Comments on: Naypyidaw: Abode of Kings in a Derelict Kingdom

By: Bianca F.

Bianca F. — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:01:47 +0000

This is a very interesting write up… People all over the world should take a glimpse on what is going on around countries such as Burma. For “Naypyidaw”, I th think the city is starting to cope with urbanization, which I think is a good and a bad thing at the same time, from the pictures, it seems like the place is surrounded with concrete, where are the greens?? seems like every corner has been dumped with buildings, not so eco-friendly i guess. But best wishes to Naypyidaw, it seems like it’s starting to clean up well, I just hope that Burma is all happy and well with the transformation going on… God Bless Burma…

By: Exploring the Cities of Myanmar (Burma) | Expatify

Exploring the Cities of Myanmar (Burma) | Expatify — Sun, 30 May 2010 00:46:29 +0000

[...] Naypyidaw is the present-day Burmese capital, and it exists between the Bago Yoma and Shan Yoma mountain ranges. It was only made capital in 2006, and much of the city is still under construction. About 925,000 live in Naypyidaw. [...]

By: kogyi

kogyi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:49:59 +0000

winners and losers… thats life…

By: moe sat

moe sat — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:08:10 +0000

ျမန္မာျပည္မွာ ျပည္သူလူထုေတြ ဒုနဲ.ေဒးဆင္းရဲငတ္ျပတ္ေနႀကပီ န.အ.ဖ စစ္ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေတြကလဲ အရမ္းကိုခ်မ္းသာႀကြယ္၀ေနႀကပါပီ တဘ၀စာအတြက္ေတာ.စားထားႀကေပါ.ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီးေတြရယ္ မင္းတို.ေတြကို တမလြန္မွာ ေစာင္.ႀကိဳေနႀကတဲ. မင္းတို.ေတြသတ္ျဖတ္ထားတဲ.အပစ္မဲ.ျပည္သူေတြက ေစာင္.ႀကိဳေနက်ပါလိမ္.မယ္။ေကာင္းေသာဘ၀ကူးခ်င္းမ်ိဳးမင္းတို.ဘယ္ေတာ.မွ ကူးႏိုင္မွာမဟုတ္ပါဘူး ငါရင္နာလိုက္တာ ငါ.တို.ေတြမင္းတို.လက္ထက္မွာ ျမန္မာျပည္မွာလူလာျဖစ္တာ ရင္နာလို.မဆံုးဘူး အခုဆိုရင္ အရင္က ငါ.တို.လူမ်ိဳးေတြဟာ ဗမာေဟ.ဆိုပီးရင္ေကာ.ေနႏိုင္ခဲ.က်တဲ. ေရႊႏိုင္ငံက ေရႊျမန္မာေတြေလ မင္းတို.ပေထြး ေန၀င္း လက္ထက္ကေန အမ်ိဳးယုတ္သန္းေရႊလက္ထက္အထိ ငါ.တို.ျမန္မာျပည္ႀကီး ဟာမြဲေတပီး ဖာႏိုင္ငံႀကီးျဖစ္ႀကရေတာ.မွာပါလား။ငါ.ညတိုင္းလိုလို မင္းတို.ေတြအေႀကာင္းကိုေတြးမိတယ္ ဘာေႀကာင္.မ်ားကိုယ္.လူမ်ိဳးကို ႏွိပ္စက္ပီးေတာ. ရလာတဲ.စည္းစိမ္ခ်မ္းသာမႈကို လိုခ်င္တာလဲဆိုတာေလ။ထိုင္းကိုသြားအလုပ္လုပ္က်ရတဲ.ျမန္မာ မေလးေတြလဲ ထိုင္းကေကာင္ေတြကမဒိန္းက်င္တယ္ ထိုင္းမွာေရာက္ေနတဲ.ျမန္မာျပည္ေပါက္ မြတ္စလင္ေတြကလဲ ျမန္မာမေလးေတြကိုမဒိန္းက်င္တယ္ ေရာင္းစားတယ္ ေအးဒီလို.ဘဲမေလးရွားမွာလဲ အႏိုင္က်င္.ေဆာ္ကားဖ်က္စီးခံေနက်ရတဲ. ငါ.တို.ရဲ.မ်ိဳးစက္ျမန္မာမေလးေတြအတြက္လဲငါ၀မ္းနည္းတယ္ ကမၻာမွာ ျမန္မာေဟ.လို.မင္းတို.အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေနတဲ.ေခတ္ႀကီးမွာ ေယာင္လို.ေတာင္.ငါတို.မေအာ္ရဲ.ေတာ.ပါဘူးကြာ ငါတို.လူမ်ိဳးေတြ မင္းတို.ရဲ.အမဲစက္ေႀကာင္. ကမၻာမွာမ်က္ႏွာငယ္ေနက်ရပါပီ။ဒါကိုေတာ. ငါရင္ထဲကအေတြးေတြကိုေရးေနတာမဟုတ္ပါဘူး တကယ္ျဖစ္ပ်က္ေနတာေတြကိုမင္းတို.ေတြသိသင္ပီထင္လို. လက္ေတြ.ခံစားေနက်ရတဲ. ငါ.တို.ျမန္မာလူမ်ိဳးေတြကိုယ္စား ငါေရးလိုက္ရတာပါ…..။မိုးစက္ ဒိန္းမက္မွာေနတယ္

