More from Thingyan

Young people dance while being sprayed with water. Town Hall, Yangon. 

Myanmar Disney T

I love the fact the kid is the only one fighting back. 

This. This is what destroyed my baby doll Effy (my camera). 

She was really cute and would walk over to me and dump that bucket of water on to me. Adorable.. until the ice water came out and she found my shrieks hilarious. 

3 year old Burmese Sid Vicious

This young guy was posing for a photo before his brother came and dumped a bucket of water on his head. 

This guy kept slamming me with water.

All aboard the ear as reins express! 

Burmese Hug

"Burma gave you a hug.. it just hugged a little too hard" smiled Lauren as she sat with Andre at a cafe in Yangon. The two had come primarily to use the wifi. The fact the small upstair's coffee shop served food was a bonus.

My last few hours in the colonial era city were punctuated by bouts of coughing and sniffles. I felt although it was a relatively minor chest infection, there was little point in sitting idol in a hotel room blowing my nose and feeling sorry for myself. I decided yesterday to head back to Bangkok to get my camera gear serviced, some film developed, to pick up real meds (something which can be quiet elusive in Myanmar) and to assess how the protests between the UDD and PDRC had developed.

Thingyan is the most important day in the Burmese calendar and what most likely made me ill. If it wasn't ingesting water, it was the temperature changes between cold water, hot air, and then air con in our hotels. The festival celebrates the passing of the sun from Pisces to Airies and is seen as the New Year for Theravada Buddhist countries in SE Asia. Thousands flock to the streets and engage in combat. Water pistols and buckets being the weapon of choice. For those who have a little more foresight (and often money), firehoses trump squirt guns often with devastating effect. At one stage, I had managed to drown both my camera bodies. One was resurrected with a hair dryer, the other is for now one of the many cameras which fell to the festival. On the final day of festivities, thousands flock to pagodas around the country. The oldest and most well known, Schwe Dagon in Yangon is filled with thousands of devout buddhists worshipers from sunrise to evening.

The festival itself was brilliant. Adults, children, and young punks alike danced in the rain. Strangers offered me alcohol which was generally followed in adorably broken English  'Are you happy? ITS THINGYAN!'. My face hurt from smiling for 12 hours a day.

Revellers party out the front of town hall. The ancient Sule pagoda can be seen in the background. More pics to follow in the coming days. 

Ermahgerd

14 Apr 2014, Yangon, Myanmar. A man sleeps out the front of his store at 1 am. I love this place. 

Timor

Going through old pics. Found this one.

08 May 2011, Beto Tasi Timor. Fishermen cast nets at sunset. 

Hard Edit

I've started going through images from the past 3 years of dealing with mum's demise and passing from lung cancer. Photographically, it's the hardest thing I think I've ever done.

30 Nov 2012, Footscray General Hospital, Australia. Mum's face is covered in painful acne and her fingers swollen after taking a trial drug for her stage IV lung cancer. 

Tick tick tick

The situation in Bangkok is growing increasingly ominous as tension between the United Front For Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD - commonly associated with red) and Peoples Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC - commonly associated with yellow) rises. 
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's likely imminent removal from power has led to tens of thousands of UDD supports rallying to her aid on the outskirts of Bangkok. Meanwhile, thousands of PDRC protestors have been camping in Lumpini Park. Bellicose threats from both parties add to the uncertainty around the world's most visited city. 
Here are some images from the first day of the UDD camp at Utthayan Road.

One thing both sides have in common with each other is mass produced crap. 

The man with the white face pain is the UDD shaman.  Allegedly he poured blood on the steps of the government buildings during the 2010 uprising. The rifle in the pic isn't real. 

UDD supporters turn up around dusk.

Crowds flock in to the protest site. 

Pets welcome. They may not have any effin idea whats going on, but they are welcome. 

Visa Run

02 Apr 2014. Yangon, Myanmar. With antigovernment and pro government protestors mounting rallies in Bangkok over the coming weeks, I decided to do a visa run to Myanmar as to minimise my worries should things turn eerie.  In my three hours there, we head to the docks. An old Burmese man stood by watching men unload rice from ships. My driver told me that it is becoming increasingly rare to see people dressed with a headscarf like this in Yangon.