Every Loves a Balloon

Ballooning over the ancient pagodas is a very popular tourist activity which is not to be missed.  World War II era buses with wood lined ceilings pick up tourists from their hotels predawn to take them to the take-off locations.  We used Balloons Over Bagan which uses pilots that have been trained in western countries, ours was from England, that travel the ride balloon circuit(Australia, Africa, England) and locals for crew they employ year round to insure they have a well-trained employees. 

After our safety talk, we watched the field of balloons as they were inflated using large fans at first and four propane burners later right before standing them up.  These are big ride balloons holding 400,000 cubic feet of air and 16 riders plus the pilot.  They run during the dry season when the winds are predictable. 

We took off and floated over the ancient city while the sun rose in the east.  The pagodas and temples took on a special glow with the early morning light.  There’s a limit to the number of balloons that are given a license to fly over the heart of the city and today there were 21 afloat.  If you have never taken a ride I highly recommend it.  The silence is only broken by the firing of the burners giving a sense of peace.  Locals up early to start their day wave and welcome the riders.  

After the main part of the city is crossed over, the pilot starts looking for a place to land.  We ended up landing on a sandbar in the Irrawaddy River.  Waiting for our crew to arrive we watched the local activities of tending to the fields.  Irrigation consists of a man with two watering cans attached by a stick that is dipped in the river then carried to the fields to sprinkle them.  Workers weeded the rows of plants.  We shared a champagne toast celebrating the flight before returning to our hotel.

Our 4^th class started right after noon.  The level of photography had increased notably from our first class.  The critique sessions last a little over an hour with additional time spent on instruction.  These trips are not meant to teach you how to use your camera but focus on finding the right composition, lighting, and moments.

We boarded a bus mid-afternoon traveling to Mount Poppa.  The temple sits atop a mountain and can be reached by climbing 777 steps.  About half of our group took the challenge, climbing to the top while the rest of us roamed the little village.  There are hundreds of semi-wild monkeys that inhabit the area and many of them perch on the walls waiting for possible food handouts.  Women sell little paper wrapped tubes of nuts to hand out to them.  Apparently they are quite aggressive, stealing anything loose such as sunglasses, beer, souvenirs, etc.  We had willing models for photos so we had more options for our critique.

We next headed to a resort for a drink and also to set-up for a sunset shoot of the temple in the distance.  As the sun dropped, the lights shone on the temple giving it a golden glow.  Sitting alone on the top of the mountain it made for a very nice shot.  We packed up our gear to make the 2 1/2 hour trek back to our hotel.

Tomorrow: Our last early morning

A Day With the Elephants

Elephants have been used, and still are to a lesser degree, as work animals in the timber industry in Myanmar.  There’s a movement to eliminate this practice and measures have been taken already to restrict their use.  This creates a problem with what to do with the retired elephants.  Today, we spent the day at an elephant reserve that has taken in several of these displaced animals.

We took a bus into the mountains to reach the reserve.  It gave us a chance to see all the farming activities along the way.  This is the end of the sugar cane season so they are both harvesting and burning the fields.  Smoke hung in the air burning our lungs.  They also have fires in all the houses to cook over and heat the homes when the temperature drops at night.

We were given an introduction to the activities that occur at the reserve.  They currently have 6 elephants they care for, 5 adults and 1 small one that was orphaned.  Along with the elephants come their handlers that were also displaced when the elephants were taken out of service. They have houses in a small gathering and it is growing. 

Elephants are huge animals and it takes a lot of fuel to keep them going.  Our first encounter with them was as food providers to two of them.  Today we were feeding them cut-up pumpkin and banana stalks.  They never seemed to grow full, constantly looking for their next mouthful.  They would take several pieces in their trunks before eating them. They also allowed us to place the food directly into their mouths.  The pumpkin was the more popular food but the banana stalk provides water to them which is why it’s part of the food mix.

Next, those that wanted were given native pants to change into before we made our way to the river to meet back up with the elephants.  We both made our way into the water for bath time. The elephants laid down into water and we soaped them up with natural scrubbers then splashed the suds off.  They really enjoy their time in the water.  Because they have very few sweat glands, it’s an important way to cool them off so they go into the river at least twice a day.

Our time with the elephants over, we enjoyed a late lunch of regional cuisine which included rice, curry, little fried pastry triangles (like samosas) stuffed with chicken and finished up with a banana cake.  It was excellent.  We got back on our bus for our 2 ½ hour trip back home and most of us used the time for a nice little siesta.  On our own for the evening, we had dinner, looked through our pictures and went to bed early.