By: johdub

johdub — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:30:02 +0000

Wow – I can’t believe you took all these photos. Very gutsy… were you aware at the time that you were taking a huge risk? I’m an Australian who also visited Naypyidaw in June 2007 (under the pretext of visiting friends in Pyinmana) but wasn’t game enough to take photos because I’d heard about locals being arrested and thrown in gaol for doing so.
Just out of curiosity, whereabouts did you sleep that night? Were you given a bed in one of the Naypyidaw hotels?

By: A name

A name — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:02:16 +0000

Pretty cool. I despise this government but its funny that you say “Big brother is never far away”.

Oh what I would give for policemen to walk the streets again instead of artificial cameras recording my every move. Ahh well…Don’t worry, we’ll have our own police state here in Europe and America quite soon.

By: jim bartlett

jim bartlett — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:01:23 +0000

I just came back from Burma october 2008 Almost 90 per cent of the money I spent went to local people in rangoon and Bagan. Taxis, Horsecart drivers, hotel workers, shop owners. 1 in 3 of the hotels I stayed in was govt owned. If you talk to a normal person on the street or in the tourist business they say visting will help. Punishing the people will not hurt the rich elite who already dont need money. Unless the power in Hotels is self generated I never had one instance of electric failure in 7 days. This could be only in the hotels though. It seems to me Burma is where Thailand was 20 years ago.

By: noqah adkins

noqah adkins — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:44:56 +0000

This reminds me of the situation in Cuba back in the late 40’s early 50’s when the Cuban government was in bed with the Mafia. Other than the fat military dictators of Burma, who else is gaining financially…..following the money will lead to those who support and encourage such merdous thugs.

By: Aung Zay Ya

Aung Zay Ya — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:22:25 +0000

Sayargyi Nay Aung,
The pictures are very interesting, Kyat Pyay has another meaning. Kyat; difficult to stay, difficult to stand, survive, alive, difficult to show their face in public, and anyway impossible to stay continuously with people and then run away from people mean Pyay.
Other meaning of Kyat is too tide . I understanded why they move to Kyat Pyay is
1. They wanted to make Rangoon Killimg field to Yangon people. They actually wanted all Embassies move to Kyat Pyay and Rangoon would be hidden place from world watchers. It began 2007 revolution.
2. Never can be happen like Vietnum or Phillipine revolution, at there people took over the government palaces. Although people are mad they can’t do like to Marcos in Phillipine, as madess of people after Cyclone.
3. No coup deta can occur. No coup can approach to Kyat Pyay except their guards.
From Kyat Pyay, they neglect any worry about people, but struggle to maintein their power. Look cyclone Nagis, they are struggling for refrendum , they use media for refrundum not for Weather warning to people. They took over all good power generators from ESB Rangoon to Kyat Pyay. No power made people have no information of Cyclone warning from TV, even they do warning from TV. After Tsunami all neighborhood countries prepared weather warning systems but they neglected but struggled for the refrundum.
Although people have been facing more deadly situation like diseases, fevers, hunger and so on, they prohibited or delay the rescue team from the world. They ………Elex.

By: femjo

femjo — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:17:39 +0000

Will be visiting Rangoon next week, and hoping for a chance to see the new capital.

