Mandalay

Day 1 - Mandalay

Hey All,

I went out exploring last night and found this area is big in Applicance stores. There are dozens of them around the hotel. I tend to find in Asia these types of stores all seem to group together in an area of town. You may walk a couple of blocks and there will be nothing by Cell Phone companies. Its really unique. The sidewalks are impossible for walking as they are very uneven and filled with things that will wrech my knee if I am not careful, and they are mainly used as motorbike parking anyway so they are pretty much impossible to use. You have to walk on the side of the raod and hope not to get sideswiped by a passing bike. It was getting dark as I ended up about 5 blocks away, and I started back to the hotel, it was raining just a bit also. I noticed that as the stores were closing about 6 ish, the sidewalks were turning into restaurants as tables were being put together and I could see the area was transforming. I waited out the rain which was not long lasting in the lobby and by the time I went back out you could not recognize the area. The sidewalks which were full of parked bikes all of a sudden were restaurants with tables and portable cooking stations. I am going to get a day pic and a night pic and hopefully be able to show you. I found a little spot close to the hotel and had the countries specialty dish Mohinga. Its a soup with noodles and veggies with little crunchy bits added as well as a little chicken I think. Its a fish based broth but does not taste fishy at all. You squeeze a little lime on top and its wonderful. For some reason the locals love to watch me eat, I guess they are either curious or seeing what I think of the food.

I failed to mention that yesterday during the bouncy part of the bus ride to Mandalay, I hit the half way point of my trip. It did not go without notice and some relection on my part. I can only hope the last half lives up to the first half.

I am discovering this country is going to the dogs .... literaly. I cannot even begin to tell you how many stray dogs I have seen, and after a day in Mandalay, this place beats them all.

My first day in Mandalay was great, with the decision to hire a driver the right one. Everything here is spread out and it made the day much more enjoyable. He does not speak english well, but we are able to communicate just enough. It bascially works out to $5 an hour to have the driver, not bad at all. I went ahead and booked him again tomorrow to take me to some places outside of town. He is very thankful for the business.

Our first stop of the day was the old Royal Palace. The entire complex is surrounded by a moat with walls after that. It runs 2 miles sq. in each direction and is huge to say the least. When I went to the booth to pay the entrance fee, there were soldiers with machine guns guarding the gate. At the ticket booth there is a huge sign showing restricted areas for tourist inside the walls. The only place you are allowed to go is the old Palace itself which sets square in the middle. Turns out the entire complex is a military base off limits to anyone. You are not even allowed to take photo until you are at the palace.

The old Palace is made from Teakwood and is beautiful. The last ruling king of Myanmar lived here before the British took control in the 1800's. The palace was then used by the British as a Command Center until WWII when the Japanese took control and also used the Palace as a Command Center. The palace was bombed after that and burned to the ground. After the British left the Govt rebuilt the palace exactly as it was. What a shame to loose such a treasure to war.

From there we went to an old original Teakwood Monestary. I am not sure how old it was but it was magnificent. The carvings were so beautiful. This old Monk invited me in and showed me around. It was really dark inside but I think I have some pictures that turned out. He posed for me as I was leaving, he was a really cool dude with his arms completely tattooed.

We then went to a couple of pagodas that were really cool. He woud try to explain things to me but I could not understand. I would just smile and pretend I was getting it.

He stopped by a travel office for me as I have decided to fly back to Yangon the day after tomorrow. I bought my air ticket and they checked availability at the same hotel in Yangon I used on arrival and it was good. I know there is a good wifi spot next door so wanted to take advantage of that. The other option was the overnight bus for 12 hours from Mandalay to Yangon, and I hate overnight buses as they are loud, and you cannot sleep, so whats the point. The last 5 days of my trip will be traveling Southeast and while I would love to have gone to Hsi Paw, I did not want to give up my time there. I guess I will have to come back - lol. I was also able to confirm my travel plans for that part of the trip.

