Burmese Light
Impressions of the Golden Land
Burmese Light
Burma is a moment in time.
Positioned at the crossroads of South Asia and blessed with a vast cultural heritage, Burma is a land of lost cities, crumbling pagodas and mountainous lakes, serene river settings, beautiful beaches, remote jungles, and as yet inaccessible snow-capped peaks. A wonderful, quiet and dignified charm, an almost serene innocence, borne of decades of isolation, permeates the country. Photographer Hans Kemp and writer Tom Vater set off to capture some of the sights and stories at the bright and otherworldly heart of Burma. Burmese Light is the result of many journeys, of early mornings and late nights, of fleeting and lingering encounters, of solitary observation and vibrant interaction. Burmese Light should serve as a visually illuminating introduction to a land that is, as Kipling noted, unlike any other.
Hans Kemp - Tom Vater
The smile of a woman passing on the street, her face half obscured by thanaka, the hiss of a paddle as it slices through the placid waters of Inle Lake, the thrill of rumbling across a rickety bridge in a dilapidated railway carriage, the smoke that rises from fried food by the road side in Yangon, the exuberant dance of a natkadaw, a medium in touch with a spirit in Taungbyone, the silence punctuated by a lone bird call deep in the jungles of Chin State.
“Whether you are planning a visit or have recently traveled to Myanmar, Hans Kemp’s magnificent photographs combined with Tom Vater’s illuminating text create an unforgettable portrait of a truly remarkable country where light, landscape and culture leave an everlasting impression.” Art Wolfe - Renowned photographer and TV host of Travels to The Edge.
Hans Kemp Text by Tom Vater
Photography by
Yangon
& The Golden Rock
Page 10-29
Mandalay Page 38-61
Bagan
Page 70-87
Inle Lake Page 104-133
Mrauk-U & Ngapali Beach Page 144-165
The Irrawaddy
Page 174-187
8
THEMES
PLACES
Contents
Colonial Architecture Page 30-37
The Nats
Page 62-69
Monkhood
Page 88-97
Thanaka
Page 98-103
Cheroots
Page 134-137
Betel Nut
Page 138-143
People & Tribes
Page 166-173
Transport
Page 188-199
Food & Snacks
Page 200-205
Yangon
& The Golden Rock
Page 10-29
Mandalay Page 38-61
Bagan
Page 70-87
Inle Lake Page 104-133
Mrauk-U & Ngapali Beach Page 144-165
The Irrawaddy
Page 174-187
8
THEMES
PLACES
Contents
Colonial Architecture Page 30-37
The Nats
Page 62-69
Monkhood
Page 88-97
Thanaka
Page 98-103
Cheroots
Page 134-137
Betel Nut
Page 138-143
People & Tribes
Page 166-173
Transport
Page 188-199
Food & Snacks
Page 200-205
10
11
10
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YANGON “There are five points for a good life, five important points,” Sahdulay tells me as we sit under a tree on Sule Paya Road, right in the heart of Yangon, Burma’s former capital. It’s Sunday and the four-lane street is almost deserted. Every now and then a truck or taxi hurtles past, towards Sule Paya, the 2000-year-old golden stupa that stands in the center of the city. Sahdulay is 53 years old, a small, tough and wiry man, a self-confessed bachelor who works as a fortune teller in the mornings, and a boxing trainer in the afternoons. His arms and chest are covered with sacred Buddhist and Hindu tattoos. The monkey king Hanuman, a character in the Ramayana, the Indian epic brought to life in Burma as a poem by U Aung Pyo, sits on his right upper chest. “You should strive to have a strong body, a fine mind, a good character and lots of friends.” The first four preconditions for a good life out of the way, Sahdulay proceeds to give me a run-down of his city’s history. Yangon has been around for a long time, starting life as a village assembled around the Shwedagon Pagoda, which dates back either 2,600 years or 1,500 years, depending on which scholars one chooses to believe. By the 11th century a small Mon town called Dagon had grown out of the village, and in 1755, King Alaungpaya built a new capital and named it Yangon. The name stuck, even though the city was ravaged by a fire in 1841 and leveled again during the second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. The British subsequently rebuilt Yangon according to a grid plan by Alexander Fraser and renamed it Rangoon. The new capital grew quickly and became known as the Garden City of the East. By the end of the
Previous page: Schwedagon Pagoda bathed in afternoon sunlight. Left: Schwedagon Pagoda at dusk.. 12
13