By: joseph

joseph — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:48:34 +0000

nice work man 10x

By: d

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:32:48 +0000

Thanks for posting some quite detailed photos of Naypyidaw. Even I wasn’t able to get such shots while I visited there (cos I was too scared that my camera will be seized!) I am a Burmese living in Burma, and I just wanted to add to the fact that the uniformed men you mentioned (wearing a dark blue suit ) might be the construction engineer responsible for that project (probably from Ministry of Construction).

By: Maximus

Maximus — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:25:59 +0000

I would like to see a continuation of the topic

By: Idetrorce

Idetrorce — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:59:27 +0000

very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce

By: SayaGyi Nay Aung

SayaGyi Nay Aung — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:00:40 +0000

I lived and taught English in Burma for 11 years, and never got a chance to see this new “capital” that nobody wanted (or wants). Well done.
One thing I was told is that the name of the location, Kyat Pyae, means something like “Ghost Run”. Maybe our Burmese friends can confirm that? If it’s true, I think it’s a highly appropriate name!

By: Myat Swe

Myat Swe — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:13:27 +0000

Thanks for the brilliant photos. No wonder my friends don’t want to move there.Empty, unattractive, barren landscape and ( some said) full of snakes.

By the way, even the generals don’t actually live there- they are almost always on the golf courses in May Myo (Pyin Oo Lwin) a helicopter ride away… where the weather is cool (temperate) and full of lush-green hills, carefully landscaped with man-made lakes and sandy beaches … for the “hard-working” generals.

By: » On the architecture of Naypyidaw CQ2

» On the architecture of Naypyidaw CQ2 — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:59:12 +0000

[...] Via BoingBoing, fascinating photos of Burma’s new capital from, literally, the first tourists there. It seems to me from these pictures that the government wanted a new city that was more like Singapore or southern California and less like, well, Burma. [...]

By: Jeroen Linderhof

Jeroen Linderhof — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:49:45 +0000

nice pics

By: Jeroen Linderhof

Jeroen Linderhof — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:49:14 +0000

Naypidaw, is not that bad , nice city

By: Ben Nielson

Ben Nielson — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:30:03 +0000

Amazing pictures. If the Americans ever have meant anything serious about freedom and democracy and even go to war for it, they should seriously consider some bombs for Naypyidaw. Since it’s not many sivilians there and mostly generals and soldiers, the target seems quite “naked”. Just let the few civilans get the chance to flee before the drop…

By: Norman Kirtland

Norman Kirtland — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:08:04 +0000

Wonderful but sad photos. As a Gnostic, with simular ideals to Buddhism, I feel for the
Burmese at this time of grave danger. My prayers and inner thoughts go out to the brave young Monks and followers. 1948 was my year of birth, the same year that Burma gained independence from my country, UK. The independence that Burma had was just a dream. Now it is that time again, when the ordinary Souls of the Burma Nation go for freedom once more. Love And Blessings to all whom stand for The Freedom Of The Soul (AEON).

By: perde

perde — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:18:16 +0000

good text thank you

By: cogiac

cogiac — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:42:12 +0000

I agree… you have done the world a great service… two years ago a friend of mine and I managed to get a book published maybe for the same reason. It was not a book of poetry and looking at your pics, it didn’t change the world. But it arose from something which changed our own world…
What would you do if during your holiday trip, you slowly realised that that the smiles are as momentary as the photos? That the country you are visiting is full of addresses which don’t exist and places where no one will take you? We simply built up a photo diary and narrative of the ‘invisible’ people and places. We combined stories and images to describe the reality of the people of Myanmar and – like your photo reportage – this book has helped raise the consciousness in Italy of the plight of the people who we came across while in concrete terms money has been raised to help refugees.

Many thanks to Austin for his reportage and all the others in this blog for the lively interest shown.

Pics and other info at http://cogiac.atspace.com/pages/books.htm

By: tayza

tayza — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:39:35 +0000

we want freedom and we don’t want to live under the scare of wepons .

By: tayza

tayza — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:37:38 +0000

so good about the nay pyit taw
the poorlity of myanmar people and the feelings of myanmar people arn’t be known by the world if there was nothing such a web .

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:14:58 +0000

Very intersting pics !
Really good job, thanks a lot for sharing.
I will probably use one or two pictures of you for my blog if you allow me to do that. I’ll put a link to your blog.
(I’m french, sorry for my language faults)
Thanks

By: Right-Half Chow

Right-Half Chow — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:40:05 +0000

Myanmar’s new capital on film…

In the beginning of 2006, the Burmese military dictators decided to move the capital 460 kilometers up north, starting out afresh. Up until now there were no pictures of the newly constructed capital apart from some military sponsored propaganda pics….