By this time it was getting close to noon and it was getting hot so we took a break and returned to the hotel and he was picking me up again at 3. I found a tea shop close to the hotel and walked in and found a seat. Its a big open air place and was filled with men in small groups socializing. Like the bagget and crepe is the French legacy in Vietnam and Cambodia, Tea is to Myanmar. There are tea houses everywhe. I could not communicate with the guy but pointed to the tea at the table next to me and they seemed to have several trays of treats and pointed to that too. Soon he returned with several plates, one with these triangle pieces fried that had a meat filling of some kind. There were also these round bean patties that were spicey and delicious, and also some fried bananas. The tea is mixed with condensed milk and is very sweet but delicious. All of the snacks were very good and had 2 cups of tea, when the bill came it was $1.50.

While drinking my tea I noticed they were doing construction on a new building across the way. It was interesting to see they were mixing concrete in these big boxes on the roadside, and then a line of men with buckets would come to the box and get the bucket filled with concrete and they would march to a pour area and hand pour the concrete. Some of the buckets were taken to another spot where a guy on the 3rd floor would lower a rope with a hook and the guy would hook his bucket and it would be pulled up to the 3rd floor and poured. Its a wonder anything gets built around here - lol.

On my way back to the hotel I took a side road and I heard this rythmic pounding. The sign said it was a Gold Leaf Shop. I poked my head in the door and a man waved me in. In this room there were about 5 stations wth guys with sledgehammers pounding this small box. They would change agles every now and then and the tone of the noise would change a bit. Soon one stopped and took the little box and turned it around and started pounding that side. About that time a van pulled up with some tourist and a guide and I heard the guide saying it took 5 hours to pound one small piece of gold into gold leaf. Once finished it went into a room where these ladies were placing the gold leaf on parchment paper and putting them into like books for resale. It was amazing to watch this process being done. I heard more pounding in the back, so there were quite a few of these guys. I picked up one of the hammers and it was heavy. I dont think I would get into a fight with any of these guys. I would soon find out where this gold leaf was going,

Our first stop of the afternoon was the Shweinbin Mondastary which is the site of one of the most famous Buddha Statues in the country. Remember I told you I would be visiting 3 of the holiest Buddhist spots in the country with Shwedagon Pagoda as the first, well this is the 2nd one I will visit of the 3. It was packed with locals and you had to walk a long hallway with booths selling everything from souvenirs for tourist to flowers and offerings for the faithful. Its a golden Buddha that was moved here a long time ago from somewhere else in Mayanmar but has the distinction of supposedly being the Buddha Statue that most resembles the actual Buddha. I read this statue was done shortly by someone who actually met the Buddha. As you enter the area where the Statue is, there is live TV displaying the statue that is in a small room. There is a point where men only are allowed to pass and they can enter the chamber and put gold leaf on the buddha statue. Supposedly the bottom part of the buddha statue is so thick with gold leaf that its turning into a big blob. The face of the Buddha is gold, but nobody puts leaf on that and I read somewhere that the monks at the monestary wash the Buddhas face everynight. You can feel the importance of the place while you are there as people from all over Myanmar travel here to pray at this Buddha.

Our next stop was a Pagoda with hundreds of small white stupas all exactly the same. The sign out front said it was the home of the worlds largest book. There were 700 of the stupas each containing a slab of marble filled with the story and teachings of the Buddha. The sign said it took 8 years to fnish the project. The writing is small and each slab is loaded with text. Incredible place.

We visited another Pagoda and another old teak monestary. They were each amazing on their own. Out last stop was Mandalay Hill. There is a Pagoda at the top of this hill that overlooks Mandalay. The view was amazing. You took these 3 sets of escalators to the top after driving most of the way up the hill. The driver did tell me there are over 1800 steps to the top if you want to walk up. Ummmmm................. no Thanks!

It was getting dark and we went back to the hotel. I strolled around the hotel and found a little restaurant I had missed last night called Min Min. Let me tell you, it was Min Min's job to make sure you had a good dining experience. He had 3 menus, Chinese, Thai and Myanmar dishes. I tried to order a Prawn dish in earthen pot, but he stated they were done for the day with that dish, so I ordered a sweet and sour chicken dish. It came with a spicy soup again, It was delicious. I saw a sign on the wall that said free wifi, but it turned out to be a big dud and I could not get connected. Min Min was really nice and he made me promise to come back tomorrow and he would have the earthen pot dish.

