Turn Right in Germany, and You'll be in Australia!

My Rough Guide says about Mandalay "The prettiest part of Mandalay is its name." When I read that I thought "wow, that's harsh!!!" I know see why it says that. Please don't mistake me - I'm so glad to have been there and wouldn't have missed it for the world. I encourage all of you to visit. It has so many unique things that are so worth the visit. However, it is a big dirty overcrowded polluted third world city, and you could almost be in any big dirty overcrowded polluted third world city in the world. After the tranquility of our boat cruise, we were having some culture shock! 

The first thing we were going to to in Mandalay was go Kuthodaw Paya to see what Joseph told us was "The biggest book in the world!" I, of course, thought it would be a huge book - you know, one that's made of paper..... surprise! Turns out that it is 729 marble slabs that are inscribed with the teachings of Theravana Buddha, known as the Tipitaka. Each slab is kept in its own small stupa. I admitted my misconception to the group and was relieved to hear that EVERYONE else thought the same thing! Whew.... not just a blonde moment! It was really beautiful to see all of the carvings.

Our next stop was Mandalay Hill for sunset. Joseph told us that we could either climb up the hill for 45 minutes (1,500 steps!) or take the escalators at the top. Sanjay, Mez, and I elected to take the stairs while the others opted for the escalators. The climb is begun at the base of the hill, between two huge carved stone lions. The cliimb up was really beautiful. We were the only people doing it, and on the way up we passed locals who lived alongside the staircase. It was really neat to have this view of family life. Several times we thought we had reached the top, only to realize that there was another winding staircase ahead of us. We made it to the top in about 30 minutes and were amazed by the view that we saw. There were some other tourists, lots of monks, and locals milling about on the temple square that overlooks Mandalay and the surrounding countryside. We have read that the monks all love practicing their English with tourists, and have encoutered several so far who were eager to talk with us. A young university student, Sam, came up to me and asked if we could talk so he could practice his English. His friend (I unfortunately didn't catch his name) was with him, they were both so nice. Sam has studied English for 3 years and is in his final year of university, and his friend is in his first year, both in English and school. They asked me questions about where I was from, then questions about the culture and lifestyle in the US. We discussed health issues both in Burma and other countries. They told me that, in addition to Dengue Fever (Which I knew was a serious issue here, as there is no prevention or really any treatment) they are struggling with TB. Then Mez came up, so I introduced her and they asked her where she was from. "Australia," she said. "Oh, that is by Germany, correct?" Sam asked sincerely. "No, it's in the South Pacific - by New Zealand" Mez replied. "Oh yes," Sam said "near Poland, correct?" "No," I said, "You are thinking of Austria." After about 5 minutes of trying to describe where Australia was, we gave up! We chatted with them for a few more minutes and then said our farewells. Very nice young men! I am so impressed with the English skills of the people here. 

When we met up with the rest of the group, we learned that Eleonore and Barbara had been talking with a monk, and he whipped out his smart phone and asked to add them on Facebook! Now they are FB friends with a monk. (Proving my point, all monks have smart phones) He told them that his profile picture was actually his brother, and he has since commented on some of their photos. Too funny!

After sunset we all headed for the escalators - this was my first time being barefoot on an escalator.... very odd feeling on the toes! We then got back into our truck and headed to our dinner, which would be at a traditional Burmese barbeque restaurant. This place was obviously a local joint, and the girls in our group were the only women there (other than the two cooks, one of whom looked about 8 months and 3 weeks pregnant, poor thing!). Joseph gave us an overview of the food choices and we were let go to choose what we wanted. I chose corn and okra (called ladyfingers here), as I still wasn't feeling brave enough to try meat after my illness. The ladies roasted the food on the open barbeque and then brushed it with spices and oil - it was delicious!!!!! The other got all sorts of meats, and one interesting option that they had were quails eggs. I tried one and it was really good! The corn was the best of my life - sliced off the cobb and then mixed with crisp red onion, salt, and the spices. Oh my gosh so yummy! We also got some potatoes to share, and they were really yummy as well. The restaurant had Myanmar beer on draft, so of course we all had several of those (600 kyat per glass, which is about 60 cents. Dirt cheap!) and the combination of the beer and food was so good. The total for my meal was 3500 kyat, or $3.50 We were happy campers by this point! We walked back to our hotel, the Silver Star, and turned in for the evening. 

