Project 52: Friday Afternoon

Friday just gone I was in Yangon, and in the afternoon I visited the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most important and sacred Buddhist temple in Burma. The huge gold stupa glistened in the sun of the heat of the day, and the tiles all around it burned my feet! Ouch!

There are so many temples all around the stupa, and so much prayer activity was all around me. I managed to grab this photo, capturing my two most obsessive photo subjects of my 10 days in Burma - a monk and a nun. So intriguing!

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

The Death Railway And Hellfire Pass

Riding the railway from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok, as far as the rail goes now, is a sombering experience. I love travelling on a train, but everytime I felt myself get carried away with the clack of the tracks and the gentle rocking of the rickety carriage, I reminded myself of the sacrifices made to lay these very tracks down.

The train rolls across the bridge over Mae Klong River - made into the River Kwai by Hollywood and the movie of the same name, and then heads away from town through the countryside.

It soon glides over a Viaduct, on the edge of a mountain, and the wonder of how these POWs built this section returns.

They say that for every railway sleeper on this track, there was a POW death on the construction process.

We rode the train for 2 hours, before disembarking and then getting a driver to take us to the section referred to as Hellfire Pass, 18 kms away. The Museum here is managed by the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs, Office of War Graves, and it very well done. After walking through the rooms of information, we walked the paths to get down to the cutting that the Aussies named after the vision of themselves in the lighting in the cutting as they were forced to work long into the night, starved and emaciated, resembling scenes from hell.

The cutting is 25 metres deep at it's highest point, and was cut with the most rudimentary tools. Without even considering the state of the men forced to complete such work, this feat is incredible.

This is also the place where Sir 'Weary' Dunlop's ashes were spread, as a plaque reminded me as we got down to the track level of the pass.

Such an important part of Australian and Aussie Digger history, in addition to the other Allied and Asian labourers lost in this piece of WWII. A very important place to visit, and learn about.




Getting back to Kanchanaburi, Dave and I had our driver drop us back at the Bridge, and we had a very late lunch at one of the floating restaurants so we could take in the sunset colours highlighting the view. We even caught sight of a train crossing over, scattering the hordes of tourists getting their movie photos.

Remembering The Fallen In Kanchanaburi

Dave and I travelled up to Kanchanaburi by bus from Bangkok, and after settling on a guesthouse on the river's edge, we set off to take in the significance of this Thai town.  I think it took me the whole visit to get to a point where I said the town's name properly!

Firstly, we went through the Death Railway Museum, which gave us a good overview of what went on here and on the construction of the railway line all the way across the border to Burma. Part of the Japanese World War II campaign to open up a way of getting supplies through, 60,000 Allied Prisoners of War and 180,000 Asian labourers were enslaved to build the line under the most hideous of conditions.

Across the road is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, where 2,815 Australian POWs who lost their lives during the construction have been laid to rest. 6,318 English POWs' graves occupy half of this cemetery, whilst the remaining plots are Dutch, New Zealander and Canadian, with many simply marked "An Allied Soldier". The US actually suffered the highest of the Allied POW losses, however their soldiers were repatriated for burial after the Japanese surrender.

Walking through the rows of Aussies, it was as moving as that experience at Anzac Cove, with so many lads around my age, killed in such unimaginable circumstances.

Many headstones held messages from family at home, and listed where the men were from. I spotted one woman buried here too, a volunteer within the medical unit. So many deaths were due to sickness, starvation, and also the brutality during the "Speedo" phase of construction, when the Japanese started to panic about their timelines for the completion of the railway, and things became more brutal.

So senseless. The world never seems to learn about the pointlessness of war.

Project 52: Friday Lunchtime

Two Fridays ago I was in Bagan, with Fi and Dave, getting a horse and cart around the temples of Old Bagan and the surrounding temples on the plains. So, so amazing!

At lunchtime our main driver and guide had a couple more temples on his agenda, and therefore ours, before we stopped for lunch. Here, I am at Gubyaukgki Temple, and just on lunchtime I have spotted the buddha for the day. The main part of this temple was being restored as we were there, so the gold gilted top was covered in bamboo sheets.

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

The Gorgeous Library of Parliament Hill

The round, domed section of the Centre Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa contains one of the most beautiful libraries I have ever walked into. It’s circular form, vaulting ceilings, and pine stacks lining the walls, in addition to the natural light flooding in from the windows all the way around, is just beautiful.

The exterior is equally as impressive, with it’s Gothic style and stone detail. From across the river, it is spectacular as it juts out from the uniform structure of the Centre Block of Parliament Hill, and like nothing I have seen before. Then walking around it’s edge on the actual grounds of Parliament Hill it loomed above

This section of the Parliament buildings was spared the fire in 1916 that destroyed the rest of it. The story told on our tour was that as the building was being evacuated, the caretaker of the library and the last person to leave the room, closed the iron door behind him. And that’s why it still stands today in it’s magnificent glory. A fire lesson for us all!

The smell of pine, the hush of such a grand reading room, and the presence of the royal fittings from London to remind the Canadian government of it’s Commonwealth heritage, including a bust of Queen Elisabeth II, was all so grand.

This tour of Parliament Hill was one of my favourite parts of my long weekend exploring the other Eastern cities of Canada.

Stickworks

There has been an enchanting house, or 'Ballroom', made of sticks sitting at the edge of Federation Square in Melbourne for some weeks, and it's so cute!

Stickworks is the work of Patrick Dougherty, and was constructed there in the gap next to ACMI, and is part of the Fed Square 10 year celebrations.

It's hard to believe that Fed Square has been there in our city for 10 years. Originally bemoaned as an eyesore, a piece so out of place with the city's surrounding architecture, this piece of modern angles and shapes has now become such a central part of our city, and any Melbournians life, as a meeting place, a place to eat and view the city, and also a place where there is always something going on.

Inspired by the Indigenous works at the NGV, Doughterty has since nicknamed his work 'The Ballroom'. What a grand ballroom it is!

With the size of it, and it's many doors and rooms, you can wander in and weave yourself through the spaces inside. The windows and gaps within the sticks create an amazing light pattern, and also a different perspective of the cityscape around you.

The Ballroom is in Fed Square till the end of the month. Make sure you get down there to check it out, if you haven't already.

Street Food Stalls Of Bangkok

Picking your way along the streets in Bangkok can be a challenge, with uneven ground, broken footpaths, and traffic coming every which way. The distractions of colour and smells coming from the food sellers does not help at all!

The smells of Bangkok range from the pungent to the sweet and divine - the deep frying of a range of things unseen by me before, can be sweet or savory, the raw fish threaded on skewers ready to be BBQed on the grill right there, and then there is the array of fruit cut up and ready to buy in perfect portions.

The intense heat coming from grills, or pot of steaming noodles or dumplings, adds to the sweat and humidity you feel.

I happened upon an area later in my stay where a school had just got out, and the footpath was filled with kids in uniform, clambering for their favourite snacks. This time was a food sellers dream, with sales frantic, it was also a time and stretch of road where the most, and most varied, stalls were lined up.

All this is a feast for your eyes, as much as your nose, and choosing which to taste is the hard part!