Growing Peanuts

At the end of the rainy season when water levels in the Chindwin River fall, local residents typically plant the newly-exposed, fertile sediments along the bank with peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.). I was told that buyers from Homalin and Monywa have already spoken for the crop, and that some farmers may have gotten some cash up-front to plant peanuts. The individual fields, as well as the forest behind them, seem to glow in the afternoon sun.

Homalin Sunset

Late afternoon, looking out over the Chindwin River in Homalin. [NOTE: Image taken from the window of my room in the Yati Hotel. Electricity a few hours each night, a (cold) shower, and a thermos of hot water for tea. Seemed palatial relative to previous accomodations (see Basecamp)].

Roadwork

It's the weekend, and the monks from the Homalin monastery are out working on the road in front of their temple. The Chindwin River (shown to the left) is eating away the bank and parts of the road have already started to collapse. The monks appear to be both widening the road and trying to stabilize the bank.  

The Chindwin River is the third largest river in Myanmar, and it has been wandering all over the landscapes of Sagaing Region for thousands of years. Not sure how a shovel is going to stop this. Good thing these are monks [NOTE: I was staying at a hotel on the other side of this street and remember noticing the steep drop from the street to the river as we walked to dinner. And then, the next morning, saffron robes with shovels].   

From the Boat VII

Still on the boat. But a different one this time. Clip is from the shorter, six hour trip by water taxi from Homalin to Htamanthi.  Boat was smaller, there were only about a dozen of us on board, and the hull was apparently leaking a bit because they had to keep bailing water the entire trip.  Somewhat disconcerting. 

From the Boat III

Buddhist monk poleing his skiff along the bank of the Chindwin River in Sagaing Division. [NOTE: I think we were at Mawlaik when I took this picture].

From the Boat II

Purple boats and pagodas. And sawlogs. The Upper Chindwin river of northern Myanmar. [NOTE: Our boat was (kind of) yellow].

From the Boat I

Have mentioned several times the 25 hour boat ride down the Chindwin River (see Htamanthi to Monywa and Duffel Bag). Had a lot of time to take pictures and I saw a lot of wonderful things. Will be sharing some of my favorite images taken from the boat over the next couple of days. Starting with the ox-cart shown above. [NOTE: All of the posts are now produced using Blogsy on my iPad. Seamless].