At 4:30 am Mez and I were startled awake by the sound of - "Allah huakbar! Allaaaaaaaah Huakbar!" We were completely confused - what city were we in if we were hearing muzzeins?! On your knees facing Mecca, STAT! Finally we drifted back off to sleep, and I dreamt of Morocco, especially Fez. We woke again for real at 6:30 and had yet another reliable yet boring breakfast... eggs and toast (the toast is really not toast, Mez calls it "sugar cardboard!" which I think is quite accurate) and various fruits. Normally I LOVE all of the fresh fruit provided at breakfast in tropical countries. We have seen so many amazing looking mangoes, pineapples, pomegranates, and other fruits in the market, but what are we served every morning at breakfast? Watermelon. Which we have not seen at any markets. Where is the pineapple?! Barbara is especially tired of these breakfasts, as she's been in Asia for nearly 6 weeks and she says that they are all the same! Once we began our city walking tour, Joseph pointed out a street stall selling a thin naan bread with a filling of spiced lentils. It looked delicious! Barbara asked Joseph to help her get one, and so of course the rest of us had to have a bite. It was so good! We decided that we needed to try to get that for breakfast from now on. 

We covered a lot of ground on our walking tour of Mandalay - we saw the railway station (the largest in Burma), we tasted traditional Burmese snacks known as moon cakes (yummy and very very sweet!), we walked to the walls of the Mandalay Royal Palace and took photos. The Royal Palace was abanoned in 1885 when the British conquered Burma and exiled King Thibaw and the entire royal family to India. Ironically, the Raj of India was exiled to Burma and King Thibaw was exiled to India. When they died the countries shipped their bodies back so that they could be buried in their home country. Once the royal family was exiled, the British moved into the Palace. They used it for everything from offices for their government to a chapel to bars and lodging. During World War II, the Japanese bombed the palace, as they knew the British were there. Sadly the entire palace was destroyed, and the only original part remaining are the walls. The palace has been recreated, but it is supposed to be very bad - described as feeling like a Hollywood set - and it is rumored to have been rebuilt using forced labour (no surprise really, considering the military regime) and we all agreed that we have no interest in supporting that. 

Then it was off to the local market, Zay Cho, which was right by the hotel. First, Tom and I needed to change some money. Mez, Tom, Sanjay, and I went into a local bank to get this taken care of, and it was like stepping back in time! Nothing is computerized. There are huge ledgers sitting on the tables, and giant stacks of money sitting behind the counters. It was really interesting to see. Our mission accomplished, we set off for a nice wander around the market. 

After a brief rest period, we were off for our afternoon activities. We started by going to lunch at a restaurant that served traditional Shan style food. This was great, as the next state we would be going to would be Shan State, so it was nice to get an idea of the food. Next on the agenda were going to the village that carves marble stone - so beautiful to see! They had some lovely statues - can I carry this giant marble elephant on the airplane?! After that we visited a monastery built entirely out of beautifully carved teak, a workshop where they make puppets and tapestries and carve wood, and finally went to a gold leaf pounding workshop. All very interesting! The most interesting thing we saw, however, was none of these lovely workshops. While driving we came across a tent for the National League for Democracy - Aung San Suu Kyi's party. Joseph asked  the truck driver to stop and we all piled out. They were trying to get people to sign their petition to the government to amend the constitution. Joseph signed, and we spent a very interesting 15 minutes talking with the volunteers. We told them how much The Lady is admired in our countries and how we all hope for a peaceful and fruitful future for Burma. They were so kind, and gave us some information about the NLD as well as a photo of The Lady. Once again, the people are peacefully advocating for their rights. 

