below is the picture of my little friend and her family ....

Mekong Delta

Mekong ... c'est une fleuve trés important ici.

Pas seulement pour de l'eau mais aussi Il y a beaucoup des famillies y habitent sur (j,utilise mot 'sur' parce-que ils habitent sur un bateau).

A gauce, c'est le bateau qui prend le motos pour traverser la riviere. Trés utile, n'est pas ?



Nous avons essayé également, avec le petit bateau, circulant le petit chemin sur riviere parmi les arbes. Il y a environ 200 petit bateau circulant à cette heure. Tu peut voir l'embouteillage sur le photo ci desous :-)

Alors ... Le jour est fini par le coucher du soleil et on peut voir la partie fascinant au bord du Mekong.