
Bagan
Bagan is South East Asia most important tourist site in the same league as Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Bagan is divided between New Bagan called Nyaungu and Old Bagan. In Nyangungu one can find all the services of a town, police station, hospital, market, restaurants and the cheaper accommodations. This is the arriving point for the buses from other cities. Old Bagan is in a bend of Ayeyarwaddy River several kilometers southeast of Nyaungu. In this part of Bagan are all the better hotels with higher standards since it is closer to all the old famous Padogas and temples of Bagan. I arrived in the middle of the night in NyaungU so I stayed overnight at In Wa Guest house. They offered a nice room with air-condition, toilet, shower and beddings for 5 US$ (2007). This was dirt cheap compared to our guest houses charging 20US$ for the same standard.

The Kanadan river journey
The mighty Kanadan River flows through the Rakhine state of Myanmar into the Bay of Bengal. The area around Kanadan River was once the most important farming area of the whole mainland South East Asia feeding millions of people with rice. After the British walk out of Burma leaving Myanmar to be ruled by despots of different kinds this farming area has dwindled from its glory days. Nowadays it can´t even support its own inhabitants with rice for the day, maybe not even bring rice to the people of Rakhine state. For the brave few backpackers who dares to go to the remotest corner of the world it has been a wet dream to do the Kanadan river journey. I turned this wet dream into an unusually wet river journey in the rainy season of 2007. Are you thinking about going? Please dream on Rakhine state are now closed and the Kanadan River Journey impossible. I will keep feeding your dreams with pictures and ideas from my river journey on Kanadan River.

Inle lake
The robes of the buddhist monks
A monk who had studied Buddhism for at least thirty years receives a robe as a gift from the local spinning-mill at Inle lake. Normally, the monk begins his studies at age of twenty, but he must start before he is twenty-seven years old. The process of manufacturing the robe follows the cycle of the moon. One cut the Lotus lowers stems at the full moon. Each process in the spinning-mill is according to the phases of the moon so the monks’ robes are ready for the next full moon. The owner said in the end of July, I will give six monks their robes during their initiating process, since they have completed their thirty year studies. According to the owner Burma had two monks on the highest level belonging to two different paths. The government pays all their expenditures.