Category: Travel

Travel

More Myanmar Memories

I never would have thought of visiting Myanmar (Burma) if my friend Alex hadn’t raved about her first trip there. The place really made an impression on her, and her photos were stunning. So when we were planning a trip to Thailand last fall and she suggested tacking on some time in Myanmar, I said “Why not?”

Myanmar is the first place I’ve experienced legit culture shock, but after a few days I adjusted, more or less. Though its sights and sounds were so utterly unfamiliar, I never once felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. I arrived in the country expecting to find little Internet, cell phone connectivity, or acceptance of credit cards – but was proven wrong on all counts. (Things had changed quite a bit on the technology front since Alex had been there.) My tourist SIM card was a better deal than I have here in Canada!

While my last post about the trip focussed on its markets and food, this one collects some of my other images from Mandalay, Bagan, and Yangon. Our time on Inle Lake was an experience unto itself, and with 600 photos to go through, it’ll get its own post.

Mandalay

We didn’t spend much time in Mandalay, and it poured rain. Our hotel was an entirely analogue world replete with 1970s decor, and felt like stepping back in time – not necessarily in a bad way. We watched gold leaf being made by hand and visited Kuthodaw Pagoda, home to “the world’s largest book,” consisting of 729 marble slabs inscribed with text, each housed in its own kyauksa gu (stone-inscription caves). It was a marvel to see, even in the rain.

Bagan

From Mandalay, we had a very leisurely boat ride up the Irrawaddy River to Bagan, which took all day. The route of this boat ride is also the main reason I opted to take the recommended anti-malaria meds – fortunately, no side effects.

The ancient city of Bagan boasts a unique landscape, dotted with the remains of 2,200 Buddhist temples and pagodas. We explored many of them, and I will confess I started to feel a certain pagoda fatigue after a while. But boy, did they make for some gorgeous vistas.

Yangon

You may be more familiar with the old colonial name for this city, Rangoon. Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, Yangon is a bustling metropolis – a complete contrast to Bagan, where horse and carriage was a common mode of transport, and cars went about 20 km/hr due to poor road conditions. Crossing the street in Yangon was terrifying, so I would grab my petite guide’s hand without hesitation and fully put my trust in her ability to get us safely and expertly to the other side. I have no idea how she did it.

Street vendor under Visa umbrella, on phone

Yangon Airways - you're safe with us (boarding pass)

Myanmar - Brimming with optimism (beer ad)

Tags Bagan, Burma, Mandalay, Myanmar, Yangon

Food Travel

Myanmar Markets and Meals

I’ve finally dived back into the photos from my trip to Myanmar and Thailand last fall. In this post, I’ll be focussing on the food and markets of Myanmar.

Mandalay

We arrived in Mandalay via Bangkok, and the second-largest city in Myanmar gave me my first taste of Burmese food. It was here that I first noticed a beautiful quality to the light, and here that I first tried Myanmar’s famous tea-leaf salad. Verdict: unique.

vegetables with dipping sauce

tea-leaf salad

Bagan

On the boat from Mandalay to Bagan, we happened to run into another Canadian. I asked what she’d be doing in Bagan, and she told me about a cooking class she’d arranged via Facebook. It was called Pennywort Cooking Class, and May, the owner/chef/teacher puts part of the proceeds toward a community library run out of her house. I was intrigued. Since my travelling companion Alex and I had some upcoming free time, we decided to look into the cooking class.

Am I ever glad we ended up doing this. Accompanying May to her local (tourist-free) market and then walking over to her home to cook up a feast with all the fresh ingredients we’d just bought was a highlight of the entire trip. The meal was full of herbs and vegetables I’d never tried before, including tamarind leaves, wing beans, pennywort, and custard apples.

The Market

market woman sitting, surrounded by fresh vegetables

market women eating breakfast among piles of fresh vegetables

The Class

finished food laid out on table with plates and cutlery

The Library at May’s House

When I asked if the library had opening hours, May said that technically it did, but she’s never turned anyone away no matter when they showed up.