YANGON “There are five points for a good life, five important points,” Sahdulay tells me as we sit under a tree on Sule Paya Road, right in the heart of Yangon, Burma’s former capital. It’s Sunday and the four-lane street is almost deserted. Every now and then a truck or taxi hurtles past, towards Sule Paya, the 2000-year-old golden stupa that stands in the center of the city. Sahdulay is 53 years old, a small, tough and wiry man, a self-confessed bachelor who works as a fortune teller in the mornings, and a boxing trainer in the afternoons. His arms and chest are covered with sacred Buddhist and Hindu tattoos. The monkey king Hanuman, a character in the Ramayana, the Indian epic brought to life in Burma as a poem by U Aung Pyo, sits on his right upper chest. “You should strive to have a strong body, a fine mind, a good character and lots of friends.” The first four preconditions for a good life out of the way, Sahdulay proceeds to give me a run-down of his city’s history. Yangon has been around for a long time, starting life as a village assembled around the Shwedagon Pagoda, which dates back either 2,600 years or 1,500 years, depending on which scholars one chooses to believe. By the 11th century a small Mon town called Dagon had grown out of the village, and in 1755, King Alaungpaya built a new capital and named it Yangon. The name stuck, even though the city was ravaged by a fire in 1841 and leveled again during the second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. The British subsequently rebuilt Yangon according to a grid plan by Alexander Fraser and renamed it Rangoon. The new capital grew quickly and became known as the Garden City of the East. By the end of the
Previous page: Schwedagon Pagoda bathed in afternoon sunlight. Left: Schwedagon Pagoda at dusk.. 12
13
19th century, it boasted public services on a par with those of London. By the early 20th century, half the population was South Asian. Only a third was Bamar or Burman, the rest Karen, Chinese and Anglo Indians. In 1942, the Japanese occupied Burma and Rangoon was heavily bombed. Post independence in 1948, Rangoon became Yangon once more. Since then, the city’s size has increased to a staggering 600 sq km. Starting in the 1980s, satellite upon satellite town has been added to the urban sprawl, though the government did little to match growth with infrastructure improvements. The population changed too. Most of the Indians were shown the door in the 1960s, the Anglo-Indians have also left, and the city is now dominated by the Bamar. Yangon, having lost its capital status to Nay Pyi Taw in 2005, is a charming city, but one that is falling down. Years of isolation have brought massive infrastructure degradation, but there is also a certain charm at work – Yangon is the only Southeast Asian metropolis that is well-suited to be navigated on foot – the traffic is light, the historical sites are very central and while the pavements are broken, they are not too crowded. The old part of town, located along the shores of the Yangon River, is dominated by its main thoroughfares, running west to east, Anawratha Road and Mahabandoola Road. Both roads are packed with street stalls, roadside restaurants, cinemas and thousands of shoppers that throng the streets in daytime. The area is crying out for refurbishment, but if the few new high rise towers that have sprung up recently are anything to go by, some of the old world charm may soon give way to steel and glass conformity. For now though, Buddhist stupas and pagodas, Hindu temples in southern Indian style, Raj-era churches, a synagogue, and the sprawling Bogyoke Aung San Market exude remote history-laden charm and a touch of nostalgia. My favorite part of town, the streets immediately to the west of Sule Paya, between the cavernous Theingy Zei Market and two Indian temples, are bursting with life. The Hindu shrine Sri Kali, its main tower a riot of garishly colored deities and Sri Siva shrine. with its retrofitted clock-tower, sit oddly amongst the colonial piles. Nearby, stalls selling everything from fresh fruit to spices to Aung
14