By: Duncan

Duncan — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:55:19 +0000

It would be great if higher resolution copies of constructionwalkby, suburbiaconstruction, teleconstruction, thatchedjuxta, and palatialjuxtaposition could be sent to my email, thanks.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:21:29 +0000

Hi, Austin. I’m a US-based journalist. I’d love to interview you about these photos and your trip for the upcoming issue of a North American magazine. The issue goes to print in about 3 weeks. Would you be up for a phone/email conversation? Best wishes.

By: Austin

Austin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:46:28 +0000

Yeah, that’s fine. Let me know if you’d like any of the photos in high-res.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:48:39 +0000

I’m considering using some of these in a not-for-profit report, and am wondering how to attribute credit appropriately. Does Austin, http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=895 work for you?

By: Austin

Austin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:56:00 +0000

We booked a car and driver in Taunggyi ($60 for the day between my friend and I) and got them to take us directly through the city gates and into Naypyidaw. There are a number of brand-new chalet hotels in the designated “hotel zone”, but if you’re watching where your money goes the only one worth considering is the Royal Kumudra, which at $40/night for two people may seem pricey but it’s the cheapest game in town. They were actually very accommodating. All the hotels, predictably, are government owned.

If you do decide to go make sure you keep your wits about you and don’t do anything that will draw unwanted attention. The clueless-foreigner trick worked well for us, and many of these photos were the result of my friend doing some stupid pose and me zooming in on something else entirely. It’s a really fascinating place and shows a very different side to Burma after a visit to Rangoon or Mandalay.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:39:15 +0000

I need to know how you managed to do this! I was turned around in Pyinmana and essentially told to get on a bus to Yangon, or else…

By: Saki

Saki — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:46:07 +0000

Thank you for this whole post, it is truly public service
I’m linking to my blog.

Saki

By: Smile

Smile — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:05:22 +0000

Thank you for your photos from my country.Really really thank you.These photos are what we want to see how did the Junta waste the Public fund and how about the life of labour people.I feel so sorry for ordinary people and childern who struggling for living.Where is their future and hope?It makes me a lot of meaning.Anyway thank you.

By: San Myint Htwe

San Myint Htwe — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:38:28 +0000

I don’t know the slogan posted by hexakali and who he/ she is. but I think he doesn’t know about the history of Burma. Our hero “Aung San” led the country to be free from British colonialism and to achieve independence. Then the people thanks and loves him. For a country which was under the colonialism for 200 years, revolution was difficult and bitter. But the people understood and recognized the sacrifice of that young guy.
So I ‘d like to ask you ” Pls. remove his name from that slogan” and I’d like to say that we feel sad to see that usage” S– Yuu” with his name.
I posted my comment not to be confused about him, by foreigners.
Actuall Than Shwe is a follower of Ne Win and they are from that very group who has been trying to establish Military Nazism.

By: hexakali

hexakali — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:19:15 +0000

With regards to the Sauk Y/Yuu entries above, this message made it directly into my email box from a Burmese ex-pat. (So much for blog entry anonymity, darned Google.) Anyway here what it said.
—-
Suak in Burmese means ‘vulva’ dirty, foul-smelling, with a foul nether meaning Yuu – means lunatic Actually the words Sauk Yuu put together connote a sex-maniac who had lost his senses
but carries a meaning which conveys a person of the dirty, much despised caste. This particular Burmese seems very bitter with the Burmese people of the ruling class in general.
—
I am only the messenger.

By: It’s been awhile since somebody moved a capital… « Coevolution

It’s been awhile since somebody moved a capital… « Coevolution — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:19:04 +0000

[...] It’s been awhile since somebody moved a capital… These photos of Naypyidaw, Burma’s two-year-old capital city, are breathtaking. I can’t help but think of the many abandoned cities and forts that I’ve visited in India. I imagine they were equally absurd displays of government resources in their day, and now they’re in ruins. [...]

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:08:42 +0000

it’s really hard to get it. and all shoots are very good to figure out what is all about there.

By: Davely

Davely — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:33:53 +0000

Is Sauk U based in Burma? Al the people I spoke to in Burma confirmed most of what is said here about the regime, whose propaganda is plain to see: they even go as far as to display their paranoia with gigantic posters decrying “foreign influences”.