Mount Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock). According to legend, the 11th century King Tissa received a Buddha hair from a hermit who instructed the king to search for a boulder whose shape was similar to the hermit's own and put the hair there. The king found the rock at the bottom of the sea and miraculously placed it at the top of the mountain using a boat which then turned to stone, 2012
Golden Rock is a pilgrimage site and the faithful set up sun shelters and spend the day observing and picnicking, 2012
Andaw Thien Temple (Andaw Paya) is located in western Myanmar’s Mrauk U, a sprawling area full of ancient temples. This temple was originally built in 1521 to enshrine a tooth relic of the Buddha brought from Sri Lanka, 2012
Ratanabon Paya, built by Queen Shin Htway in 1612. During WWI a bomb damaged the temple, whose name means "accumulation of treasure," and is believed to refer to spiritual treasures as opposed to material ones, 2012
Shwemawdaw Paya, a 374-foot tall (and Myanmar’s tallest) temple in Bago. Originally built to enshrine two Buddha hairs, it’s also believed to house one of Buddha’s teeth, 2012
A fortune teller’s booth in the Shwemawdaw Paya compound, 2012
A betel nut vendor on the road between Bago and Mount Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock), 2012
A bicycle rickshaw driver in Thonggok, a small village in western Myanmar, 2012
A walkway near a Buddhist monastery in Mamlamyine, 2012
Monks at a monastery outside Thonggok, 2012
A vintage crank gramophone for sale in a Yangon antique shop, 2012
Mamlamyine, 2012
Gilt Buddha statues in Yangon’s Shwedagon Paya, a gold covered stupa with a jewel crested tip and Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site, 2012
A morning view of Yangon from the Shwedagon Paya, 2012
Shwedagon Paya is situated on a hill 190-feet above sea level, and whose temple-filled platform covers twelve acres, 2012
The park just outside Shwedagon Pagoda is full of reflecting pools and ornate temples, 2012
Painters use bamboo scaffolding to repaint a building in central Yangon, 2012
Dried fish for sale in western Myanmar’s Sittwe market, 2012
Fresh seafood in Myanmar’s Sittwe market, 2012
Central Yangon, 2012
The Burmese game Chinlon follows volleyball rules and is played with a rattan ball. Hands are prohibited but the rest of the body is allowed, 2012
Early morning in Sittwe, en route to Mrauk U, a 5-hour upstream journey (or 4-hours downstream), 2012
A bamboo bridge crossing in Taunggok, 2012
A farmer in Mrauk U, 2012
Mrauk U’s agrarian landscape is dotted with Buddhist temples, 2012
Kothaung Paya, built in 1553 by King Minbun, is Mrauk U’s largest temple, measuring 230-feet-by-250-feet. The temple was destroyed in 1776 (by an earthquake or lightning) and was since rebuilt, 2012
