Eight miles south of Mandalay city is the Maha Ganayon Kyaung Monastery. It is not an outstanding monastery with exotic shrines and temples. It is more known because of its closed proximity to the city making it convenient for many tourists–mostly Japanese–to show up at breakfast time to gawk at the hundreds of monks lining
Burma, Mandalay: Shwe In Bin Kyaung Monastery and Local River Village
Shwe In Bin Kyaung Monastery is a beautifully carved teak monastery. Commissioned in 1895 by a pair of wealthy Chinese jade merchants, the central building stands on thick tree-trunk poles. The highly detailed pointed ‘steeple’ soars to a majestic 75′ completely integrated of carved pieces. Balustrades and roof cornices are richly decorated with high-relief figures
Burma, Boat Trip (south) From Mandalay to Bagan
Burma from Mandalay to Bagan by boat is an 11-hour cruise downstream on the Irriwaddy River passing temples, farmers plowing, logging docks, many other tourist boats. The river is muddy from all the traffic; it is one of Burma’s main north-south routes.
Burma, Bagan Temples, Shrines and Stupas 1
Bagan, one of the world’s wonder places with it enormous 26-square mile plain where more than 2000 temples, shrines and stupas still stand, many from the tenth century. It is 120 miles south of Mandalay and is accessed by boat, roadway and air. The variety of structures, the designs and the craftsmanship are hard take
Burma, Bagan Temples, Shrines and Stupas 2
More images from Bagan, one of the world’s wonder places with it enormous 26-square mile plain where more than 2000 temples, shrines and stupas still stand, many from the tenth century. It is 120 miles south of Mandalay and is accessed by boat, roadway and air. The variety of structures, the designs and the craftsmanship
Road Trip from Bagan to Inle Lake
The drive from Bagan to Inle Lake is an 8-hour adventure in rural Burma, full of roadside attractions including a tacky lunch stop, road repairs, overloaded cargo trucks, wandering animals, dense forests, winding mountain roads, death-defying truck drivers, a broken van spring (ours), police checkpoints…and finally into Inle Lake and the town of Naungshwe on
Burma, Inle Lake Views 1
Inle Lake is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. It is the largest fresh water lake in the country, serves as home to thousands of fisher-folks and farmers, monks, artisans and crafts people, families with children/students as well as one of Burma’s main tourist destinations. The diversity of sights more than satisfies any visitor
Burma, Inle Lake Views 2
More views of Inle Lake, the largest fresh water lake in the country. It serves as home to thousands of fisher-folks and farmers, monks, artisans and crafts people, families with children/students as well as one of Burma’s main tourist destinations. The diversity of sights more than satisfies any visitor from huge sprawling merchandise markets, silversmith
Portugal – Lisbon 1
Portugal, Lisbon 1 Lisbon is a huge open-air walking museum of history, culture, modern buildings, great monuments, beautiful harbor and exquisite food. It’s busy even in the shoulder seasons for good reason: prices are affordable. Renting a car is the only way to go to see the grand vistas, roadside flowers, the mountain snow, high
Portugal – Lisbon 2
Lisbon is a huge open-air walking museum of history, culture, modern buildings, great monuments, beautiful harbor and exquisite food. It’s busy even in the shoulder seasons for good reason: prices are affordable. Renting a car is the only way to go to see the grand vistas, roadside flowers, the mountain snow, high altitude stone houses,
Portugal – Porto City
Intro: Porto is an adventurous city of hills, rivers, bridges, old town pavements, many churches some with decorated with magnificent exterior blue and white tiles; it’s a city that makes port wine, of course. There is a medieval Ribeira (riverside) district with narrow cobbled streets that wind past old merchants’ houses and plenty of cafes.
Portugal – Coimbra University and Town
Coimbra was the capital of Portugal (from 1131 to 1255). Still visible today are Roman artifacts such as the aqueduct and the cryptoporticus (a semi-subterranean gallery with vaulted ceiling). The most outstanding feature in the city is the University of Coimbra founded in 1537. It is the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world. The
Portugal – Obidos Town
Obidos is an ancient walled Roman town that was taken over by the Visigoths from the north in medieval times. These rulers fell to the Arab Moors in the 9th century and were in turn defeated by a Portuguese army led by the first king of Portugal Alfonso Henriques in 1148. It has been been
Portugal – Sagres Town Photos
Sagres was founded in the 15th century. Other than its coastal location for a fort and a lighthouse it was of little importance. It remained an independent municipality until 1834 with barely 400 inhabitants. Its most famous resident was Prince Henry the Navigator who started a nautical school that supported Portuguese commercial explorations around the
Portugal – Sintra Town and Palaces
Sintra is a fairyland town in the mountains and forests west of Lisbon. Here monarchs and wealthy people built extravagant castles and palaces in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today the whole area is a sprawling outdoor museum of lifestyles and architecture long past.
Portugal – Evora Town Photo Gallery
Evora is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Here are remnants of very ancient civilizations of 7500 years ago as well as Roman temple ruins and Spanish 18th century churches.
Portugal – Estremoz
Estremoz is a modest town in central Portugal with a population of about 15,000. The area has seen human habitation since pre-historic times. Over the centuries various conquering armies and of Romans, Visigoths , Moors and Muslims have occupied the land at various time. All are gone now and a modern republic of Portugal has
Portugal, Mertola
The town of Mértola has around 2800 inhabitants. It is located on a hill by the Guadiana River and its strategic location made it an historic important fluvial commercial port from ancient antiquity through the period of Islamic domination (711-1238). Among the vestiges of its past, Mértola’s main church was the only medieval mosque to
Portugal – Sagres Town
Sagres is a town in the southwest coastal corner of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 1,909. The town overlooks some of the Algarve’s most beautiful scenery. There is an ‘end-of-the-world’ feel with its sea-carved cliffs and empty desolate fortress high above the ocean. It is historically associated to Portugal’s impressive nautical past, but today
Uzbekistan: Moynak Town and Aral Sea Photo Gallery
Moynaq is a city in northern Karakalpakstan province in western Uzbekistan. Formerly an active fishing sea port, it is now home to only a few thousand residents since the 1980s due to the recession of the Aral Sea. Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2(26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has
Nukus City and Area Photo Gallery
Traveling by car from Khiva to the far west of the country to the town of Nukus and beyond to the Aral Sea is across dry flat desert terrain. Nukus is the sixth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the autonomous Karakalpakstan Republic. The population of Nukus 2014 is approximately 230,000. The city is
Uzbekistan: Khiva Photo Gallery 2
Khiva is an impressive site on what was once the Great Silk Road from Asia to Europe. Khiva was infamous for its long and brutal history as a slave-trading post. The historical old town was restored by the Soviets in the 1970s. The clustered array of mosques, madrassas and tiled minarets give a sense of how
Uzbekistan: Khiva Photo Gallery 1
Khiva is an impressive site on what was once the Great Silk Road from Asia to Europe. Khiva was infamous for its long and brutal history as a slave-trading post. The historical old town was restored by the Soviets in the 1970s. The clustered array of mosques, madrassas and tiled minarets give a sense of how
Uzbekistan: Bukhara Photo Gallery 2
Central Asia’s holiest city, Bukhara has buildings spanning a thousand years of history, and a thoroughly lived-in old centre that probably hasn’t changed much in two centuries. It is one of the best places in Central Asia for a glimpse of pre-Russian Turkestan. It was as capital of the Samanid state in the 9th and 10th centuries