San Suu Kyi pendants and posters of local film stars, vie for space with pan sellers and open-air restaurants that offer Indian, Chinese and Burmese dishes. The ever-present betelnut, curry powders and other spices, bamboo shoots, petrol fumes, the smoke of cheroots, flowers, high humidity and sweat are all distilled into an organic mixture of pungent perfume, quite unique and part of the city’s character. A couple of kilometers north of the downtown area, the spiritual center of Yangon, Shwedagon Paya – a huge golden stupa surrounded by countless shrines – floats like a sacred beacon above the city, guarding it and the rest of the country from misfortune and encapsulating many of the hopes and aspirations of the Burmese people. I first visit the monument during a monsoonal downpour, entering from the south past two gigantic chinthe – half-lion half-dragon guardians – walking up the roofed steps of Singuttura Hill alongside thousands of pilgrims and monks. Stepping into the rain and onto the platform the stupa rests on makes for an almost unsettling moment: the sheer size and ostentatious golden glow of the central structure, which dwarfs the surrounding smaller stupas, pavilions, and statues that spread in an unruly riot of faith around Burma’s most sacred edifice is a lot to take in. And bad weather does nothing to deter the faithful: the heavy rain that whips across the central courtyard scares a few tourists away but the pilgrims understand that there is a sacrifice to be made for everything. Everyone moves around the central stupa in clockwise fashion. Each pilgrim heads towards their own planetary post, a tradition that originated with the astrology of the Hindus that has been absorbed by Buddhism. Each post is represented by an animal associated with a day in the week, and pilgrims will pour water over a Buddha image at the post representing the weekday they were born – and make a wish. I am born on a Thursday, the animal representing my birthday is a mouse and I join a throng of pilgrims to make an appropriately modest wish – that I can return to this wondrous city in years to come and still recognize it. Back in town, I ask the fortune teller Sahdulay about his fifth point for a good life, and he smiles, “You should be wealthy, but that last point is not really important. Just look at my city – no wealth for ordinary people but plenty of good characters.”
15
19th century, it boasted public services on a par with those of London. By the early 20th century, half the population was South Asian. Only a third was Bamar or Burman, the rest Karen, Chinese and Anglo Indians. In 1942, the Japanese occupied Burma and Rangoon was heavily bombed. Post independence in 1948, Rangoon became Yangon once more. Since then, the city’s size has increased to a staggering 600 sq km. Starting in the 1980s, satellite upon satellite town has been added to the urban sprawl, though the government did little to match growth with infrastructure improvements. The population changed too. Most of the Indians were shown the door in the 1960s, the Anglo-Indians have also left, and the city is now dominated by the Bamar. Yangon, having lost its capital status to Nay Pyi Taw in 2005, is a charming city, but one that is falling down. Years of isolation have brought massive infrastructure degradation, but there is also a certain charm at work – Yangon is the only Southeast Asian metropolis that is well-suited to be navigated on foot – the traffic is light, the historical sites are very central and while the pavements are broken, they are not too crowded. The old part of town, located along the shores of the Yangon River, is dominated by its main thoroughfares, running west to east, Anawratha Road and Mahabandoola Road. Both roads are packed with street stalls, roadside restaurants, cinemas and thousands of shoppers that throng the streets in daytime. The area is crying out for refurbishment, but if the few new high rise towers that have sprung up recently are anything to go by, some of the old world charm may soon give way to steel and glass conformity. For now though, Buddhist stupas and pagodas, Hindu temples in southern Indian style, Raj-era churches, a synagogue, and the sprawling Bogyoke Aung San Market exude remote history-laden charm and a touch of nostalgia. My favorite part of town, the streets immediately to the west of Sule Paya, between the cavernous Theingy Zei Market and two Indian temples, are bursting with life. The Hindu shrine Sri Kali, its main tower a riot of garishly colored deities and Sri Siva shrine. with its retrofitted clock-tower, sit oddly amongst the colonial piles. Nearby, stalls selling everything from fresh fruit to spices to Aung
14
