I spent most of February in Myanmar with Jim Cline Photo Tours, and the Asia trip leader Karl Grobl. It is my fourth trip with Karl, and I know I'll have a good experience and come home with good photos on trips with Karl. Judy is working in San Diego, and did not go on this trip. However, both of us are going in July 2020 to Mongolia with Karl.
One of the highlights was a balloon ride over Bagan which has 3,400 pagodas and stupas. I had never done a balloon ride before, and I would consider it a lifetime high.
Another highlight, which was not a scheduled part of the tour, was an all day excursion to the Ta Lai Nal Elephant Camp. It apparently rescues elephants from the lumber industry (where they haul around 2 ton logs). It appeared to be a happy family of about a dozen elephants and 3 youngsters.
See my 3 minute video of the elephant encounter:
We visited a number of markets but the most unique was one was on active train tracks. When the train came through all the merchants moved their wares, and put them back after the train had passed. One of our group got a little too close to the passing train and was pulled out of the way by one of the local people. I too was a bit too close, and grabbed by the back of my shirt.
Here is a video that puts you right there:
We also visited a fishing village on the Ngapali Beach as they were bringing in the night's catch, hauling them on shore in 100+ pound buckets, sorting them and putting them out to dry.
And of course the Myanmar culture is steeped in Buddhism, so we saw lots of monks, nuns, novices and statues of Buddha. We were constantly removing our sandals to visit a pagoda.
For a slide show of my best photos from the trip go to:
