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.