Browsing tag : Myanmar
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Bagan: Pagodas, Elephant Pants and Little Else
Posted onThe story behind Bagan is that the ruler of the area took to Buddhism in a huge way, some time around the 11th century and immediately decided that he wanted his capital city to become the religion’s principle city. So, over the following few centuries, there was almost constant construction of at least 3,300 known pagodas, temples and monasteries. The exact reason why construction suddenly halted and Bagan went into a crippling social and economic decline is lost to history. The place just suddenly all but vanished off the map, taking its amazing cultural heritage with it; storing it out of time. Now that it has returned to prominence, I feel that over 3,000 almost identical structures was perhaps overdoing it a touch.
By Ben Reeves
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Yangon: Surprisingly Organised Chaos
Posted onI’m not entirely sure what I was expecting when I arrived in Myanmar. Since my only frame of reference for the country was my grandad’s war stories, I suppose that a part of me was half-expecting it to be exactly as it was in 1945. In one or two regards, it actually kind of is.
By Ben Reeves
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Operation Longcloth (2016)
Posted onOne of the three people in my family who influenced my decision to live as an expatriate was, in an odd sort of way, my grandad. It is an odd way because he spent almost his entire life in a tiny village near York in the UK, called Barmby Moor. However, as with most British men of his generation, he was called up to fight in World War II. I will go into more detail about his stories in other posts, but the important part is that he spent 1941 to 1945 in India and, as it was then, Burma.
By Ben Reeves
