I just don't seem to have enough time to write all I want to about this trip, but I think it is important to put the pictures up ASAP or they'll never get there.
All I want to say about the trip is that it is by far one of the most interesting places I have visited and I am totally heartbroken for the Burmese people who are suffering terribly at the hands of the thugs in the military. I am blown away by the bravery of the protesters and hope that their efforts aren't for nothing. At the moment, things don't look good for them.
We visited a lot of teak monasteries around Burma. One of the great things about these places, which are often more than 200 years old, is that monks can still be found quietly going about their lives. I took this photo in private. All of the photos you find here with monks' faces were taken only after I asked permission (except the ones of them protesting, which were taken from a moving car).
This particular monetary was very peaceful. Just outside this window that the monk is looking through we could hear the sound of child monks chanting their prayers under a tree.
Taken form the back of our horse and cart as we rode through the temples of Bagan, which is more impressive than Angkor Wat, if you ask me.
Word has been spreading through blogs on the internet about the military raiding monasteries and systematically brutalising and bludgeoning monks to death. There is nothing sadder than hearing accounts of monasteries being raided at 2 am and people being able to hear terrified monks crying for mercy as they are beaten to death. Some of the photos we have seen of dead bodies are truly horrifying.
Monks protesting in Yangon.
Taken from our taxi in Mandalay as the monks' protest holds up traffic. We were a bit paranoid about taking photographs for fear that our cameras would be confiscated.
And that's a promise.
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