Road Gang

[The_Traveler]

Previously I had written about how roads were made in suburban Myanmar - mostly by hand work. I just came across some pictures that show that. These were taken from a moving (jolting) van; the sun was high and we couldn't stop so the quality is meh.

Preparing the road by digging out ruts.

Laying in the large rock base, Gravel gets carried, spread and raked by hand.

Then a roller, the only heavy equipment we ever saw outside the cities, tamps it down. A tar layer is put on by a man with a bucket with holes in it. He dips it out of a barrel that sits over an open fire and runs along, dribbling the tar.
Eventually the roller smooths that down.
These roads don't carry much heavy traffic, except for the occasional big truck and there is no cold weather to freeze rain in cracks but the roads still don't hold up very long.

 

[tirediron]

Very interesting shots Lew; FWIW, I think the roller is a Marshall & Sons, mid-late 40s vintage.

 

[Trever1t]

Very interesting. Are most road crews women?

 

[The_Traveler]

Very interesting shots Lew; FWIW, I think the roller is a Marshall & Sons, mid-late 40s vintage.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was WWII remains from building the Burma Road which crossed about 100 miles north of this place.
In case you know roiling stock, I will post a train shot if you have any idea about that.

Very interesting. Are most road crews women?

Much really hard physical work, requiring no skill set seems to be done by women.

 

[wyogirl]

your photos always seem to teach me something about other places on this globe.

 

[The_Traveler]

This shot is a little more interesting.
It was taken in 2005 before the 'democratization' in Myanmar outside of a town called Kalaw and was a sneak shot of a forced labor gang. The soldiers watching them got really angry when I took out the camera and it took some dollars and a package of cigarettes to mollify them.

There are many styles of headgear in Myanmar and, if I was more educated I could tell what tribe these people were from by the woman's headgear. Kalaw is in the Southern Shan States and there has been civil war there and actual fighting for years - the Shans against the central giovernment.

 

[The_Traveler]

If this is of interest I will post a little illustrated story about I trek I took in these hills later on today.

 

[oldhippy]

Great stuff Lew, thank you for posting.

 

[Rick58]

Very interesting Lew.

 

[The_Traveler]

Here's some totally amateur pictures from the hike in 2005. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-gallery/349998-trekking-myanmar.html#post3141101