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Tag Archives: Myanmar
Reading up on Myanmar (Burma)
Asia Books is a chain of bookstores in Thailand with a good selection of books on Asian topics, books that are often difficult to find in Europe (even when searching on Amazon). I always look forward to browsing through the … Continue reading
Posted in Bangkok sabbatical, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Andrew Marshall, Bertil Lintner, Burma, Emma Larkin, Myanmar
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The luxury of a sabbatical
My application for a sabbatical next year has been approved! What a luxury to being able to spend time abroad and to being able to only and entirely concentrate on my research. It is great that Stockholm University provides and … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Science and media, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, Myanmar, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Posters and talks at EGU
This year’s participation in the annual meeting of the European Geoscience Union will be tough! All our eight abstracts have been accepted, and this means a lot of work. Of course we still don’t know which of these will be … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged ancient tsunamis, Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Communicating research, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Too curious to wait
Last week we opened two of our Myanmar sediment sequences, described the sediments and sub-sampled one sequence. The first preliminary analyses will be made in January/February and will give us a good idea of where to focus further investigations. It … Continue reading
Still jet-lagged
The seven-hour difference between Singapore and Sweden is still haunting me, but I guess in a few days I will be back to normal again. Would it have been summer with long days and short nights, the jet lag would … Continue reading
Posted in Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, natural science, NTU, Singapore, Stockholm University
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Busy days in Singapore
Tropical heat, tropical humidity, tropical thunderstorms and tropical rains – that’s how Singapore presented itself to me. Finally I managed to get an experience of heavy monsoon rains! Singapore is well adapted to this type of climate. Air-conditioning is on … Continue reading
160 kg plus 55 kg
After a three-hour drive we were back in Mandalay, the holy and magical city with its many temples, monasteries and myriad of people, cars and motorbikes. We had a couple of hours before our flight left and used the time … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Mandalay, Mandalay hill, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Many helping hands
Everyday two or three master students join our little expedition. They help carry the equipment, join us out on the lakes for coring, filter the water samples, assist in sub-sampling and help packing everything up again. The students are so … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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The sounds of Myanmar
During the past two days and nights we have been surrounded by a constant singing or preaching from loudspeakers. Small pickup trucks drive all around the town and the larger villages with loudspeakers mounted on the back. Along the streets … Continue reading
No secrets revealed in Shinme Chauk
The sediments of ‘Banana Lake’ or Lake Shinme Chauk, which is located close to the Bronze Age cemetery of Nyanggan, were the last on our to do list. The lake is very shallow, and partly overgrown, but according to the … Continue reading
Early morning in Monywa
Another of these early mornings! Getting up at 6 am, leaving at 6:30, and eating breakfast in one of the street restaurants on our way to the lakes. The hotels where we had stayed before served breakfast, but our current … Continue reading
Movie time in Leshe village
Both of our teams have been really successful during the last days. We were able to obtain several nice sediment sequences from Leshe Lake, and a number of gravity cores from the deeper crater lakes. The other day Nut, Lin … Continue reading
China phones
What surprises me most, is that almost everyone has a cell phone. Not just a simple one, but smart phones with all kinds of different apps. If we want the man with the bullock cart to come and get us, … Continue reading
Another day in the surroundings of Monywa
One group with Nut, Lin Thu Aung, and Thomas completed coring at Leshe Lake today, and the other group with Sheri, Rienk, Zaw Win and another student drove to one of the three deeper crater lakes to obtain a gravity … Continue reading
What a different world
It is fun talking to the students about life in Myanmar. One of my questions was of course if there were any female geology students, because we have only met men so far. The students told us that only 10% … Continue reading
All these friendly people
I am really overwhelmed by all the friendly people we meet everyday and everywhere: the staff at the different hotels we are staying in, the village chief and the villagers, people in the market, on the street, and in restaurants … Continue reading
And the cores keep coming
No driving down the steep sandy slopes to the crater lake today. I think the drivers got a bit worried yesterday, given frequent meetings with bullock carts, the narrow paths, the steep slope, the deep tracks and the huge hollows, … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, bullock carts, crater lake, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, Lake Kumphawapi, lake sediments, Leshe Lake, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Upper Myanmar, water lilies
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What a lucky day!
