dessalles

Between last week’s cyclone and the protests in the fall, there have been a lot of reasons to talk about Myanmar. And recently, non-governmental aid and political outreach have been absolutely everywhere: Architecture for Humanity, Shilo, and celebrities, among other initiatives.

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple weeks in Myanmar a little over a year ago. It’s been nothing short of eye opening to be fairly familiar with a foreign country as two major news stories have unfolded. The protests were particularly difficult to watch, as most of the violence took place near landmarks and monuments I had peacefully visited months earlier. And it’s been fascinating to follow the news media as they’ve introduced the public, let alone the celebrities, to a country they’d never heard of before. “Wait, why does it have two names!?” Normally I’m a member of that public, but this time it’s been strangely different.

The amazing thing about these photos is that, according to the EXIF data, they were taken exactly 2 minutes apart. More amazingly is that the kids in the first photo are actually facing the scene in the second, one of thousands of stupas in Bagan.

There are a bunch more photos on flickr.