Transition. The heartbeat of a nation. White elephant. Chinese motor bike cheaper than Thai. An architect and an economist stay at the Strand. An American couple ask me if there is a head monk like the Pope? Teak may soon have a better law. There are cement roads, not asphalt.

Had lunch with the doctor´s first patient. The light is soft and not aggressive, neither are the people. Hot ginger Tea. No Rotten Coffee. Mandalay fine language. Walking in the sky. Eat gold. Send a postcard. Pennywort leaf salad. Banana blossom. Lime aid. Shan State. Rachine State. Sittwe. Chin. Closed. Bad monk. Good monk. If tourists don’t enter no one knows what is going on. Shared a taxi with an architect and his wife , they were from Hong Kong. A blue car stopped to pick me up in the pouring rain.

Children hand out plastic bags. A row of people push the largest mop I have ever seen. A disco buddha with my favorite color, a bright “sea-foam” green. A fine arts student wants to practice his English. Saffron Revolution 2007. Stone emergency brake. Organized blue plastic piping. Old Paw Pounded dishes it says on the menu. Temporary houses from swollen river. Betel squirts splat the sidewalk and Thanaka stalls paint the street. Needed a bicycle for a girlfriend now I need a motorcycle. Only a few naked bot-bellied children by the river. Tiger Meat? Jew Buddist?

Buddha says if you stop your desire you will stop your suffering. Sing with a swing. Are you man enough, big and bad enough? Are you gonna let em shoot you down? Gothic arch brick. You may be reincarnated as a low life. Camera flaw. Positive energy. The big smile. Tourism can damage. Life is a passage where what we really own is our spirit the rest is just too selfish.

Here is the link of the digital version of an article that was published in yesterday´s El Pais Semanal Magazine in Spain, called “The New Face of Myanmar”, written by Amelia Castilla. Included in the post is a gallery of more of my photographs taken on the same journey.