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Tagged With "Myanmar"

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Re: The Worst Train in the World

FlashFlyer ·
What an amazing trip! A real reminder of when few traveled and it was not a packaged experience. I wish I had the guts to do a trip like this. Thank you for sharing it! Do you think with Burma more open these days things will change much, or will people like me show up in the cities and still not go where you went?
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

DrFumblefinger ·
A fascinating journey and, I think, very well suited to the younger crowd. Thanks for sharing this story with us. I felt like I was on that ride with you!
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
Thanks FlashFlyer. The thing about adventures like this is you have no idea what an adventure it'll be until it happens and you can't get out of it even if you want to. So, no guts required. Yes, Burma will certainly change, has already. Currently not enough infrastructure for those wanting to visit but if you've traveled in Asia you know the entrepreneurial spirit is alive & well and it won't be long, I suspect, before it will come to resemble other parts of the region. So, good news as...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

GarryRF ·
I hope that wasn't your last venture into third world high speed travel. Reminds me of Austria on the Zillertal Bahn Valley Railway. The Train went so slow that passengers would lean out and pick wild flowers from the trackside. Each carriage had warning notices - in English - not to do this. But ....
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
If I live it won't be my last. Just prior to that one, same trip, I'd gone from Guilin to Nanning, then after lunch got on another, overnight to Hanoi. Later overnight again, Hanoi to Hoi An. Now that I think about it I realize they got progressively worse as I went along, culminating in The Worst. I hadn't thought about it until just this minute, hindsight is a wonderful thing that way. A great disappointment to me several years ago was the apparently permanent cancellation of the Hanoi to...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Theodore Behr ·
That's a real cool story, PortMoresby! I like my wheels to rubber, not steel, but what a great trip!
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

John Howard ·
My brother says that he would love to travel to countries like this. He says it would be really cool to travel on a train like this. I think I'm more of a Europe guy, but it would be a really cool experience to go on a train like that.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

GarryRF ·
It isn't cool to travel on a train where you get thrown around in the carriage because the tracks are warped with age John ! Many journeys take 24 hours of hanging on like a Roller Coaster ! That's just in Asia. You'll be fine in Europe.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Jill's Scene ·
Fascinating read! If I do take this train trip, and it's currently included in the plan, for our hoped for trip to Mynamar later this year, I can't say I wasn't warned. Coming from a country that shakes, rattles, and rolls pretty much every day there were two things about the earthquake that worried me. First, it was big enough to produce screams!! Second, it seems that no-one bothered to check the tracks before the train left the station. And so as I was reading I expected a derailment -...
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
Jill, one thing I didn't think to say when I wrote this report is, consider buying 2nd class seats. I could see into the next car, as it swayed in the opposite direction from ours, and it was fitted with wooden benches, presumably bolted down and consequently a less harrowing ride. It may be more crowded but also more interesting.
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Re: The Worst Train in the World

Jill's Scene ·
That's a very handy tip, thanks.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 27, 2015: Inle Lake - Fishermen In The Mist, Myanmar

Marilyn Jones ·
What a wonderful photo essay! Fantastic photos!!
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 27, 2015: Inle Lake - Fishermen In The Mist, Myanmar

DrFumblefinger ·
As always, Gilles, superb images! A fascinating destination.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 27, 2015: Inle Lake - Fishermen In The Mist, Myanmar

Grand Escapades ·
Thank you. Yes, Inle offers fantastic photo opps. It was a fantastic moment...
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

DrFumblefinger ·
A fascinating look at the culture, PM. Loved the story and loved the photos! Thanks for sharing this.
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

PortMoresby ·
I hope everyone figures out that Bagan is in Burma (Myanmar) which it appears I neglected to say. I'll try to do better in future. PM
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

Travel Rob ·
The photos are amazing. It's a little hard to tell scale in a photograph. I'm curious how big the first Buddha is?Thanks again for sharing .
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

PortMoresby ·
Rob, you can kind of tell from the angle of the picture. Buddha is set up on a dais so my head was about even with his feet. So, in a word, big.
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

DrFumblefinger ·
PortMoresby, it looks like some of these are gold, or at least gold-leaf covered? Do you recall if that's the case?
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

PortMoresby ·
Your guess is as good as mine but I assume they are. Gold leaf has a distinctive look that can't be replicated any other way and it's my assumption that it is, indeed, gold.
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Re: Buddhas of Bagan

Theodore Behr ·
This is a great post! I've never seen stuff like this before and learned a lot.
Blog Post

June 24, 2018: Myanmar - Mandalay

Grand Escapades ·
Gilles shares some of the exotic and fascinating sites of Mandalay, in Myanmar
Blog Post

June 12, 2018: Images from Myanmar

George G. ·
George G's grandson is a talented photographer. Today we feature some of his photography from a recent trip to Myanmar.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 24, 2015: Floating Over Bagan’s 4,000 Temples, Myanmar

Marilyn Jones ·
What a fantastic experience; the temples are so beautiful!! Great photos!
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 24, 2015: Floating Over Bagan’s 4,000 Temples, Myanmar

DrFumblefinger ·
The photos seem as though they might have been taken on a different planet,,,beautiful images!
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 24, 2015: Floating Over Bagan’s 4,000 Temples, Myanmar

Grand Escapades ·
Thank you! Yes, this was a unique experience... Bagan was one of the most beautiful places I experienced in Asia. Cheers, Gilles
Blog Post

Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 24, 2015: Floating Over Bagan’s 4,000 Temples, Myanmar

Grand Escapades ·
A bird’s view of the 4.000 temples of Bagan, from a Hot Air Balloon, left us thunderstruck!  Yes, seeing Bagan from that perspective was definitely an experience of a lifetime!
Blog Post

Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 27, 2015: Inle Lake - Fishermen In The Mist, Myanmar

Grand Escapades ·
When we reached Inle Lake on a boat at 06:30 am, the dark grey, mirror-like surface of the water was merging with the misty horizon. The elusive shapes of the fishermen came into view.
Blog Post

The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
The earthquake should have been a clue.  But having rather enjoyed the ride, as I have since childhood in an earthquake-prone part of the world, it didn't occur to me that it might be a warning.  I should have listened.
Blog Post

Buddhas of Bagan

PortMoresby ·
Bagan is not a single place but a string of settlements on a bend of the Irrawaddy River with a plain stretching eastward for many miles.  It’s on the western edge of the tourist track, an oval-shaped circuit of the country with Yangon...
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