Spring in Yangon brings a complete riot of colour, and I never tire of taking in the glorious colours around me in the pre-monsoon season.

The colour seems to start with the jacaranda, and a variety of purple blooms take over the city.  Then the yellows, oranges and reds of Padauk, flame and other trees, with all manner of coloured blooms appear, contrasting vividly against the green foliage.  The flame tree looks as if it has no foliage at all and stands out dramatically.   The orangey yellow blossoms of the Padauk tree lasts for less than a day, and fall on the ground making a yellow carpet within hours of blossoming. The trees bulge with blossom and it is hard to imagine that it would all be gone within a few hours.

And the season will pass, the trees will gradually lose their poster paintbox colours as the rainy monsoon season reaches us and washes the colours away.

We will again become used to the sounds of frogs and their loud croaking as they call out across the muddy grasses.  The crickets will create a chorus of chittering and chirruping. We hear the distant rumble of thunder and the characteristic whispering of the bamboo as the winds bring each fresh rainstorm.  And the unmistakable and incredibly restful sound of the monsoon rains pouring in torrents, rhythmically drumming on the paths and roofs.  There is something both peaceful and invigorating about the rains cascading.

I will be writing about the details on my sister blog, but this is the space for images.  This set of images is devoted to the temples and spiritual scenes.

Here are a selection of images – the story will be on the wordy blog

The Angkor region draws people from all corners of the world, particularly to explore the temples and ancient sites.  However, there is a great deal to see and experience in addition to the temples.

Here is a taster.