More Bagan

Well, I had intended to do daily posts from Bagan since I was spending a week there, but the internet connection was so pathetic that the first post I tried took over an hour to upload after two days of failed attempts. Most of the time. there was no connection at all, but occasionally it would creep in for a bit. I don't think I ever saw it get above 15 Kbps! So plan B was to just wait until I have a better connection and do this mega-post.

As I write this, I'm traveling on a ferry boat up the Irrawaddy river from Bagan to Mandalay. Since it's a 12 hour trip, I thought I'd get the post ready in the event that I have better internet in Mandalay, it's the second biggest city in Myanmar, so I'm hopeful. The ferry is a modern boat with comfortable seats. It also has a large outside area in the stern where you can sit beneath an awning and watch river life pass by. I'm hoping to be able to shoot some Pagodas along the river this afternoon when we turn East, and again later in the afternoon as we get closer to Mandalay. We should arrive sometime around sunset. We left this morning at 0600 and had a nice sunrise over the river.

I spent my days in Bagan alternation between different activities. My first day I went out with a driver and a guide and shot mostly RED footage, but lots of stills too. The next day I went on my own on an electric bike. The hotel rents them for $10 per day and they are widely used here by tourists. They are pretty cool, actually. Wish we had them in Bali. They are silent and quite quick. The first time I took one out, I strapped my tripod on the back and carried my RED and DSLR in my Cinebag backpack. The best light is early morning and late afternoon so my strategy was to take off about 0730, shoot until 1030 or 1100, then return to the hotel. I would go back out around 1500 and shoot until I lost the light. On my third day I went with just the car and driver as the guide I used the first time was booked. It turns out the my driver was a really good assistant. He toted gear around for me and helped look for good setups.. Day 4 was bike again, but this time with the DJI Phantom and GoPro to shoot some aerials. I used the same pack, but had to take the props off each time I moved. I did 5 flights the first day and had some good success. My new gimbal mount works quite well, and I've wired in a radio controlled adjustment for camera pitch so I can tilt it up and down in flight as needed.. Bolstered by my aerial success I went out the next day with my driver again and did a mix of some aerials with the phantom, some RED footage including some with my slider. On my last day I went out again with just the Phantom for a couple final aerial scenes. I had two hard landings that day, one when a battery went out as I was landing and dropped the last 5 ft and the last one when I clipped a tree branch as I was coming in to my landing zone and it flipped the Phantom over causing it to fly straight down the last 12 feet in a split second. Fortunately, the Phantom is pretty sturdy and didn't sustain any damage except to one prop.

So, enough talk, now for some more Bagan Images:













I happened upon a couple local ceremonial processions. I was on an electric bike both times so I was able to circle around and get multiple passes.
















These kids were selling sets of "postcards" that they made. I bought the set from the girl on the left. The light colored patches on their cheeks is Sandalwood. It's popular among the locals.