Burma- end of the trip

The view from the plane, heading home

My two well travelled sketchbooks

 Seven countries, two sketchbooks, one pair of flip flops and many temples, rivers, border crossings, caves, pagodas, beaches, buses, mountains, rivers, rainstorms, bars, palaces, cities and sunsets later, the trip is over.

Burma- the boat from Mawlamyine to Hpa-An

The boat from Mawlamyine to Hpa-An has been called one of the most beautiful boat journeys in the world, but that day the monsoon had started and you could see about fifty meters from the boat. When the most cleared once we'd arrived in Hpa-An, some beautiful views emerged. Sadly too late!

Burma- Hpa-An

The wet season had started, these were drawn while waiting for the rain to stop.
Hpa-An was one of the worst places we visited. The scenery is beautiful, the caves are interesting, but the people seemed to stare a lot and not smile much. We'd probably been spoilt, because people were so friendly and kind in most other places.

Burma- Monks playing Plants Versus Zombies

Here are some young monks near Mandalay. I was told that most men in Burma spend time as a monk at least twice, once between the age of ten and twenty, and once when they are older. It's common for younger monks to be school-aged, as the education in monasteries is usually better than what they would get at home. The top pictures are monks waiting to be served their lunch, at the bottom they are playing Plants vs Zombies.

Burma- Shwedagon Pagoda and Mandalay Hill

My first sketches of Burma. Here are two monks waiting for the rain to stop in a rare moment of quiet at the Shwedagon Pagoda. Yangon is a big, busy city and the pagoda is one of the most popular tourist stops. After I finished drawing, the monk on the right enjoyed a cheeky cigarette. Burmese monks' robes are usually red, and the deeper the colour, the more senior the monk. Adult monks are usually dark burgundy, so either these were foreign, or they'd been demoted (for illicit smoking?)

This is the view from Mandalay Hill , made famous by the Kipling poem, which hasn't aged well -and is really talking about Mawlamyine. Mandalay is an interesting, laid back city, and it's worth going to for this view alone. Don't listen to the Lonely Planet.

Cambodia- Siem Reap

Siem Reap. Beautiful, crawling with tourists (it wasn't high season when we went either) and really, really hot (about 40 degrees and very humid). It was difficult to keep from sweating on the paper. You just ooze at that temperature.

 There are tons of kids selling tourist tat at Angkor Wat. They'd watch you draw, and forget to pester you for money for ten minutes. After we talked to them for a bit, I saw them drawing in the dirt with sticks. 

Cambodia-Rabbit Island

See what I mean about Cambodia beaches?

Cambodia- Phnom Penh and scenery

I didn't expect to like Cambodia as much as I did, as we'd heard some pretty negative things about it. That isn't denying the troubled past, desperate inequality, swarms of flies, and massive amounts of rubbish but there are also friendly people, wonderful beaches and gorgeous food.

Laos-Plain of Jars

Sketches of the Plain of Jars, Phongsavan- and some sketches en route. Phongsavan is beautiful but it's not the easiest place to get to.

Laos-Vientiane

A couple of sights around Vientiane. Happy with the way the coloured pens worked out in the top picture. I've forgotten where that was drawn but the bottom picture is Buddha Park which is ...eccentric.

Laos-Luang Prabang

Some sketches in and around Luang Prabang

Vietnam-Hanoi

I tried to capture the street craziness in the top picture but you can's really do it justice.

Halong Bay- Vietnam

Vietnam- Phong Nha caves

These are caves in Phong Nha national park, currently home of the world's largest cave, Song Doong. Tours into Song Doong are booked up until next year- and cost a fortune- but the other caves are pretty impressive too.