I can't say enough what a fascinating time this is to be here. I feel so privileged to be able to view the country this way, and to be so welcomed by its kind and loving people. 

Once we returned to the hotel, we walked down to a restaurant for dinner. It was called Hunter's, so we weren't really sure what to expect. Turns out it was an ex-pat bar! We bellied up and ordered drinks and burgers. Oh my gosh the service was sooooooooo sloooooooooow. We waited for about an hour after we ordered our food before it arrived! Fortunately we had a great time, talking and laughing together - oh yes, and people watching! Great fun. We had an early night as we had a 4 am wake up to head to Kalaw, in the Eastern Mountains of Shan State. We were all eager for cool temperatures and a mountain environment!

Pages of the biggest book :)

Sunset from Mandalay Hill

Barbecue time!

Mmmmm breakfast!

The lovely people with the NLD that spent time talking with us

Puppet artisans

The Happiest Man in Burma

Now, let me preface this by saying that Burma is a really happy country. Everyone here is so friendly and kind, and people really do seem to be quite happy.

However, no one is as happy as our wonderful guide, Joseph. He has this fabulous laugh, that when you hear it you have to start laughing too! This adds to his already excellent guiding skills. I think a guide can really make or break the experience of a trip - I'm so thankful to have such a good one! I'll try to take a video of him laughing and post it on here. I guarantee that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, it will make you laugh! 

Our group met up bright and early for breakfast at 6:30, and then we headed off for our walking tour of Rangoon. We started by going past a cathedral that was built in the late 1800's by the British, as well as seeing the old Secretary Building. This gorgeous building has been crumbling into decay, but was recently purchased and will be turned into a hotel. Fortunately they will not be destroying the old structure, but renovating it. I'm sure that in 5 years it will be THE place to stay in Rangoon. We also saw some apartments across the road, and asked what class of family would be living in them. Joseph told us that they would be considered middle class apartments. They looked rather run down from the outside, but he told us that they were very nice inside.

From this area of town we walked down to the old colonial section by the river. There is a beautiful, 5 star hotel there called The Strand. We walked into the lobby and were all awed! Merilyn said she looked up how much it would be to stay there one night and it was $900! We were all glad to be staying at our much more affordable hotel! We then walked by another jetty and then headed toward the Sule Paya, which is at the center of the colonial area and is actually in a traffic roundabout. We stopped at a cafe for drinks as it was so hot, and while we were there we saw a protest by the lawyers of Rangoon. They are protesting sections of the constitution, including the ones I told you about that The Lady is working on, and especially the section that dictates that 75% of the military presence in Parliament must agree on a law before it can pass. This was such a peaceful protest - they all had big signs in both Burmese and English, and they were marching three by three down the streets. We later saw a protest in front of the park nearby (that I went to on Monday). This was a protest by many landowners from the north of the country who were protesting the sale of their land (by the military) to the Chinese. It was really interesting to see these two protests - both very peaceful. No military presence, no police, no fighting - just people showing how deeply they care about their country and their livelihood. 

In the afternooon we had some free time - we all ate lunch (I'm addicted to fresh lime juice now!) and then went back to our hotel for a rest. Once it had cooled off some we met and went to Shwedagon. We were there for sunset and it was amazing! It was much more crowded than when I was there the day before, we learned that there were some visiting dignitaries from other South East Asian countries. We also saw a large group of monks from Thailand. I happened to be standing nearby when they took a group photo - I'll post it below! 

The sunset was beautiful. The smell of incense was wafting all around us, and with the ringing of the bells and the chanting of the monks I almost felt as though I was slipping into a trance. It's amazing to feel such peace while in the middle of such a busy place that is crowded full of people. 

