I love taking photos of people just doing what they're doing, or sitting around doing nothing wherever they happen to be. I found everyone in Myanmar to be dignified, usually friendly, open, and self-confident. Most people were perfectly happy to stop and let me take a photo of them, and enough Burmese people have cell phones that more often than not, I was also the subject of an impromptu photo shoot!
Officials, examining vehicles and documentation at a checkpoint just across the border from Thailand. Actually, it looked more like they were just sitting around taking bribes and looking cool, but you know, same same.
Tea House kids, jumping in front of the camera for a quick picture.
Pineapple lady, washing her hands after cutting up my fruit! 50 cents for a big'un, yeah!
Middle-aged women, riding home in the back of a truck after a shopping trip. Check out their ear plugs!
Family of shopkeepers. In Myanmar (and lots of other places), often times the entire family relocates with the father or mother to run a business. Here we have a family tending their small shop on the side of the highway, in the middle of nowhere. Not only is this their shop, but it's their house as well.
Rickshaw driver. These guys were ubiquitous all over Myanmar, and they always liked to ogle our bicycles.
Market lady, concentrating intently on doing something with those leaves.
Grandmother standing outside her family's shop in the market. Check out her duds! Cool!
Business woman, Yangon. Yangon is quite busy by Myanmar standards, but is a quiet, small town compared to any other Asian capital.
Cow-herding boy. Children take on a lot of responsibility at an early age. You'll often see small boys like this one herding cows, driving oxen, or riding water buffalo around.
Teenager carrying the day's pickings home in a basket.
Some older guys chilling on the side of the road.
This guys really loved his horse. As soon as I took this photo, he kissed the horse, jumped on cowboy style, and rode away into the sunset.
Grandmother smoking a cigarette rolled in newspaper! This lady was so hardcore.
Farmhand plowing a hillside in his longgyi (Burmese man-skirt).
Three friends, squatting around, having a chat.
Pigeon lady. Every town's got one of these.
Night market food! Some of the best noodles I had in Myanmar.
And although this lady was much more animated in her cooking procedure, her noodles were terrible.
Girl giving her baby daughter a ride home on her bicycle.
Two different reactions to the foreigner taking their photo.
These guys were the bridge guards. "None shall pass without my permission!" I didn't have to beg them much.
This man and his family ran a small palm plantation, and let us sample some of his palm wine. His longgyi was also way too short.
I ate at this woman's restaurant, and she watched me eat all of her delicious food, and then tried unsuccessfully to make conversation with me for a long time. When that failed, she demanded I take her photo as well as a photo of her daughter, and friend, who had also come to check me out.
Sugar cane juice man!
I thought I was cool for riding a bicycle around, but this young man was on a journey by HORSE!
I had to throw this one in. My reflection surrounded by tanaka logs. This is the stuff the Burmese grind into a paste on that stone in the middle, and then smear on their faces for a cooling/sunblock effect.
Cool dudes, cool monks, cool motorcycles.
Beautiful smiles, platters on your head, flowers in your hair.
Small girl carrying heavy buckets of water.
A boy walking down a lonely road with a canister of motor oil.
Two brawny ladies with big knives carrying lumber.
More water carriers.
Curious family watches me as I take their photo.
Small-town man and his excellent house. This was taken in the last couple days before we exited Myanmar, in a part of the country that is Christian rather than Buddhist. Instead of pagodas, there were small churches everywhere, the towns were quiet and a bit spooky. I don't know if this is because of the close proximity to India, where there is occassional cross-border fighting, or due to Myanmar being a Buddhist state, and oppressing minority religions.
Cute ladies taking a break with their puppy on the side of the road.