San Suu Kyi pendants and posters of local film stars, vie for space with pan sellers and open-air restaurants that offer Indian, Chinese and Burmese dishes. The ever-present betelnut, curry powders and other spices, bamboo shoots, petrol fumes, the smoke of cheroots, flowers, high humidity and sweat are all distilled into an organic mixture of pungent perfume, quite unique and part of the city’s character. A couple of kilometers north of the downtown area, the spiritual center of Yangon, Shwedagon Paya – a huge golden stupa surrounded by countless shrines – floats like a sacred beacon above the city, guarding it and the rest of the country from misfortune and encapsulating many of the hopes and aspirations of the Burmese people. I first visit the monument during a monsoonal downpour, entering from the south past two gigantic chinthe – half-lion half-dragon guardians – walking up the roofed steps of Singuttura Hill alongside thousands of pilgrims and monks. Stepping into the rain and onto the platform the stupa rests on makes for an almost unsettling moment: the sheer size and ostentatious golden glow of the central structure, which dwarfs the surrounding smaller stupas, pavilions, and statues that spread in an unruly riot of faith around Burma’s most sacred edifice is a lot to take in. And bad weather does nothing to deter the faithful: the heavy rain that whips across the central courtyard scares a few tourists away but the pilgrims understand that there is a sacrifice to be made for everything. Everyone moves around the central stupa in clockwise fashion. Each pilgrim heads towards their own planetary post, a tradition that originated with the astrology of the Hindus that has been absorbed by Buddhism. Each post is represented by an animal associated with a day in the week, and pilgrims will pour water over a Buddha image at the post representing the weekday they were born – and make a wish. I am born on a Thursday, the animal representing my birthday is a mouse and I join a throng of pilgrims to make an appropriately modest wish – that I can return to this wondrous city in years to come and still recognize it. Back in town, I ask the fortune teller Sahdulay about his fifth point for a good life, and he smiles, “You should be wealthy, but that last point is not really important. Just look at my city – no wealth for ordinary people but plenty of good characters.”
15
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Left: Selling thanaka at the market in Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake). Above: A boy in Kachin State. 102
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Left: Selling thanaka at the market in Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake). Above: A boy in Kachin State. 102
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Previous page: Selling the day’s catch at Nyaung Shwe market. Above: Early morning on the lake. Right: An Intha fisherman rows his boat on the lake. Following page top left: Houses are built on stilts over the water. Bottom left: Floating vegetable gardens are anchored to the lake’s bottom by numerous thin poles. Top right: Locals collect weeds from the bottom of the lake to be used as fertilizer in the floating gardens. Bottom right: Every village on the lake has a pagoda, its golden spire visible from far away. Page 118-119: Early morning in In Paw Khone Village. 114
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Previous page: Selling the day’s catch at Nyaung Shwe market. Above: Early morning on the lake. Right: An Intha fisherman rows his boat on the lake. Following page top left: Houses are built on stilts over the water. Bottom left: Floating vegetable gardens are anchored to the lake’s bottom by numerous thin poles. Top right: Locals collect weeds from the bottom of the lake to be used as fertilizer in the floating gardens. Bottom right: Every village on the lake has a pagoda, its golden spire visible from far away. Page 118-119: Early morning in In Paw Khone Village. 114
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T
H
www.tomvater.com
www.hanskemp.com
Acknowledgements: My journey through Burma and the subsequent writing of the text for Burmese Light was greatly assisted and informed by the following people: Yangon: Film maker Moe Thu, Film maker Mg Mg Tha Myint, Nut & Butter Films, Saw Assian, Sahdulay. Bagan: Aung Gyi /Thant (Bibo) and his wife Mandalay: Soe Win and family, Emily Prince (Phyo Phyo), Ah Ba Lay Mdy, No-No and the pretty boy in Taungbyone, Mrauk-U: Radioman, Pat Walker Inle Lake: Oo Ny Jye and Kristina Kalberer Elsewhere: Aroon Thaewchatturat, Marc Eberle, Andrew Marshall, Carlos Sardiña Galache, Cameron Cooper, Gerhard Joren, Nic Dunlop, Don Gilliland, and of course Hans Kemp.
