Sunday, December 17, 2006

Mywaddi, Myanmar - Part 2

Sorry for the delays. I got back two weeks ago and my first week back, no jetlag. I was also running around the entire time and just couldn't afford to sleep. This past week, not the case. I love being tired at 4:00 PM and struggling to keep my eyes open on the train home. In Chicago, the consistent thing about the trains is their inconsistencey. I live 5 miles away from work and some days it takes an hour to get home; other days, much less time.

Today, I had nothing to do and with my football team being a pathetic mess (4-9 record with three to play), I decided to upload everything I could (and as it figures, they won today). I now have photos and a couple videos that I posted to You Tube and then copied into postings. I should finally be a little ahead of the game and only have to write which will be a nice change of pace. It's really the loading of the photos that I can't stand because the amount of time involved. Anyway, back to Mywaddi, Myanmar...

This is one of the market areas in Mywaddi. I guess there was another market area to shop, but the day we were here, it was either closed or not open to tourists (never really received an answer on this either way). Nothing terribly exciting to see here, but I took a photo of these bikes because they were chainless. They had a drive shaft connected from the pedals to the back wheel. The vendor said they were from Japan and they were around $200. I didn't really consider buying one and actually couldn't due to lack of funds.



This is where we parked and went into the market. The market wasn't that large and after a quick walk around, we were off to the second of the four temples we were to visit.


Here's the view from the second temple and the Myanmar countryside in the background.



Here's the Buddha image from the second Wat. Do you see the purple disc behind the Buddha's head? Well, this was pulsing lights in a circle. Craziest thing I've ever seen. I guess not that crazy. I didn't get a photo of this, but behind this was one of the Wat's monks sitting watching television and had a better stereo system and television than I can afford right now. Just crazy.

There were also other items and if I recall correctly even a motorcycle inside at this Wat. I forgot to ask my girlfriend about this, but if I get back here to Mywadi, I'll be coming back here to get a photo.






More of the Myanmar countryside. My interest is really peaked to explore this area further in future years.


What's that you say? Is that a giant crocodile? Well of course it is. Now we weren't allowed to go into this temple, but I certainly wasn't going to leave without getting a photo of this. This kind of reminds my of vacations when I was a kid and going to Northern Wisconsin. I don't know if I saw it on vacation, or I saw the photos of it, but I do recall a giant Muskellunge statue being in the Northern part of the state of my birth (also a giant bass which I think was what I actually saw).

I'm sure some of you are asking what exactly is a giant Muskellunge? Click on the word and you'll find out. It's an elusive sport fish in the upper Midwest of the United States and it averages about 3 feet long. They feed on other fish, frogs, mice, ducks, babies (oh wait, probably not babies, but you wouldn't want to find out.)


So that's Mywaddi, Myanmar. Wait. You say I was supposed to have photos of four temples? Yeah, I noticed that too when we were heading back across the border into Thailand. Only went to three and the market. It really didn't bother me too much. The afternoon temperatures were in the 90's and the sun was pretty strong, so after a couple hours of walking around and taking photos, I was a bit tired and ready to get something to eat.

My girlfriend, her mother, brother, and another relative and I all headed to a restaurant for a late lunch and a cool drink. Sometimes, you have to prioritize to keep everyone happy and I had no issues with cutting the siteseeing short. Plus, I now have a built in excuse to go back and see the fourth mysterious temple in Myanmar.

Coming up next, I've got a few photos from the other side of the Moei river back in Mae Sot followed by a trip to Pattaya, the closest beach from Bangkok.