I grew up in a small, rural town in Oklahoma where all life is lived indoors. Everyone travels by car, all commerce and events happen inside, and there is little interaction with neighbors. My hometown doesn’t really have pedestrians. If you see someone walking they […]
I recently attended a photography workshop by Maciej Dakowicz in Yangon, Myanmar, and I’m still mentally stimulated and physically tired. For seven days, we awoke before sunrise and shot photos 8 to 12 hours a day in some of the busiest and wildest places in […]
The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, is a colossal religious complex that defies human scale. The temple is centered around a golden stupa that reaches 326 feet into the sky. It is estimated that up to 60 tons of gold comprise the spire, the top […]
The San Pya Fish Market in Yangon is the sort of place you smell before you arrive. The pungent aroma of fish immediately smacks you in the face and the piscine perfume saturates your clothes and stays with you long after leaving. In fact, when […]
Yangon (Rangoon), the largest city in Myanmar (Burma), felt like the love child between Mumbai (Bombay) and Havana (La Habana). Like Mumbai, it is a crowded, chaotic, dirty and colorful city replete with grand Brittish colonial buildings, but it has the dilapidated charm and laid-back […]
We walked into the once grand Yangon Train Station and stood there with dumb looks on our faces. We were unsure where to buy tickets or what platform to go to. Soon, a friendly security guard appeared and drew a circle in the air with his […]
In researching my recent trip to Myanmar, I was having a hard time finding up-to-date information about the rapidly changing country. My Lonely Planet guidebook told of a land devoid of ATMs where the traveler must bring in absolutely pristine US dollars, and even then, must […]
Planet Bell 