Jonny Bealby June 10, 2011

Burma, an extraordinary journey – in pictures

On his recent journey through Burma, Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers was awed by the astonishing, rarely-visited sights and warmth of the ordinary people

Burma gallery: A young monk at the hidden caves of Po Win Taung — A highlight of the trip was visiting the amazing hidden caves of Po Win Taung. Up in the hills, well off any tourist trail, there are over 450 caves all of which still hold their original Buddhas. Used in the 17th century by a nearby monastery, it’s a surreal place that we shared with only three young girls and an army monkeys. This young monk was on his way to the monastery. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Thanboddhay Paya, Mandwa — The Thanboddhay Paya, close to the town of Monywa and the Irrawaddy river, houses the most Buddhas anywhere in the world – a staggering 580,000. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Tallest Buddha in the world, Mandwa — Standing 120m high, this newly-constructed Buddha at Monywa is the tallest in the world, according to our guide. Lying beneath it is the the world's largest reclining Buddha, which is hollow - people can walk inside its 90m length and view 9,000 small images of the Buddha and his disciples. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: reclining Buddha, Po Win Taung — This is the biggest Buddha at Po Win Taung. The 17th-century sleeping (or reclining) figure is hidden in a cave and is approximately 30 metres in length. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: View of the temples at sunset, Bagan — This is a view of the Bagan temples at sunset. Arriving by boat from Monywa, we’d only been in area an hour or so and wanted to get to the best sunset site. Looking west, hundreds of the temples were lit up by the late evening sun.
Photograph: Jonny Bealby Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Herding cattle to grazing, Bagan — The temples of Bagan are surrounded by farmland and I like the way this picture of women herding their cattle conveys the fact that although this is one of the world’s great sights, it is also a farm. There are no barriers, you simply go where you please.
Photograph: Jonny Bealby Photograph: /Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Corn leaf cigar, Bagan — An old woman at Bagan market. A lot of them smoke these homemade cigars, made of tobacco rolled in a corn leaf. To help them burn a thin piece of palm is added. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Thatbyinnyu temple, Bagan — The Thatbyinnyu temple, built in the 13th century, was a stone’s throw from my hotel at Bagan. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Ancient temples at Indein — From Lake Inle, in the centre of the country, we took a motorised tail boat up a canal for about 45 minutes to the small village of Indein. Here we found over 1,600 temples – in various states of repair – and not another tourist in site. Our guide told us there are 1,000 such sites in Burma – I believed him. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Fishermen on Lake Inle — This is the view is from the second floor of a stilted restaurant at Lake Inle. The boat in the foreground is carrying lotus stems which get stripped and turned into a very beautiful thread. They sell it for $250 a metre in a nearby handicraft shop. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Fishing, Lake Inle — Fishing with traditional conical nets on Lake Inle. The fisherman drops the net over the fish, trapping it, then using a kind of long fork, he skewers it. To fish with both hands, they have developed a clever rowing technique, using only one leg. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Monks of Arampura, Mandalay — We arrived in Mandalay at around 10am, in time to see the feeding of 1,200 monks. To gain merit, wealthy families sponsor a meal for all the monks of Arampura monastery. In this case a family had flown up from Rangoon specially for the occasion. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: U Min Thonze Pagoda, Sagaing Hills — These are the 45 Buddhas of U Min Thonze Pagoda, built in the 11th century in Sagaing Hills, on the outskirts of Mandalay. There are donation boxes in front of some, which by using, people gain merit. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Soon Oo Pon Nya Shin Pagoda, Sagaing — The Soon Oo Pon Nya Shin Pagoda, situated on Sagaing Hill. This entire hillside, covering thousands of acres, is dedicated to the religious life of the region, and is home to 1,002 monasteries, nunneries, temples and pagodas. Looking in just one direction, I counted over 50 golden pagodas. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Nuns gathering their morning meal — This group of nuns in Mandalay are heading out for their morning meal. As with the monks, the nuns will be fed by people eager to earn merit and improve their chances of a better life next time around. The nuns only have one meal a day. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

Burma gallery: Novice nuns, Maymyo — Maymyo, also known as Pyin Oo Lwin, was founded by a Colonel James May of the Bengal Infantry in 1886. Having just come out of the Botanical Gardens, we saw a truck full of novice nuns. They made a lovely picture. Photograph: Jonny Bealby

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