What an amazing day we had today! Accompanied by three MSc students and two officials from the Ministry of Forestry and Environmental Conservation we headed towards our first lake, Leshe Lake. I had never imagined that the two huge 4WDs … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, paleoclimate, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Equipment arrived, permission received!
Lin Thu arrived this evening from Yangon after a 10 hour-long drive. He had with him the equipment and the permissions to core all the five lakes! What more could we wish for! Tonight I passed by the temple and … Continue reading
No connection to the outer world
Our hotel has wireless Internet on all its seven floors. The only problem is that the connection only works sporadically. This is obviously not only the hotel’s problem. We tried at several other spots where Wi-Fi is offered, but it … Continue reading
Sunset over the Chindwin Plain
Sunset viewed from the Pho Win Hills, about one hour’s drive southwest of Monywa, had been recommended to us by the receptionist at our hotel. This site is also described as containing South East Asia’s richest collection of Buddhist mural … Continue reading
Buddha heard my prayer
Day #3 in Monywa and we have still no news regarding equipment and permissions. Now we have a bit more than a week left, but if the equipment arrives soon and if the permissions are issued before the weekend, we … Continue reading
The second tallest Buddha in the world
The second tallest Buddha figure in the world is really something we did not want to miss out while being in Monywa! This 116 meters high golden Buddha statue took 11 years to build. Inside this monumental figure are numerous … Continue reading
Still waiting
Things seem to be more complicated than we had thought. Our equipment has still not been released from customs, and in addition we seem to need permissions from different authorities to sample the lakes. While our colleagues from the Myanmar … Continue reading
Back in Myanmar and back in Monywa
Here we are finally, in the town of Monywa, which lies some 140 km northeast of Mandalay on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River. The Chindwin originates in northern Myanmar and joins the large Irrawaddy River to the southwest … Continue reading
Questions and no answers
Back again in Bangkok! It is always a nice feeling to arrive early in the morning and then drive into the slowly awakening city, which is usually full of life and people, and bustling with energy, but still really calm … Continue reading
On my way to SE Asia again
Just a few minutes left before boarding and then starts the nine and a half hours direct flight to Bangkok. The trip to SE Asia is short compared to the return flight, which will be almost twelve hours, plus the … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Exciting fieldwork ahead
In a bit more than two weeks it is finally time again for fieldwork in Asia. We will return to Myanmar and to the beautiful crater lakes of Monywa and will explore how much sediments these lakes contain, what type … Continue reading
Tanakha – beauty the Myanmar way
Almost everyone, old and young, men and women, boys and girls put Tanakha in their faces and on their skin. When I first saw this a few years ago, I could not understand why someone would want to walk around … Continue reading
Google Earth and oxcarts
We have topographic maps and GPS, but even though it is difficult sometimes to exactly know where we are and which crater is which. Here again the village people are extremely helpful. They know their way around and can tell … Continue reading
Posted in Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged climate, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Myanmar, nature, science, Stockholm University
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A maze of craters
Monywa, a town about three hours drive west of Mandalay, was the place from where we started to explore the many crater lakes. Monywa is a big place, with its own university of about 9000 students. There even is a … Continue reading
Pagodas and monasteries everywhere
Myanmar is not for nothing called the land of pagodas and monasteries. On each hilltop, in each village and where ever it seems suitable, there are smaller and bigger pagodas, often white colored, but also quite often painted in gold. … Continue reading
Banana fields and crater lakes
Bangkok-Yangon the day before yesterday; Yangon-Mandalay and Mandalay-Manywa yesterday; crater lakes and banana fields today and tomorrow; no Internet and no phone connection; dust and heat; roads hardly manageable with a 4×4 jeep; snakes and mosquitoes; hundreds of monasteries, hundreds … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged crater lakes, geology, Myanmar, Stockholm University
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Colorful Myanmar visa
We did it – flight Bangkok-Yangon, Yangon-Mandalay and Mandalay-Bangkok booked, express visa obtained, 4×4 car and driver fixed, and all hotel bookings. Not everything of course in one day, and not everything alone, but with the help of our new … Continue reading
Posted in Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged geology, Myanmar, Stockholm University
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Count-down
Just five days left until I leave Sweden for six weeks of fieldwork in Thailand. Nut and Moo are already back in Bangkok preparing the equipment, booking hotels and cars and drivers, and Kweku is getting all his fieldwork equipment … Continue reading
Barbara Wohlfarth 