Mae Tao Clinic need your help!
After spending around a week at the clinic it was clear to me how vital the clinic is, not just the people of Mae Sot, but to the people of Myanmar aswell. Whilst in Myanmar I met people all over the country who held Dr Cynthia in the highest of respect. The clinic provides healthcare to over 110,000 people [...]
Young Street Girl
Following on from my earlier post about the Muslim Street Girl, this portrait was shot at the same location in Mae Sot. It is difficult to make out on this small sized image but on the full size image the tear on the girl’s right eye is much more prominent. For me the tear in the [...]
Muslim Street Girl
Sadly I’m coming to the last few days of my 6 weeks in Thailand shooting my short documentary film ‘Forgotten borders’. The last few weeks have been life changing, eye opening and every other cliché you can think of. I have seen somethings that are beyond belief, heard stories I wouldn’t even want to read [...]
Travel Packing List
Everybody knows the nightmare of packing for any trip. I was exactly the same when packing for my current 4.5 month trip to SE Asia. It’s the balance of taking everything and packing ultralight. After 2 months on the road there is a few things I would have taken out and a few things I [...]
Myanmar Itinerary: Revised!
Okay this post look familiar? Its basically an update to this Myanmar Itinerary post! Learning from my mistakes to help you! So I left Myanmar around two weeks ago. I didn’t exactly go far as I’m currently sat only around 15km from the border. However the last two weeks have given me plenty of time to [...]
Amazing Myanmar in Pictures
As I tend to waffle a lot in my blog posts I am going to let the images do the speaking this time. Hopefully you get an idea why I think Myanmar is one of the most amazing places in the world.
Hpa-an
Hpa-an is the capital of Kayin State, home to the Karen people and also home to the longest running internal conflict in the world between the KNU (Karen National Union) and the Burmese military. A vibrant bustling town set in the wonderful scenery of karst mountains, Hpa-an is home to an extremely interesting market where [...]
Mawlaymine (Moulemein)
The capital of British Burma, Mawlaymine is a coastal city filled with colonial buildings, crumbling mosques, vibrant markets and an incredible self-contained island home to over 200,000 people the majority who are Mon. Mawlaymine has been an important city in the history of Myanmar, mainly due to the fact that it was the capital of [...]
Mt Kyaiktiyo ‘The Golden Rock’
Just like Shwedagon, the Golden Rock is sometimes surreal, incredible and breath taking. As the light drops away and the sky fills with colour, the rock is lit up and the sight in front of your eyes leaves you speechless. High up on top of Mt Kyaiktiyo, the Golden Rock is precariously perched at an [...]
Shwedagon Paya
This place is magical at sunset. As soon as the light starts to fade, the temple lights up and the billions of dollars’ worth of diamonds at the top begin to shine the crowds somehow melt away and you are transported into your own little world. One of the wonders of the world, Shwedagon is [...]
Inle Lake
It seems so long since I have been able to update the site. The one thing Myanmar suffers from is seriously slow internet. The power cuts are avoided by using generators and the censors avoided by using proxy servers. However they still don’t seem to be able to get reliable connection speeds anywhere. Even in [...]
Riding the Rollercoaster – Mandalay to Bagan
Have you ever tried to sleep on one of those old fashioned wooden rollercoasters? That was the equivalent task put to me during the lovely bus journey between Mandalay and Bagan. If you are sticking to a fairly low budget you don’t have much choice when it comes to travel between these two destinations. The [...]
Trekking North – Shan State
Originally I had planned to organise an overnight trek to Shan and Pa-Lung villages over into the mountains surrounding Hsipaw but unfortunately because of time constraints we were unable to organise a guide and so I had to settle with trekking by myself for the day. I stayed the night at Mr Kid’s Guesthouse in [...]
The Last Few Days – Yangon, Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin & Hsipaw
The last few days have been hard and tiring, sometimes you feel like just screaming at the top of your voice but I suppose traveling would not be the same if every day was simple, easy and a bit boring. Since posting a few days ago I have managed to cover a huge distance from [...]
Street Portraiture + Thinyan Day 3
Today started off as being a bit of a relax and planning ahead day. The plan was to make sure transport etc was planned, catch-up on desperately needed sleep and go for a wander downtown mid afternoon around 3-4pm. Unfortunately due to the fact that it is the water festival all the trains and the [...]
A Day of Two Halves – Thingyan Day 2
If you had asked me last night if it was possible for my time at Thingyan to get any wilder, my answer would have been so very far from the truth. Today I set out with a renewed determination to get stuck in with the festivities. From a photographic perspective I decided to just take [...]
Thingyan Day 1 and My First 24 Hours in Yangon
As you are probably aware, the journey to get here was long and tiring. Around 28hrs after I arrived at Heathrow I finally touched down in Yangon. This was the bit I was most nervous about as I was entering a country that bans foreign journalists with a rucksack filled with two cameras, three lenses [...]
Myanmar Itinerary: The Backpacking Photographer Series
UPDATE: After completing my trip and looking back I would make a few alterations to this itinerary. Click here to see my new itinerary. As with any type of travelling, plans change, buses get cancelled and some places capture your heart more than others. Despite this I find it good to have some sort of [...]