Royal Guest House Mandalay

I err on the side of "can live without it". Mandalay, suffice it to say, has few redeeming qualities. Extremely aesthetically Unpleasing- whatever grandeur there may have been in its days as the royal capital, was leveled, if not with the passing of the British, then with the no less than devastating spillover effects of WW2. Everything, from the dust billowing everywhere, covering everything from trishaws to palm leaves, to the unexpectedly unpolitical and unfunnily gauche performance of the...

I did another travel-until-you-drop journey: started the trip in the morning, travel All day and thru the night, arrived at my destination the next morning, did the sightseeing without a rest, wouldn't hit the bed until the end of the second day. I did this kind of thing quite frequently in Burma. This time I was traveling from the Golden Rock to Yangon, and at the bus station in Yangon I caught an overnight bus that went north to Mandalay.

My bad luck in Burma continued. My bus develo...

It was a really long drive from Inle lake to Mandalay. The road is terrible and we seen many trucks and buses breakdown along the way. Eventually we got to Mandalay that evening. Our driver doesn't like Mandalay, too many motorbikes he says. Motorbikes are not allowed in Yangon incidently, only govermnent people can use them there and I have no idea why. On first impressions, Mandalay seems nicer than Yangon but after a few days you realise that it is a bit of a hole. Electricity is cut off a...

17.5 -20.5.08 Mandalay. Burma. ..ja se oli synkka ja myrskyisa yo. Saavuttiin aamuyosta tanne Mandalayhin (http://wikitravel.org/en/Mandalay tai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay) mukavassa kaatosateessa (monsuuni painaa paalle..) joten poikkeuksellisesti paadyttiin paikalla odottaneen freelancer matkanjarjestajan mukaan aamupalan jalkeen. Saatiin nopeasti kyyti guesthouselle ja poistettin univaje pikku nokosilla. Taman jalkeen olikin aika lahtea tutkimaan mika tasta 150 vuotta vanhasta e...

The taxi ride back to Mandalay was a breeze, it was a long breeze but compared to the bus, fantastic, a 7 buck classic. Along the way we passed a truck that had tipped over in the middle of the road, it was a perfectly flat piece of road in the middle of a town. Perhaps it had been horrendously overloaded just like many of the other trucks we passed through the narrow-twisty-sheerdrop mountain passes. We got our driver to stop, grabbed our cameras and jumped out the car. I managed to get two ...

Myanmar rocks. Come see it now! The simplicity and beauty I see now will certainly change very soon, for better or for worse, who knows. There are no tourists which is awesome for me but sucks for the Burmese. Today I took an express tourist boat between Bagan and Mandalay, 2 of the 4 biggest tourist towns. It cost only $25 for the 9 hour ride. And I was the only passenger. Can you believe that? The manager of the crew of 9 half jokingly says to me, "You must be a rich man? No? You have a who...

Entry containing 9 photos titled: on the way to Mingun, on the way to Mingun, Mingun, Mingun, Mingun, Lonely Planet Cover, Mingun, Ox Cart Taxi, Mingun

Entry containing 6 photos titled: ferry to Inwa, weaving factory, End of the road, Weaving factory, Amarapura, U Bein Bridge, Opening ceremony for new Sagaing Bridge

The train from Taungoo to Mandalay was a lot more brutal than the first leg. On this edition of the ride, we took ordinary class. This meant wooden seats. Even with a number of folded up pieces of clothing, my ass took days to recover. In the row ahead of us, a group of riders spent their time drinking whiskey and spent their time staring at us. On a number of occasions, they felt up our forearms. No idea why. One of them touched my hair. Near the end of the ride, they were beginning to grow ...