Strolling back was fun as the night life on the street was going full blast. There were a couple of huge flames going from raodside eateries with ladies cooking away and tables laoded with locals enjoying the cooler night. Some areas were fairly dark, some of the open stores lit other parts up.

All in all it was a great day. I only hope the pictures do this place justice.

Happy Travels, Don

　



Day 2 - Mandalay

　
Hey All,

Another busy day and I am exhausted. Thanks for all the emails waiting on me when I got back, I love them, with the best suggesting I put some of the chinese balm on my burnt fingers from the light socket. If you do not get emails from me that will make no sense.

Another observation from my time here, the women when riding on the back of a bike all ride side saddle. It looks very proper, of course they are on back of a scooter, not straddled on a Harley. I also love to see how many they can pile on a bike. I see many times a family of 4, but today saw a guy with 3 monks.

First stop of the day was this white Pagoda, really cool. The we went to the U Bein Bridge. First the story I read is that a former King donated his teak wood palace to furnish the materials to build this bridge across this lake. Seems its the longest teakwood bridge in the world. This is a HUGE tourist attraction with the most popular time at sunset. You get a boat and take pictures of people crossing the bridge at sunset.  I chose to go early to avoid that meyley, but even early it was still busy. I walked halfway across the bridge, stopped and sat at a bench and came to the conclusion: I dont get it. Love the story of the king, but its a rickity, hard to walk on, crowded old bridge. The majority of the locals on the bridge are just trying to sell you crap. I just dont get the attraction and you know how I tell it like it is. I could have skipped this stop.

Next we went to this huge Monestary that houses around 1700 monks. He told me where to stand and watch the monks line up for their lone meal of the day. Once again, it was a tourist bonanza and I HATE that. You were elbow to elbow with everyone trying to nudge you out of the way since they got there late and you got a good spot. It was interesting, but again, had I been the only one there I would have liked it better. I just hate crowds. The monks march in and get their rice and bread and a banana, then go into the huge lunch hall. They have a system down and can serve them fast. I was ready to leave the buses behind.

We crossed a new Bridge, which was interesting as they have a look out spot built into the bridge at one end. You literally pull over blocking a lane of traffic and get out and take some photos. There were some motobikes and one other car. Its not the safest thing to do, but got a couple of good photos.

We visited another Pagoda on top of a hill with some great views and on the way down stopped at a couple more. I cannot remember their names and my drivers english is not the best. But loved them all. Someone asked if I get tired of seeing all of these Pagodas and the answer is NO. They each have their own personality and something that makes them unique. I have yet to see on that did not have something about it that I enjoyed. One from this evening had this really large reclining Buddha and about a 5 story tall sitting Buddha. They also had these large Owls, and having seen these owls for sale for the locals, I must look into the story behind this. The other Pagoda had these semi circle of Buddha images that looked out onto a beautiful view.

The last stop of the day was a ferry crossing on a small boat, once on the other shore you hire a horse cart to take you around. When I saw these horses I could only think of my friend Katie and would not hire one. I did not feel these are the best kept animals and did not like the whips these guys were holding. I did some walking on my own for a bit, but not sure where the horses took you. I took the Ferry back over and my driver was a bit surprised to see me so soon, I just laughed and told him long story, I dont think he understood. Katie, you have had an influence on me!

I went to Min Min's again tonight to see what he does not have available, lol. I had this prawns with glass noodles in this wonderful broth cooked in an earthen pot, it was delicious. Tomorrow I can sleep in a bit as I am going on a 1 hour trip on the river to Mingun. After visiting there I will take the boat back and arranged for the taxi guy to take me from there to the airport for a flight back to Yangon, with a quick stop to pick up my luggage from the hotel. The flight is at 1815 so I had time to make this little side trip. I have heard its worth the trouble.

I have enjoyed Mandalay and Bagan, but will be happy to get back off the beaten path the rest of the trip and leave the tour buses behind. After a couple of nights in Yangon, the rest of the trip will be special and besides Mrauk U, what I have been looking forward to the most.

Happy Travels, Don