The ancient temples of Bagan are another highlight on Myanmar’s tourist trail. While not as known internationally as say Angkor Wat, the 2,000-odd temples that litter this 26-mile plateau in central Burma are no less impressive. Most of them date back to the 11-13th centuries AD and frequent earthquakes and general decay left many of them in a state of disrepair. Until Burma’s junta embarked on its controversial beautification project. 
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Category Archives: Architecture
Book project update
It’s been a while that I wrote about my book project on some of Tokyo’s iconic 60s/70s buildings. Work has been ongoing over the last couple of months and the project has been growing in scope and depth. There is now four confirmed chapters written by four different authors. Architectural photographer Manuel Oka has started taking shots of the buildings. Here are some of his photos:
Yangon’s architectural heritage
Yangon has plenty of dilapidated but more or less intact colonial-era architecture. Decades of international isolation saved the city from masses of overzealous real estate developers. As Burma is opening up, people have begun to wonder whether this heritage can be kept alive.
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda was the first of the major sights on our list in Rangoon. Both its dimensions and the lavish use of gold create an amazing ambience that make this one of the most spectacular examples of Buddhist architecture.
Rangoon
We have arrived in Rangoon, capital of Burma/Myanmar, yesterday and already covered quite a bit of ground. Despite the torrid heat. I thought I’d put up a few iPhone shots that I took yesterday to mark the first of hopefully many posts to come while we’re in this fascinating country for the next four weeks.
Back in Bangkok
I figure this blog has been turning into a bit of a travelog as of late: me and my wife are on the road, and after spending a bit more than a week with family in India, we’re now in Bangkok. It is great to be back. Fresh out of high school, my first backpacking trip across South East Asia started here in 2001.
Monk taking photo at Wat Arun, Bangkok
Taj Mahal, Agra
A photo of the Taj Mahal in Agra can’t really capture the magic of the place. Despite the myriad visitors I found the place to be serene. I was lucky in that the light on the day of our visit was not too bright, bringing to the fore the magic glow of the marble used to build the tomb.
Varanasi
My wife and I are on a short stopover in India, where we are meeting her family. We spent two nights in Varanasi, a holy city on the banks of the river Ganges. Two boat trips revealed the changing face of the Ghats – the stairs leading to the water – and the activity surrounding them. The views were most beautiful just after sunrise and I thought I’d share a few of them without too much of the regular commentary.
Docklands walk
I used the recent stopover in London to ride on the new Emirates Air Lines. It connects East London’s ExCel with the O2 across the Thames. On the way there I got off the DLR at Pontoon Dock to see one of the most impressive industrial ruins still on display in London: Millenium Mills (see here for the map of the walk).
London’s changing skyline
A short stopover in the UK to visit friends and family allowed for a brief walk through the ever-changing City. It’s a place familiar to me from my years of studying and working in London. A lot has changed here recently. New buildings are rising towards the sky left and right. Not in living memory has the appearance of this area changed so much in such short time.
