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Took a long 7 hour 160mile bus drive along 'The Road to Mandalay', but actually fascinating views so went reasonably quickly. Mandalay is Burma's cultural capital and the last royal capital of the Burmese kingdom. Lots of monastries, craftworkshops and temple topped Mandalay hill but also very noisy and bustling with scooters, bicycles, laden trucks everywhere. (Yangon had no scooters as they were banned apparently because one of the generals sons was killed by one..)
The road trip was slow going at the start with winding roads through the mountains with hairpin bends and sharp drops. A lot of the road was being rebuilt mostly by hand by small groups including many women working for $1 an hour for 6 hours - hard manual work and sleeping under tarpaulin sheets at the side of the road - but big smiles and waves as we passed. The last third of the journey was on a faster toll road that opened just before Christmas to have a quick road to the new administrative capital. Hardly anyone was on the road.
In Mandalay we stayed in a hotel by the river, the Ayarwaddy River View Hotel. I was woken up at 4am every morning to the call to prayer - chanting and wailing - unlike the Muslim call to prayer. There are about 200 000 monks in the area , so I think this is their wake up call but unfortunately it turned out to be mine for three nights too. The monks are fascinating and intriguing. If they follow strictly the rules, they should only have 8 possessions: 3 robes, their alms bowl, a razor kit, a fan, sewing kit and a water strainer. You'd think it also included a camera as at many temples they are there taking photos - a most bazaar sight. They get up early, chant for an hour and then go out for their alms which they then eat as their one meal a day early afternoon. There are male and female monks (the ladies in pink the men in red/orange).
At one temple, a monk started chatting to me saying he would like to practise his English (which was already very good). The other surprising thing was there were pictures and paintings of Aung San Su Kyi around. Apparently for the tourists - there are still eyes and ears out there if anyone else was to take an interest.
Obviously at all the temples you have to be modestly dressed, knee length covering, no straps and no shoes. So particularly your feet become incredibly dusty as there is dust everywhere as its the hot dry season (high 30s at least but it does get much hotter - hard to imagine).
We came across an initiation ceremony for the children (boys and girls) entering the monasteries for anything from a week to longer, some were very young and looked a bit scared. This was the more wealthy locals who saved hard and dressed the children as princes and princess in full make up in nylon pink/apricot outfits. The very proud parents also dressed up and had offerig of flowers and fruit and were being driven and paraded around to all the local pagodas with music blaring out and all getting their blessings. A fascinating sight. Apparently the poorer families either wait until after harvest when there is more money or the children can just quietly enter the monasteries. We also came across a monastery that also was a school. Although there is free education as mentioned, they do have to pay for books and extras so for many children the only option is to be educated by monks.
Around Mandalay we visited lots of keys sights, the world biggest book (the entire Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble slabs each housed in its own small stupa), the Golden Palace Monastery which is actually beautifully made from teak. A short boat ride up the river to Mingun allowed us to visit a pile of bricks (what would have been the worlds largest Pagoda if the King building it hadn't died) and the built base also split in a large earthquake in 1838. But still pretty high and good to walk up but very hot and a bit scary at the top. Surrounded by locals giving you a hand to help you up as they bounded up and down - all for a bit of a tip. There was also a 90tonne bell nearby that was supposed to be hung in the pagoda but obviously wasn't so is supposedly the worlds largest uncracked bell. To avoid the hawkers and tourists, four of us wandered through the back streets of the village which was much more interesting and one lady proudly shouted us to come over and take photos of her new born piglets! The one thing about Burma is te place is full of dogs and puppies - some look relatively healthy, others full of mange - but no dog poo anywhere... We took a lovely slower journey back down the river to enjoy the sunset.
The next day we visited Amarapura, Burma's penultimate royal capital with a long footbridge 1.2km across a lake built in 1849 with over 1000 teak wood posts. It felt very high as it's the dry season and mostly crosses seasonal vegetable gardens rather than the lake itself. No sides to the bridge and a bit scary at times but worth the walk across with beautiful views of the paddy fields, fishermen and stupas in the distance among the haze. Four of us got a sampan boat back so we could see the bridge from the lake, it was rowed by a toothless grinning 80 year old man. A visit to another very old teak monastery before get on a bumpy horse and cart to be driven around the sights of Inwa - also a royal capital at one time. Interesting sights but very hot and lots of tourists- definitely part of the circuit.
There seems to be a lot of group travel, mainly middle aged and a lot French and German. A few more hawkers around but not too bad and hardly any begging.
That evening I started to feel a bit nauseous but thought it was the heat. But a sleepless night - it was clearly a bug and having to do a 10hour boat journey to Bagan was not the most comfortable experience I have ever had but I managed it.
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