March 26, 2016badfish

3 REASONS TO LOVE RANGOON

HALF LIGHT IN RANGOON (who can even say Yangon, certainly not Kipling)

 RANGOON
 
Hail, Mother!  Do they call me rich in trade?
 Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone,
And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid,
 Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon.  --- Rudyard Kipling
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Shwedagon Pagoda at twilight: half pilgrimage site, half amusement park

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“Ledges” and “circular bands” of gold leaves and gold plates

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A forest of pagodas… a plethora of Buddhas

I am so sorry to report that I missed photographing the Buddha’s “Sacred Tooth Relic Replica.”  Dang the luck is all I’m saying here. However, I am happy to report that in less than 8 hours into the trip, the cosmos managed to manifest one huge horror story for me to tell. Warning: It may contain unsavory and persistent graphic language. It does not relate to a missed flight, but does pertain to a transit desk faux pas.

Oh, and just so you know, I am already taking notes for a later post that will be titled ” 10 Lessons Learned in Burma.”

You can find more entries to DP Photo Challenge here:    Half-Light

You can find Lucile’s Photo Rehab here:   Photo Rehab

163 comments

  9. is that where the Crab Rangoons of restaurant fame (infamy in some cases) deck the buffet table? One of my granddaughters had a job making all those little oriental delicacies once…crab rangoons, egg rolls, won-tons…etc.

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  11. Well, g-damn, sh**, f***, piss. Have to (keep) waiting for you to post the story and other tales of your current adventure.

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    • What’s a good story without a little piece of poop sitting right in the middle of it, eh? By the way, BKK is where the poop happened, you know. Where were you when I needed you?

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  17. Great photos. I’m looking forward to the horror story! I’m surprised people are allowed to photograph the sacred tooth, even if it is a replica. I got into trouble at a church in Bruges for taking a photo of a vial containing some of Jesus’ blood on a small piece of cloth.

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    • I think it would have been ok to photograph the fake tooth (and really, was the original really real?). They do say not to photograph yourself with images of the Buddha, though. Everyone did.

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  18. I’m so pleased to see you are sneaking time out to keep us all up to date with your wandering/dashing about. And posting fabulous photos that just make me drool. Now you are really teasing us with just giving us a tiny hint of horror stories to come. I’m waiting on the edge of my seat, holding my breath and going blue in the face….

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  19. So you made it to Shwedagon! Don’t tell me you had a Buddha head decoration on your shirt/bag in BKK… the Burmese don’t mind at all but the Thais and Sri Lankans take great offense.

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    • James, yeah…been there, done Shwedagon! No…no Buddha stuff on my shirt. But do they really not like it?? You mean you shouldn’t wear Buddha or maybe an OM T-shirt in BKK? Good to know, eh!

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  20. So you don’t feel alone Mr. Fish…
    “Traveling Blunders” by Chosen Perspectives.
    Take a very physically affectionate, thirty-something woman, and put her in a dream vacation with her best friends, sailing the Fiji Islands for a month. Watch her and her friends get custom-schooled, in great detail, about honoring local island Chiefs, and each islands’ dress codes (OK to bare shoulders, ETC, as long as legs are covered, or if legs are exposed, long sleeves must be worn…or the most confusing, be very careful what you compliment because they have to then GIVE it to you!). But don’t tell her that a woman touching a man’s HAIR is an extremely sexual gesture!!! The lead deck hand on our yacht was just a homesick kid (nineteen) on his first job, so I thought I was offering two seconds of mothering, comforting…………………Results??? Uh, the word statutory was batted around…YIKES!
    Stay Safe Mr. Fish. As one of your biggest fans, I can say with confidence, you are LOVED out here in the ether!!!

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    • Ha! Traveled far from home…indeed. But really it was only a six hour flight or so. Then, in the airport, it got hairy!! The country is an acquired taste, I think.

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  24. I heard there was a storyteller, who stood shoulders above the rest
    Yet when I looked for the words, they did not seem to manifest
    I turned around, one time, then two
    But remembered as I did the third turn,
    I had not clicked my shoe
    No words appeared, not even a vowel
    But I was glad I did have my towel.

    ———–
    Obviously outstanding photos, dude!
    Now, like Arlo, I’ll just wait for the story to come around again.

    Are you on the road?

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    • You’re a poet and don’t know it…or you do. OK, I get the not having a vowel, but what did you need your towel for? Yeah, Arlo…the lake was sort of like that song. What do you mean am I on the road? I’m in freakin Burma with a stand of thousand-year-old temples out my door.

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  25. Fabulous! The transit desk faux pas sounds like a best seller in the making…can’t wait.

    PS: I accidentally deleted a folder full of an entire evening’s worth of photos from Shwedagon 😦

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    • The transit desk fiasco had me wondering just who I was! You deleted photos!!! Yikes. You know, you can retrieve them. They are not totally gone. Unless you’ve emptied your trash, also. Even then, “someone” can retrieve files, a geek someone.

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      • back home, Bad. It was a whirlwind intense trip but the skies were brilliant blue, the air was fresh, and Byron was… just.. well… Byron. Perfect. Beautiful. Crazy. Wonderful.
        now im sleepless in smogsville.
        im guessing you some how or other sorted out your atm issues … a certain case of a over-scizzored card…..

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        • Yeah, quite a monetary scare there for a while. I had to take crisp dollars to Myanmar, so I simply took “a lot” and just cashed them in for local currency.
          Cool that you enjoyed Byron, cool that the weather worked out for you.
          I got in last night at 0300 hours, woke up for work at 0500 hours. It’s almost 2 pm now, and I’m dragging my tail.

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