There is a quote that I love, and I'm not going to get it word perfect here, but it goes something like this:

"Peace does not mean that you are in an empty place with no one around, but to be in a crowded place and feel peace in your heart."  I have never truly understood the meaning of that quote (even though I've loved it for a long time) until these temple experiences. I was surrounded by people but in my heart I could have been miles above the clouds sitting in perfect silence. 

We headed back to the hotel after this as we were going to have to wake up at 4:00 to catch our flight to Bagan. We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant which ended up being quite the experience! I don't think that the waiters there are used to people coming for dinner - they didn't quite know what to do with us! We ordered drinks and then waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiited for them to arrive. We ordered 5 beers and instead of setting each beer down in front of the person who ordered it they opened one bottle at a time and poured them into glasses, so we ended up kind of juggling the beer. Then they forgot the food that Tom ordered - when I went to ask them if it was coming they said that they missed it and they could no longer cook anything else. So we all shared some of our food with him! Such a great experience to share together. We soaked up some of the views from the rooftop balcony before going to turn in for our early morning. 

Joseph in front of the Secretary Building

I hate to think where that poor duck is now...

The lobby of the Strand Hotel. It's easy to picture the splendour of the British Empire when walking into this elegant foyer

Shwedagon Pagoda

The monks from Thailand

New friends :)

Namaste

Bagan to Mandalay, by cruising on the Ayeyarwady River

The plain of Bagan covers 67 square kilometers and has more than two thousand Buddhist structures. This stretch of land along the Ayeyarwady River has been settled for thousands of years, but it rose to prominece under the rule of Anawhrata. He began the building here in 1044, but most of the structures were built by King Kyansittha, who ruled from 1082-1112. Most of the buildings had been finished by the end of the 13th century. In 1975 there was an earthquake that damaged many of them, and some have been reconstructed. I think that the ruined ones are just as beautiful - they seem so indicative of the bye gone era that they represent.

The temples are beautiful viewed individually, but they are really stunning when viewed from a higher vantage. October through April there is a company that runs hot air balloon trips over them. I really wanted to do that and was disappointed to learn that they were closed for the hot/rainy season.

We all met early Saturday morning to start our tour of Bagan, and we had the option to either bike or ride in a pony cart. I knew I was tired and dehydrated from being sick but I thought I would be fine biking anyway. We set off to the first temple, Shwe San Daw. The biking was definitely more difficult than expected as most of it ended up being in quite deep sandy dirt. We arrived at the temple and climbed 5 stories of very steep stairs up the side to reach the top viewing area.

The view was breathtaking. As far as the eye could see, red stone temples and pagodas thrust their spires through lush green trees, reaching for the blue sky. The gilded spires gleamed in the soft sunlight. Behind these pagoda rose the mountains, providing the perfect background for their ancient elegance. We spent a long time on top, taking pictures and soaking in the view. 

We hopped back on our bikes/pony carts and headed off to the next site we would be visiting. When we got there after about 10 minutes of biking I felt so exhausted. I told Joseph that I thought I had overestimated my recovery from being ill and didn't know if I could bike anymore. "No problem," he said! "We can use the pony cart bike rack!" Sure enough, when we finished viewing the temple I jumped into one of the pony carts with Phil and they stuck my bike on the back of it. So nice of them! I knew that I would enjoy the day much more now without worrying about dehydrating myself further or getting ill again. It was actually really fun to be on the pony cart! Our pony's name was Jemma. 

We went to 3 more temples in the morning, then to a really delicious vegetarian restaurant for lunch. This was really ideal for Merilyn and myself - we are nervous about eating meat since our illness. After lunch we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest time!

Later in the afternoon we visited 4 more temples (including one that is rumored to be haunted! We didn't see any ghosts though, just lots of bats) as well as walked through a local village. We ended the afternoon by going to Pyathada Temple for sunset. 

