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 From Yangon to Mandalay (300 km) 50 minutes flight ...

rgn_mdl_map
... and from Mandalay to Monywa (135 km) 3h by car
mandalay_monywa

On our way, west of Sagaing: a stop at Kaung-hmu-daw  pagoda
mandalay01_0556

According to the legend the stupa was shaped like the queen's breast...
mandalay01_0554 mandalay01_0555
I remember that years ago the stupa was brilliant white...
mandalay01_0552 mandalay01_0553
...and Google Earth shows it was still white in 2009... so, why a golden breast?
kaung_hmu_daw

Further down the road to Monywa (they pronounce it 'Monjuwa')...

Village people are very inventive when it comes  to making money out of 'nothing' (below)

These photos were taken close to a copper mine's over-burden dump...

enroute_monywa_0562

...where villagers scrape off the upper soil layer after rainy season...

 

...leach the soil with water which is re-used in the process again...
enroute_monywa_0561 enroute_monywa_0560
...recover the remaining quantities of copper by using tinned cans (an electrochemical process) ...
enroute_monywa_0558 enroute_monywa_0559

...and after melting the copper sell the product as raw material for bronze
enroute_monywa_0564 enroute_monywa_0563

The process is interesting as they do not use any chemicals for leaching (pehaps a little sulfuric acid)!

 

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Copyright(c) 2003 Dr. Oswald J. Kolb. All rights reserved.