Acknowledgements: Numerous people have, each in their own special way, assisted me in the making of Burmese Light and in the process made it a better book: First and foremost are the people of Burma, that land unlike any other, who feature in my photographs and who so generously allowed me into their homes and lives to do my work. Maung Maung Myint and Ohn Thein, who came to my rescue in Pindaya and accompanied me on a wild nat chase and many other adventures since. Soe Win, Aung Gyi and all the countless drivers of cars, motorbikes, trishaws, boats and bullock carts who always brought me back safely. Kraig Lieb, Cameron Cooper, Dan Vendel, Richy May, Aroon Thaewchatturat, Worawan Simaroj, Ken Kong, Johnny Leung and of course my partner in crime Tom Vater.
om Vater has been writing about South and South East Asia for more than a decade and has published non fiction and fiction books, travel guides, documentary screenplays, and numerous feature articles investigating cultural, social, environmental and political trends and oddities in the region. He is co-owner of Crime Wave Press, Asia’s only English language crime fiction imprint. His stories have appeared in publications such as The Asia Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Marie Claire and Penthouse. He is the author of two crime novels and his highly acclaimed book Sacred Skin (co-authored with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat), the first English language title on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, is a regional bestseller.
206
ans Kemp first arrived in Asia in 1986 at the start of an 18-month sojourn, returning to his home in the Netherlands on board the Trans Siberian train from Beijing only to instantly find himself back in Asia guiding groups across the Karakoram Highway from Northern Pakistan into China’s Xinjiang province and onwards into Tibet. Based in Hong Kong in the early 1990s, Hans pioneered the creation of iconic postcards in Vietnam and stood at the cradle of Visionary World Publishers in Hong Kong. Hans has photographed five highly acclaimed books and contributed to numerous others. His most successful book, Bikes of Burden, depicting the motorbike culture in Vietnam, has sold over seventy thousand copies and, besides the original English edition, is published in German, Japanese and French versions.
207
T
H
www.tomvater.com
www.hanskemp.com
Acknowledgements: My journey through Burma and the subsequent writing of the text for Burmese Light was greatly assisted and informed by the following people: Yangon: Film maker Moe Thu, Film maker Mg Mg Tha Myint, Nut & Butter Films, Saw Assian, Sahdulay. Bagan: Aung Gyi /Thant (Bibo) and his wife Mandalay: Soe Win and family, Emily Prince (Phyo Phyo), Ah Ba Lay Mdy, No-No and the pretty boy in Taungbyone, Mrauk-U: Radioman, Pat Walker Inle Lake: Oo Ny Jye and Kristina Kalberer Elsewhere: Aroon Thaewchatturat, Marc Eberle, Andrew Marshall, Carlos Sardiña Galache, Cameron Cooper, Gerhard Joren, Nic Dunlop, Don Gilliland, and of course Hans Kemp.
Acknowledgements: Numerous people have, each in their own special way, assisted me in the making of Burmese Light and in the process made it a better book: First and foremost are the people of Burma, that land unlike any other, who feature in my photographs and who so generously allowed me into their homes and lives to do my work. Maung Maung Myint and Ohn Thein, who came to my rescue in Pindaya and accompanied me on a wild nat chase and many other adventures since. Soe Win, Aung Gyi and all the countless drivers of cars, motorbikes, trishaws, boats and bullock carts who always brought me back safely. Kraig Lieb, Cameron Cooper, Dan Vendel, Richy May, Aroon Thaewchatturat, Worawan Simaroj, Ken Kong, Johnny Leung and of course my partner in crime Tom Vater.
om Vater has been writing about South and South East Asia for more than a decade and has published non fiction and fiction books, travel guides, documentary screenplays, and numerous feature articles investigating cultural, social, environmental and political trends and oddities in the region. He is co-owner of Crime Wave Press, Asia’s only English language crime fiction imprint. His stories have appeared in publications such as The Asia Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Marie Claire and Penthouse. He is the author of two crime novels and his highly acclaimed book Sacred Skin (co-authored with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat), the first English language title on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, is a regional bestseller.
206
ans Kemp first arrived in Asia in 1986 at the start of an 18-month sojourn, returning to his home in the Netherlands on board the Trans Siberian train from Beijing only to instantly find himself back in Asia guiding groups across the Karakoram Highway from Northern Pakistan into China’s Xinjiang province and onwards into Tibet. Based in Hong Kong in the early 1990s, Hans pioneered the creation of iconic postcards in Vietnam and stood at the cradle of Visionary World Publishers in Hong Kong. Hans has photographed five highly acclaimed books and contributed to numerous others. His most successful book, Bikes of Burden, depicting the motorbike culture in Vietnam, has sold over seventy thousand copies and, besides the original English edition, is published in German, Japanese and French versions.
207