The bustling streets of Yangon. Pedestrians are the bottom of the food chain here. After staring at the traffic with an obvious look of terror in my eyes, a young woman grabbed my hand to run across the street. After we made it across, she ran off in another direction and turned back to yell “Not so scary!”. I like to think that moment will stick with me through life, a reminder that nothing is as scary as it may seem.
The lovely Shwedagon Pagoda. I will always remember this place as the time that little boy stole my shoes and ran in circles around me refusing to give them back. Luckily my friend tricked him into taking his shoes off, stole them from him, and we did a fair trade. Oh how happy I am that I am no longer in middle school! 
These boys followed me around most of the day, full of smiles and shy looks. Finally they came up to me and gave me a bunch on yellow flowers. Such a sweet moment! Then we climbed trees and all was good in the world. 
The trip to Kanthaya Beach was a long and bumpy ride. We were stuffed in the back of an open air truck filled to the brim with people and the all encompassing perfume of the manure we were seated on top of. The journey was completely worth it! We ended up in a beach village with not one other tourist and an abandoned beach (besides a couple dogs and a man who wandered through the trees to give me and my friend coconuts). 
The one restaurant in the village…looks like it belongs in a Wes Anderson film. 
Bagan, Myanmar. Truly brilliant! 
-Shannon
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Los Angeles Documentary Family and Portrait Photographer | Shannon M West Photography 