Watching the sun set behind the mountains was such an amazing experience. It backlit all of the pagodas and made them look quite ethereal. The temple that we watched from wasn't too crowded, although a big bus full of Asian tourists did pull up right before sunset. They weren't too loud, which we were thankful for - we wanted to enjoy the serenity of the sunset! They were all wearing matching lime green hats and we joked about how we felt gypped by Intrepid - where were OUR hideous matching hats?!

We made our way back to the hotel and wandered to a restaurant down the road for dinner. Half of the group had been to this restaurant the night before, when we'd been sick, and they said it was really good! Amazingly one of their specialities was pizza! Most of us had a pizza and let me tell you, it really hit the spot. 

The next morning Mez, Sanjay, Barbara, Eleonore and I woke up really early to go watch sunrise from one of the temples. We got the pony cart from the guest house at 5:15 and trotted off. It was really beautiful to behold. We had to hurry back to our guest house when the sun was up, as we were leaving for our charter boat cruise up the Ayeyarwady River at 7:15. 

We took a little bus to the jetty in Nyaung Oo, and were all excited to see our boat waiting for us in the river. As we all got off the bus, we noticed that there were lots of children around. After walking a little way, I turned back and to my surprise, Mez now had an entourage! 5 or 6 little children were walking wiith her, two of the especially little ones holding her hands. It was so sweet! They walked her to the boat and then left, back up the hill home. There are hardly any docks or wharves here, so when getting on or off a boat you have to get creative. Our fantastic boat crew (one of whom sported the most charming Gilligan style hat) had a thick bamboo plank for us to walk across, and they held a bamboo pole for us to use as a railing. It was really fun, much more exciting than some boring convential way. ;)

The boat was two stories, with the upper deck housing the wheelhouse. Behind the wheelhouse was uncovered deck with three chaise lounges on it - hot in the full sun! The deck in front of the wheelhouse had 8 deck chairs set out for us, and it was covered by a big tarp to shelter us from the sun. The deck chairs had big cosy cushions and the view was spectacular! 

The lower deck had a big open area that served as dining room/luggage area, and behind that was the engine room, bathroom, and makeshift kitchen. Joseph had told us that the chef was really good and we could look forward to delicious authentic Burma cuisine. 

We set off along the river, and spent the morning in wonderful idle repose. We read, napped, talked, wrote, and just soaked up the view and the experience as much as possible. We were the only tourist boat that we saw the entire two days, and it was really great to be part of the local river life. We passed lots of fishing boats, barges shipping teak wood to ports for export, boats carrying local goods to the cities for sale, and interestingly, gold mining boats. The Ayeyarwady has lots of gold in the soil, so these boats were essentially giant panning machines. One end pulled in the river soil, and then the other passed it through a sluice, sifting out the gold. This gold is used mainly in the production of gold leaf. 

The day passed lazily. We stirred ourselves for our delicious lunch - the chef was really really good!- then stumbled back up to our deck chairs, reading and napping. Around 3:00 we stopped at a village where they make beautiful clay pots. It was quite hot by this point so we were all happy to get off the boat and walk up a hill into a shady village. We were able to see how the pots are made, and it was really interesting. I wish I could have bought one, but that would have been difficult to convince the airline to let me bring on! The pots were transported to the river by the women, who carried baskets with 6 pots in them on their heads. They were amazing!

Back to the river and it was really hot! Fortunately we had some breezes to cool us down. Our joke about the boat was that it was "fully air conditioned," meaning that it had no windows and was therefore full of air! At around 4:30 we decided it was happy hour time and out came the local beer and potato chips on the upper deck. Delicious! We spent such a nice few hours talking and laughing and telling tall tales. Our group is a great family!

We had dinner around 6:30 - more delicious local food- then the crew docked us at a sand bar for the night! Phil had purchased some local Palm Liquor, so of course we all had to try it. WHEW! To quote my father "That'll put hair on your chest!" It tasted kind of like tequila, but not quite as good. Maybe if you added some lime juice and salt it would be a great cocktail! After this Joseph came walking into the dining room and announced "ok, the Sand Bar is open!" and we all realized that we could get off the boat and walk around the sand bar! It was pitch black out and the sky was just pollinated with the brightest stars.

