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A STEP BACK IN TIME
Downtown Yangon is a dusty, dilapidated looking city (back to blowing out black bogies again) that, after years of isolation from the rest of the world, feels like a bit of a time-warp; definitely a big change from the ultra-modern Bangkok that we left behind. The welcoming locals certainly make up for the shabby surroundings; in all our travels we've never been greeted by so many strangers as we have been in Yangon. "Mingalabar" is sung out to us by the young, the old, by inquisitive women and red-teethed, pan-chewing men everywhere we go and it's impossible to echo their words back to them without the 'sing-song' inflection that the greeting warrants!
Our first stop in the capital was the Shwedagon Pagoda, a 98 metre tall paya encrusted with over 5000 diamonds and covered in more than 53 metric tonnes of gold leaf. With sunbeams bouncing off the dazzling surface we were certainly thankful to be wearing our sunglasses and we can already appreciate why Myanmar's tourism catchphrase is 'Golden Myanmar'! Even the central roundabout downtown is a large golden pagoda (Sule Paya) sitting bright and brilliant in the middle of the city!
After meandering through Bogyoke Market we went for a pricey drink at the top of the Sakura Tower where we were able to admire the city views. Myanmar is certainly not in the same price-bracket as its Asian neighbours - accommodation, food, drinks and transport are all very expensive comparatively and ATMs are nowhere to be found. With this in mind, one drink was enough to quench our thirst (and mind our wallets) so we headed back to our hotel for the evening.
Odd moment in Yangon: Walking along the footpath and hearing a dog barking beneath our feet (literally). At first glance we seemed to be the only ones thinking this was strange but after Joel lifted up a slab of concrete to try and get to the poor wee pup a few locals gathered around to investigate (this causing the frightened dog to retreat back into his hidey-hole under the pavement). Rescue-attempt, FAIL!
We moved on to our next destination via a surprisingly comfortable bus and arrived in Mandalay after only 8 hours - swish and swift, our lucky day! Although, we did have to wear headphones the entire journey due to what appeared to be a 'Burma's Got Talent' type show being blasted on the TV screen at the front (to us it sounded more like a bunch of Burmese cats stuck inside the bus gearbox but each to their own I guess)! At the bus station, a friendly and very well-spoken taxi driver noticed Tahi (our Kiwi mascot) on Joel's bag and greeted us with a hearty "Kia Ora" - it did the trick and we were in his taxi on our way to the city!
Mandalay was once the ancient capital of Burma and it does feel like you've stepped back in time a bit - even in the central city the people still rely on markets for daily produce and have little stalls set up on the street selling their wares. We decided we would spend our first day exploring the city by foot so we set off towards the Grand Palace and Fort complex in the centre of town. Arriving at the Grand Palace we were told that the government demands a $10 entry fee into the complex; not really wanting to support the (still very corrupt) government when we didn't have to (and also because we're tight Kiwis!!) we decided to flag the palace and walk up Mandalay Hill for a view inside the walls and over the city instead. We had a nosey at a couple of temples at the foot of the hill first and then removed our shoes and set about walking up the sacred stairs to the top. I'm not sure what it is about Buddhists but they seem to love putting their temples on the very tops of the steepest hills they can find and Mandalay Hill was no exception. It was a pleasant walk up though and we were greeted by many friendly locals along the way. Near the top I spotted some very cute child Monks and was contemplating whether it would be rude or not to ask them for a photo when all of a sudden they walked over to me and asked if they could please take MY photo. "Why yes you can little Monk (Monklette?) and I will take this opportunity to snap some photos of you too!"
After a breather at the top we made our way barefoot back down the stairs, found a little tea-house for some lunch and then had the bright idea of walking around the entire palace wall complex in the sweltering mid-day heat (later we were told the perimeter is 9 kilometres long which would explain why we were a little hot and sweaty by the time we arrived back in town).
The following day we hired a taxi to take us out to the village suburbs of Mandalay to see some of the sights. First, we stopped off at the busy Mahamuni Paya and wandered around observing the goings-on there. The Buddha at this temple has had so much gold leaf placed on him over the years that the layer is 15cm thick! We then headed to the Ganayon Kyaung monastery in Amarapura, home to over 1400 monks, arriving just in time to see them waiting in two unbelievably long lines for their daily meal (consisting of a bowl of rice and a piece of bread). It was a fascinating thing to watch and they've certainly got systems and orderliness down to a fine art - within about 15 minutes every monk had their breakfast served and was dining inside the hall.
After the monastery, we drove to Sagaing Hill (more steep steps, more hilltop temples, more sweaty bodies) but the view here was quite exceptional with the golden stupa-studded hills surrounding us. We then headed to the township of Inwa, cut off by rivers and canals and only accessibly by archaic, overloaded motorboats. Here we hired a horse and cart and trotted around the village to take a look at the ancient ruins, old teak monasteries and palace watchtowers. Our lovely horse-and-cart driver looked about as old as some of the ruins and chatted away to us entirely in Burmese for much of the 3-hour loop! Our final stop for the day was U Bein's Bridge; at 1.2km it holds the record for 'the world's longest teak bridge' (at a rickety 200 years old, it should probably also hold the record for 'the world's most hazardous bridge')! Terrified that I was going to fall straight through the town's prized relic I made sure to follow the line of nails as I tiptoed my way over to the other side and back again.
Random joke we were told by an old man in Mandalay: Three maybe crazy men in a room. I am Dr to check if they crazy. I ask the first crazy," What is 3 x 3?" He tell me "3 x 3 = 219". I say, "You are crazy, you go over there". I ask the next crazy, "What is 3 x 3?" He tell me "3 x 3 = Chicken Curry!" I say, "You are too much crazy, you go over there." Then I ask last man, "What is 3 x 3?" He say, "Sir, 3 x 3 =9". I say "Yes, you are no crazy but how you know that is right answer?" The man say, "That easy Sir, 219 - Chicken Curry = 9!"
High: Trotting around the ancient ruins of Inwa with our friendly old horse-and-cart driver.
Low: Having got so used to being on 'alert' for pick-pockets/ thieves/ scammers, it's hard to immediately trust people who just want to engage with you. We're now beginning to realize that the people here are sincere, welcoming and genuinely curious about us and it makes me a little sad to realize how sceptical we've become (and how necessary that scepticism is in other parts of the world).
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