myanmar part 1: three days in mandalay

for months honey had been talking about how he wants to go and visit myanmar. he got himself a nice e-book of lonely planet's myanmar and showed me some photos and stuff about the specific places he wanted to see. i was convinced! so we decided that it was gonna be our next trip - on his birthday.

since he can no longer fulfill this trip, i have shared with his family about this plan. i told them that i intended to take this journey for him, and invited them to join. his parents and brother decided to come along.

i started doing some research about myanmar but at some point i kinda dropped it. (i got lazy and..) i wanted to be surprised. while it's probably smart to read up and know a lot about the place you're visiting so you can understand it better, know how to act when you're there and possibly know your way around, i suddenly had this feeling that i wanted to just see what happens. and my, was i fascinated to get to know myanmar.

first impressions   
while i was aware that buddhism is prevalent in myanmar and visiting these stupas and pagodas is one of the highlights of our trip, i didn't know very well that burmese women - and men - wear very long skirts called long yi. i also didn't know that the white mask they put on their face is because of its cooling effect and is perceived like a make-up - to pretty them up. aside from that, you barely see women wearing make-up. so it doesn't take much to understand that the society is still mostly conservative, something we don't get to see much these days.

people were also friendly and curious - but not overly so. i liked that they weren't very intrusive. they would simply ask where you are from, and if they speak good english, probably ask or say a few more things. you'd also get some smiles from them especially if you smile back, and they would not hesitate to offer you whatever snacks they are having. and even though they are a little bit shy, if you ask to take a photo they'd be very happy to oblige! they are not camera-shy after all! 

the road to mandalay
mandalay was our first stop. initially we weren't sure yet how long we intend to stay in mandalay seeing that there isn't that much to do there (in our opinion at least). but we were pleased with what we've seen. 


our first stop was mandalay hill, one of the top attractions in mandalay. you can clearly see how touristy it is by looking at these photo 'studios' as you ascend. 

interesting backdrop

the perfect model

  
nonetheless it's a very special place to see - it's a popular pilgrimage site for buddhists as it's filled with pagodas and monasteries. 

the long way up

 

huge golden buddha statues

colors everywhere

golden stupas

but not only was it amazing because of these, but also for the interesting people and things we came across as we went up, and on our way down. there were snack bars and souvenir shops with people smiling at us all the time. mams chat up a young lady with a thanaka and she decided to put some on her. thanaka is the white mask i was mentioned earlier that they put on their face for its cooling effect. it is actually the name of the tree in which its parts are ground with some water into some slab until it becomes creamy. 

mams getting a makeover

 
on our descent we were lucky to catch a ceremony called shinbyu - where young boys are ordained into buddhist life. it depicts the life of Buddha where as a young prince he lived a lavish life - hence the boys are clad in royal outfit - but then later on they will be received by the monks and ordained, then they change into their monastic robes.

very princely

it was almost noon when we made it back down. but we didn't let the scorching heat beat us. we went on to visit the golden monastery. this monastery used to be a part of the royal palace (which we visited later in the day) - the last remaining original structure from it. it is also popular for the carvings in its teak wood doors. the only problem was that we have to walk around the monastery barefoot, and the ground was really hot due to the noon sun. ouch. 

glistening under the sun

sorry, ladies

i wasn't very surprised that ladies were not allowed near the 'buddha area' or that section where the statue rests, but i tried to look up the reason behind this. the simple answer is 'due to religious reasons'. the longer answer is that women are seen as object of lust, and a bhikkhu or monk is not supposed to be touched by or be close to a woman as it may fill his mind with lust. however some burmese folks replied (in the forums) that this is backward thinking but out of respect it is still observed. 

later in the day we visited the mandalay palace which was the royal residence of the last two kings of burma. constructed in 1857 the palace had been mostly destroyed during WWII and hence what we see now is a replica (not restored) which was built around 1900s. 

palace grounds

the next day we signed up a day tour around mandalay proper and its outskirts. our driver's name is kyaw kyaw, which i thought was a cool name. he took us to a few interesting places such as Mahagandhayan Monastery where you can watch the monks line up for lunch; Mahamuni Pagoda where pilgrims stick golden leaves on the Mahamuni buddha image; neighboring towns Sagaing and Innwa (more pagodas and temples!) and finally to U-Bein bridge in Amarapura. the day was packed but it was fantastic.

clockwise: mahamuni pagoda; stupa at innwa;  tourist boats at U-Bein and monks at mahagandhayan

evenings in mandalay
so what did we do at night after the day trip is done? well, eat and drink of course! myanmar has a staple beer called, well, myanmar beer! but mandalay has its home grown called, well, mandalay beer! and we tried both of those. as for the food, everything was delicious. our humble hotel is in the city center and there are a bunch of eateries around. there's one right across our hotel that we frequented - and so did a lot of locals. cheap, good, relaxed and unassuming. what else can you ask for. 

barbeque stuff and myanmar beer

washing down traditional burmese meal with mandalay beer

one evening we also just took a stroll to the night market, though we didn't get to buy anything as they are selling mostly clothing stuff and things that appear to be made in china. it was nice to see though, how the night life in mandalay was. it's very tame of course compared to other cities in asia, but like everywhere else the men know how to enjoy themselves over a couple of beers or hard liquor. women drinking in public is not a very common thing in myanmar hence the women we saw drinking were tourists like us.

so after three days in mandalay we felt that we were off to a good start in myanmar and were looking forward to the rest of the journey. next stop - inle lake!