It was just amazing being on that sand bar! We all stood around talking and talking for hours out there, walking around and staring at the stars. At one point Sanjay and I were trying to identify the constellations (which was pretty hilarious, as we are not oriented to the sky here) and we definitely found Orion and maybe possibly the Big Dipper. Or at least that's what we're telling ourselves! We ended up lying on the sand trying to identify them - not very successful but much less dizzying! I think that we all totally could have slept out there, but then we realized that the crew seemed to be waiting for us, so we hustled (sort of....) back onto the boat.

Then it was up to the upper deck for us, where the crew had prepared sleeping mats and mosquito nets for us. It felt like summer camp, with the 7 of us all lined up in a row! When I first crawled under my net, I thought that it would be impossible for me to sleep at all. It was unbelievably hot and there was absolutely no breeze. Nothing. No air movement at all. I laid there in a state of sweaty half conciousness for what felt like an eternity, and then finally the wind kicked up around 1:00 am and I drifted off to sleep. The sounds of the river were so soothing - frogs croaking and bugs chirping, as well as the occasional splash from a fish jumping. At about 4 I woke to the sound of singing, and was very disoriented for a moment. After listening for a few minutes earlier, I realized that the singing was coming from fishermen that were fishing on the sand bar! Their music acted as a lullaby and I drifted back into sleep. At 5 I woke, and realized that several of the group were up and that the sun was rising. I got up and we sat at the front of the boat and watched the sun peek above the river, casting this glow along the water - it was just shimmering and gleaming with the light. Absolute magic.

We breakfasted about 7:00, then returned to our upper deck. Later in the morning we docked in Sagaing, a town 9 miles down the river from Mandalay. We set off to view some pagodas, and on the way happened upon a Novitiation Ceremony. This was so lucky and really cool to see! We first realized something was going on when we heard a band playing. We looked ahead, and saw that the band was in the back of a truck playing into microphones that were broadcasting to speakers set on the front of the truck! As we passed the band truck (awesome idea!!!!) we saw three Bullock carts. The bulls were adorned in all of these brightly colored ceremonial items, and in each cart were two beautifully dressed girls. In front of the gates of the monastery the parents of the boy who was becoming a monk stood, wearing beautiful ceremonial clothing. They were all having a big party to celebrate their son becoming a monk. It wa amazing to see!

Sagaing is a very holy city, with many monasteries and nunneries. We first went to a monastery where it was time for the boys to queue to get their last meal of the day (they fast in the afternoon and evening). People donate the food for the monks, so we saw the donors leaving the temple and preparing to servce the monks. A young monk rang a gong, and 200 monks came out of the buildings. They were very orderly. First the boys who had been in the monastery were served, and the little boy monks were served last (baby monks!). It was really interesting to watch. We then went to two pagodas and enjoyed some seriously spectacular views! 

After this it was back to the boat for lunch and the rest of the trip to Mandalay. We ate and then packed up our gear. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful river cruise, but we were all SO READY for showers and air conditioning. My back was still covered in sand from the sand bar, and I was ready to get it off!

We docked in Mandalay and said goodbye to our wonderful boat crew. A bus was waiting to take us to our hotel, the Silver Star Hotel. We had two hours of rest time and then we would be off to Mandalay Hill to view the sunset.

The cruise was another amazing experience in this wonderful country. 

I have done nothing to alter the picture above of sunset, or the one below, of sunrise. This is exactly how it really looked - the most brilliant colors!

Mez and her entourage!

Joseph practicing his flight attendant skills and showing us where the emergency exits are - haha!

My not so great attempt to take a sneaky picture with the captain!

Happy hour!

Here's Barbara demonstrating how we got on and off the boat

Gilligan!