Burmese Days 13: Selfie at the Shwedagon

The great Shwedagon Pagoda (or the Shwedagon Zedi Daw ([ʃwèdəɡòʊɴ zèdìdɔ̀]) or Great Dagon Pagoda) dominates the skyline of Rangoon. It glows gold in the sunlight and can be seen from miles around. According to legend, it may be 2,600 years old, but archaeologists believe it was built by the Mon people between the 6th and 10th centuries AD. It is one of the most profound Buddhist sites in Burma because it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama. As such, it attracts the devout from throughout Myanmar and other Buddhist countries. The site attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, and the organization that runs it has modernized and runs a web page.

The Shewadon is built on a broad platform on Singuttara Hill. The hill is north of downtown Rangoon but easy to reach. There are four main approach entrances, with long stairs leading up to the temples. In the old days, you removed your shoes at the base of the stairs and climbed up barefoot.

This is a photograph from 13 May 1945 showing British soldiers at one of the entrances (public domain photograph SE 4108 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums, taken by No. 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Wackett, Frederick (Sergeant)). Note back then they left their boots but they took their rifles. Times have changed! Today, the south entrance has a modern lift, and you have to go through an X-ray machine and have your bags scanned, similar to an airport. No rifles this time.

The Great Dagon is immense. It is hard to appreciate the scale until you walk around. My father took these Kodachromes in 1957 with his Leica IIIC rangefinder camera with a 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. Most of the palm trees blew over when Cyclone Nargis crossed the Irrawaddy delta on May 2, 2008. This was one the most devastating weather disaster to ever strike the country, and at least 146,000 people are believed to have been killed. Today there is only one palm tree left on the summit plateau.

As of November 2014, the Shewadagon was being re-gilded. Craftsmen, who come from Mandalay, set up bamboo scaffolding. Then they coat the stone and brick with natural lacquer from the Thit-si tree. The lacquer may be mixed with ashes. It waterproofs the stone, resists insects, and forms a base for the gold leaf. The bamboo is better then steel because it is light, flexible, grown locally, and quick to erect and take down. They use nylon rope or ties at the bamboo junctions. The pagoda needs to be re-gilded about every 5 years.

One of the tasks that the devout perform is washing Buddha every evening, as well as washing the slippery marble paving.

The expanse of marble is slippery and hard on the feet for us soft Westerners.

Now for the topic of this essay: everyone, but everyone, takes selfies or portraits today. "Hi folks, look, here I am in front of Buddha, in front of the Shwedagon, next to a dragon."

Despite the crowds, you can find a quiet spot and take a nap. Well, maybe you need to be a monk. Regardless, this is one of the most profoundly sacred sites for Buddhists in Burma and is a premier tourist site as well. Go at dusk and watch the changing of the light.

My father took the 1957 photographs on Kodachrome film with his Leica IIIC camera. The 2014 photographs are digital from Panasonic G3 or Fuji X-E1 cameras, with RAW files processed in PhotoNinja software. I drew the map with ESRI™ ArcMap software.

Burmese Days 12: Sensory Overload at Thiri Mingalar Market

If you like wholesale produce markets, they do not get much bigger than the Thiri Mingalar market in west Rangon, near the Hlaing River and west of Inya Lake and Yangon University. This is another place off the normal tourist route, but more and more foreigners are gradually showing up, and the local merchants seem delighted to have curious visitors. The market is huge and consists of three rows of parallel steel sheds (the aerial photograph is from ESRI® maps and data).

I never quite figured out the geography, but the first area my friends and I explored was the fruit area. Wow, nice produce, fresh from the farms.

Watermelons go flying. Strong guys to do this all day.

Bananas and plantains - more than I have ever seen in one place before.

Now for the good smelly stuff: the dried fish and shrimp. The shrimp are used as a flavoring agent in Burmese cuisine.

These tubs contain fermenting fish mash in the process of becoming fish sauce. Yum. Think of this when you buy a bottle of fish sauce in one of our sterile US supermarkets.

These carrots might be pretty good, as well.

If you are hungry, there is a big cafeteria on site. We were a bit dubious about the dish-washing facilities.

Betel nut chewing is a big business in Burma. The young ladies wrap betel leaf, areca nut, and slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) into a little package, which may also contain tobacco, cardamon, or other spice. Rural people and workers in certain industries, especially truck and bus drivers, chew the betel as a stimulant. It stains their teeth and lips red. When we lived in Rangoon in the 1950s, walls were stained red with spit-out betel juice up to a height of about 6 ft. Chewing betel has serious health effects, especially malignant tumors in the mouth area.

These are the delivery boys, who pedal amazingly heavy loads in bicycle sidecars. Selfie photos are the big thing now.

Some families tend small stores.

I cannot recall what these shredded white roots are, but they sell tons of it every day. And the guys check their phones whenever possible. 

The Thiri Mingalar market is an amazing tableau of colors, shapes, smells, and people for a photographer. It seems safe, and there are other foreign visitors present. Highly recommended! Next time, I will take a film camera and try black and white. Wear boots or high shoes because there is a lot of squishy stuff underfoot.

These are digital images from a Panasonic G3 camera with Olympus 9-18mm lens or a Fujifilm X-E1 camera, with most RAW files processed with PhotoNinja software.

Burmese Days 11: Bo Kyoke Road Sidewalk Markets

Dear Readers, in the previous post, I visited Scott's Market in downtown Rangoon. That seemed mostly oriented to the tourist trade and to arts and textiles. But tiny street markets are where many Burmese buy their supplies, vegetables, and foods. Across Bo Kyoke Road from Scott's market, the entire sidewalk for several blocks is one continuous mass of vendors, crowds, vegetables, food stands, and chickens.

This is one of the family photographs from the same area in 1957 (Anscochrome taken with a Leica IIIC camera). During my recent rip, a couple of people who saw a print said this might have been at a cinema that was formerly on that road.

Today, the scene is more crowded and food vendors have taken over. The huge citrus fruit in the second photograph are pomelo (Citrus grand is), which I found to be a lot of work to peel.

You can find almost any kind of green vegetable or grass you could imagine. I wonder how the vendors rent space for their chunk of sidewalk? 

Want a snack? These fried guys are full of protein and are a Burmese delicacy.

Burmese are very literate, and we saw a good number of book-sellers with stands jammed full of books and pamphlets.  

This is 27th street, lined with vendors. It is cheerful on a sunny day, sweltering in summer, and a mess in the rain.

Want fast food? Well, here it is locally-sourced and prepared.

A few blocks further east near the Sule Pagoda, the shops are more industrial with tools, locks, plumbing, and metal-works. The way industries cluster reminds me of the flea market in downtown Athens or Kathmandu.

In the next article, we will go to a giant wholesale market near the Yangon River.

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 with Olympus 9-18mm lens, Fuji X-E1, and a Nexus 4 phone.