Burma is one of the least explored of the exotic countries of Southeast Asia. Mired for long in political turmoil, Myanmar, as it is officially known, never made it to any list of popular tourist destinations of the world. Destructive politics can be fatal for any culture but Burma, rather miraculously, survived. The Buddhist-majority country has witnessed its own share of problems – strategic or civic. A historic change in the Myanmar’s political climate offered photographers the golden opportunity to capture the untouched societal, architectural and natural beauty of the country. In fact these pictures from Burma reveal a land so beautiful you might as well forget the more popular Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand!

1. A monk in a monastery in Nyaungshwe

2. Plains of Bagan. Notice the hot-air balloons in the background

3. Young monks playing in Bago

4. A temple in Bagan where sunlight enters a particular way a week each year

5. Inle Lake fisherman. Notice the leg wrapping the paddle

6. The Monk and the Seagulls

7. Reclining Mya Tha Lyaung Buddha in Bago

8. Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon has a 350-foot gold-plated dome

9. Bagan stupas

10. An education

11. Untouched beauty in Bagan

12. Rural Burma

13. A pagoda in Pindaya, Inle Lake area

14. Hsinbyume Pagoda in Mingun

15. Navigating through lotus flowers of Inle Lake

16. Bagan

17. Golden Rock Pagoda in Kyitehtiyo

18. Cracks from a 1839 quake visible in an unfinished temple in Mingun

19. For enlightenment

20. Temple near Kyaukse in the Mandalay Region

21. In a Yangon Monastry

22. Mon women playing traditional instruments

23. Old monk and old building near Monywa

24. A child in basket and the temple in Bagan

25. The 1200-meter-long U Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge, over Taungthaman Lake in Mandalay

26. A festival

 

Credit: Smithsonian