Myanmar-Mandalay Region

view of Mandalay from our hotel room

Hit the brick wall.......no not literally, but culture shock really made itself known as we drove from the Mandalay airport into the city.  The “highway” was a poorly paved road (albeit divided highway) with nothing but open space, shacks (OMG- these were homes!!!!) situated along the shoulder of this "highway", cattle just wandering everywhere.....get the picture?  The air was extremely hazy- pollution I assumed, but later learned it was mostly dust combined with the diesel from the taxis, motorcycles, and tuk tuks (smog?).  This haze/smog just hung everywhere giving a dreary appearance.  Downstairs from our hotel were street markets, outdoor restaurants, and shacks where people lived.  Electricity was not 24 hours (hotels have generators ensuring their “First World” guests have their air conditioning).

shopping by entrance of our hotel

Given the culture and language barrier here, we decided to hire a travel guide company to serve us in Myanmar.  They would pick us up/drop us off at airports, arrange transportation, and fetch us each morning from our accommodations (and return us in the evening) and take us around to see and learn about Myanmar.  It was just us- no group.  We selected our own accommodations (with recommendations from the travel company), and we gave them our "must see" sites and allowed them to fill in the rest of the schedule with sites based upon their knowledge and experience.  Each city we had a new guide and driver.  It was absolutely fantastic (we felt very spoiled as this is usually not how we like to travel but it was perfect), and we saw and experienced sites and places we would never have visited were we on our own.  Very little English was spoken, so it would have been difficult for us to manage on our own.  One of the best decisions ever, considering Myanmar was not originally on our list of countries to visit and was a last minute decision based on so many recommendations of fellow travelers.

We were picked up after breakfast by our guide, Jimmy, to see....of course.... a temple!  This was the Mahamuni Buddha- built 623 bc, and later rebuilt in 1884 by King Thibaw, last king of Myanmar.  It was built in a style with both Myanmar and Italian architecture. We then moved on to visit monasteries, street markets, a jade trading market, and stone carving quarter (where Buddha statues and shrines were created from large blocks of marble).   We then moved on to the jade quarter where large stones that contained jade inside were split open, analyzed for quality, and polished.  We also visited workshops for puppets, wood, and tapestry (did you know that the art of marionette puppets was started here?).  After lunch, we went to the Mandalay Royal Palace complex (built 1857 by King Mindon).  Palace no longer exists but the Palace Temple remains.  

Mandalay Royal Palace surrounded by mote

Temple at the Royal Palace

Mosaic at the Swanooponyashin Pagoda

We ended our day at a temple on Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset.  We learned more than we could comprehend about the Buddhist faith and monks, and were taught the history of this region- wars, occupations, dynasties, and royalty.  Information overload!  I also forgot to mention that one needs to remove their shoes at any temple or monastery.  Thousands of people walking barefoot on stone, marble, brick, tile (always mismatched, whatever happens to be available), or carpeting.  You can tell who the tourists were...they were the ones wiping their feet with a “wet wipe” at the exits!

	marble carving cutting jade cut jade identifying where to cut jade international jade trading market marionette shows every night hazy sunset.....everywhere in Mandalay it was always hazy!

The Second day we traveled out of Mandalay to Amarapura to visit 

the Mahagandaryon Monastery (over 1,500 monks and novices reside there), and watched their procession into the dining hall.  Many of the monks we saw were as young as 5 years old.

Then off to a silk weaving factory to learn about the Myanmar’s silk weaving industry started back in 1803.


  

Next was the Upein Bridge (the worlds longest teak bridge- 1.2 km in length, over 160 years old).  We then traveled to Ava (a previous dynasty capital), first crossing the Myitnge River on a small ferry, where we were met on other side by a horse-drawn cart and boarded for quite the bumpy ride to see.....now wait for it.....the teak Bargayar Monastery (1834, built entirely of teak wood). 

below the Upein Bridge, it was laundry day at the local well.......

A few more temples along the way in our very bumpy cart, including the former Amarapura Palace.  We then crossed back on ferry and traveled to Sagaing crossing over the Irrawaddy River (Myanmar’s longest river) to visit the Oominthonese Pagoda (hint...Pagoda is also a code word for temple) and the Swanooponyashin Pagoda to view the sunset. 

		a whole lot of Buddhas!
women working road construction

Next morning we set off to Bagan by automobile.  Most roads are only one-lane and in poor condition (First World and Transportation Planner observation).  Many roads, even in urban areas, are still dirt roads.  Road paving is done by hand with minimal machinery, and the roadwork crews laying the gravel and pouring hot asphalt are mostly women (in their traditional long skirts and flip flops) as female labor is much cheaper.  Women are paid less in any job here in Myanmar.  OMG- they seem to be ok with this!  Many of the intercity roadways are toll roads as the government does not have the funding to build highways.  Therefore, private companies take on this role and charge to use their road.  Some of the sections may be only a kilometer in length, but they have a person sitting there collecting tolls (very cheap!).  We must have paid over 50 tolls on our drive to Bagan.

Mt. Popa

On the way to Bagan, we stopped off at Mt. Popa, an extinct volcano over 1,500 meter high, that is now home to.....wait for it.......a temple complex of Stupas (a mound-like solid hemispherical structure containing relics), monasteries, and Nat worship shrines.  Oh, did I mention we had to climb over 777 steps (some almost vertical-like ladders) to get to this Temple at the top?  Barefoot the entire time...lovely!!!  There was also about the same number of monkeys wandering around, looking for food and water bottles.  They did not hesitate to grab the water bottles right out of your hand!  Back to the Nat Shrines.  So, the majority of the country are devout Buddhists .....BUT there is also this separate Pagan belief, which this same majority believe in simultaneously, despite totally conflicting beliefs.  Huh?  I know, still don’t understand it completely but they worship these “Nats”- folks that were once human but when they died, their bodies disappeared, so people think they are spirits and must bring offerings (a.k.a. money) to shrines containing photographs and/or statues of when these Nats were in their human state.  This is done to ask a favor- for wealth, a good crop yield, health, success in business, etc.  This is done because in Buddhism, Buddha preached that one is in control of one's destiny, and it it is only through leading a good life that what you seek will come to you.  Locals, I guess, want to cover all their bases, so they worship Nats alongside Buddha shrines in temples.

"Nat" shrine next to Buddha

on the climb up Mt. Popa

view from top of Mt. Popa

Post Singapore Schematic Map (sometimes the best route is not always a straight line!)