Myanmar - the RPS Travel Group trip 14th - 28th February Part I - Yangon

 Thank you to Keith and All Points East for arranging such a great trip to Myanmar.  I flew out, from Heathrow, with Jay, Robert, Sally, Jenny, Fiona, Brian, John, Judith and Gordon.  We met up, in Yangon, with the Andrew and Elizabeth who had flown in from Manchester.  Met up with our tour leader, Chris on the first evening after a short explore of Yangon with Sally and Jenny.  Went for dinner at the Asia Palace next door to our hotel, Panorama.  Lovely view from the rooftop.

Shwedagon Pagoda on the skyline

I stepped out for my coffee before the first excursion and snapped a few images.  This is the only one to make it on to the blog.

 Met up with Chris and our local guide, Po who took us to Yangon railway station and we boarded the train on Yangon's circular line to Thamaing.  Had a look around the market there before getting on the coach for lunch.

Sign in the train

Some of our party with Po admiring the trader walking past.

At Thamaing station.  This family checking out the timetables?

The station master's office?

A pattern of bananas

This lad wanted me to take his photo.  He was happy to smile but usually the locals present a serious face as is their custom.

A few different market stalls

These boys are making plastic handles for shopping bags.  I think we were a welcome diversion

At the back of the market

Playing draughts

 After lunch we went to view work from some local children at Witness Yangon, a documentary art space.   3rd Floor, Pyan Hlwar Building, 4A Parami Road, Mayangone, Yangon, Myanmar.     http://www.witnessyangon.com/   "The Witness Yangon Documentary Arts Space is the primary ongoing project of Myanmar Deitta, designed to act as a focal point for the Documentary Arts community in Yangon and an essential platform for both national and international artists and their work."

Jay

Jenny

View from a window

Telling us about the Gallery

 Then on to Kandawgyi Gardens for a stroll.

Chris, our tour leader from All Points East

Finally came the time to go to the Shwedagon Pagoda for sunset.

I thought this might be some sort of penance but it was the cleaners.

Oh to have both the shadows!

Images from around the Pagoda

At 5.30 pm monks climb the pagoda to look for gems which have dropped off the top.  These go to the community.  The monk on the lower level seemed more interested in taking photos.

People go to the places of the day they were born to water the budda's head

I pad photography

Most chose to go in the lift to the Pagoda.  If you go by stairs you see the souvenirs.

That's all from Yangon.  I had over 350 photos to go through for just two days.  We were up early the next day to fly to Mandalay.