Garage library

More books in an old commercial fridge

Inle Lake

A unique set of communities live on this lake in Myanmar’s Shan State, in stilted houses only accessible by boat. We had the opportunity to take another cooking class here, but this time in very different, more formal context: a resort chef guided us through making some local dishes, including delicious chunks of shan tofu – made from split-pea and chickpea flours, instead of soy.

Later on during our stay, we visited Thaung To market, part of Inle Lake’s rotating five-day market system. We arrived early since it closed at 9am, and I spotted no other tourists. What an incredible experience. Apart from all the cellphones, I felt like I’d gone back in time. I forced myself to take photos of people — which I’m usually too shy to do — and I’m glad I did.

kids on the way to school

barbershop

Lastly, I’ll leave you with two more things I ate in Myanmar: one I’d love to have again, and one that I did not enjoy. I’ll let you guess which is which.

woman cooking rice crackers in hot sand

fried shan tofu with dipping sauce

Tags Bagan, Burma, cooking, Inle Lake, Mandalay, Myanmar

Automattic Travel

Theam on the Big Island

As Montréal got pummeled with the first big snowstorm of the season a couple of weeks back, I was incredibly lucky to be on the Big Island of Hawaii with my team, where two of my colleagues live. (Did I mention incredibly lucky — I try never to take for granted any of the amazing travel opportunities I have, especially warm ones in the winter.)

Despite coming down with a cold, I had a memorable time with my colleagues, full of amazing views and communal breakfasts. Here are a few visual highlights — like my fellow Canadian theme-team member, Laurel, I do feel the need to apologize for the volume of sunset shots. It was impossible to restrain myself. There are worse sins, right?

Theam = Theme-team sticker designed by Laurel

Macadamia nuts on the tree

Macadamia nuts on the ground

Hawaiian tradition: please remove shoes upon entering

Tags Hawaii, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island

Travel

Hanging Out With Elephants

Post author By Kathryn P.
Post date November 25, 2017
4 Comments on Hanging Out With Elephants

While I’ve never had a particular fascination with elephants, when I found myself in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last month, I felt compelled to take the opportunity to see Asian elephants up close. After doing some research, we booked a trip with the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. We got up super early to meet our vehicle, an open-air truck fitting eight people in the back, alongside dozens upon dozens of bananas, aka soon-to-be elephant fodder. As we hurtled down the highway, I tried to think happy elephant thoughts – and not to focus on the lack of seat belts, or even doors. Then we turned off the paved road and the really nerve-wracking part started, as we drove extremely slowly down an incredibly steep and narrow trail into the jungle.

But it was all worth it, because that day we got to feed elephants bananas and grasses, frolic with them in a mud bath, look into their brown eyes, and watch them hang out as we ate lunch – none of which I’d ever imagined being able to say. But I have photographic evidence, so I guess it really happened.

elephants eating grass facing each other

A couple of days later, we saw elephants again, this time in a much sadder context, at the Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital. A private institution, they look out for elephant welfare in Thailand, while taking in and rehabilitating elephants needing special care. I’m grateful for their incredible – but heartbreaking work – which includes helping elephants injured by landmines, which they fit with unique prosthetic limbs.

Motola, an elephant injured by a land mine

Tags Chiang Mai, Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, Elephants, Friends of the Asian Elephant, Thailand

Travel

Vistas

About a week into my recent vacation to Thailand and Myanmar, I started to wonder if I’d remember how to do my job when I returned to work. It was my first trip to Asia, and the world of web development and WordPress – along with the rest of my usual daily life – felt utterly far away. I guess that’s what vacations are supposed to do, right?

I’m still processing my experience, and I have a ton of photos to sift through. Instead of waiting, I thought I’d start by posting some of my favourite panoramas to give you a taste of where I’ve been.