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Mandalay
Entry 30 of 144 | show all | print this entry |
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4:30 am is an awful time to arrive in a place we concluded, even though the bus ride had been quite unremarkable, and we had arrived early dealing with taxi drivers at that hour isn't fun.
Along with other foreigners that had been on the bus, we were loaded into the back of a ute once again (which the motor sounded like it would die any minute) and headed to a hotel downtown. Matt's keen negotiating skills came into play once again and we were settled in within no time, and after a nice hot shower and air con on, took a nap. We took a trishaw that night down to Mandalay Hill, past the moated palace, and then we made it up about 3/4 of the way and settled on a rock overlooking the city. Their we got chatting to a young monk that was studying up on the hill, he was keen to practice his English and talk about politics with us. Again, he was looking over his shoulder everytime he said something. He told us about how Myanmar is a very tough place to live, and how corrupt things are etc. We also got to see a huge marble Buddha, carved from a single huge block.
Over the next couple of days we explored 3 of the 4 ancient cities around Mandalay, without having to pay the entrance fees....missing 1 cause we couldn't find a way not to pay. Mingun was reached by a great boat ride, and the unfinished pagoda was a highlight. That afternoon we shared a taxi ( a little nissan mini ute covered at the back with seats) with a Belgium couple to Amarapurra with it's famous teak bridge, that was very impressive. There I got a palm reading my an astrologist which was interesting, after examining my palms and the backs of my hands he concluded; I would live to over 90, my lucky and unlucky colours and numbers, that my lucky gem was diamonds ( I HOPE SO), I would have 3 children, I would find money in art and that my family would be happy.
At the bridge, there were men fishing from it and women in the water up to their necks, fishing for what we think was fresh water prawns. I don't know how long they spend out there, but up to their necks in water they must be cold, but the sing, laugh and chat amongst each other. Saiging was the last city we visited which was a bit further away, we stopped by a big golden coated buddha. This Buddha gets fatter and fatter by the day as many people visit the temple and apply more gold leaf. Also, we passed through the part of town that scuplts the Buddhas. Myanmar is very proud of it's bridges and we crossed one of these said mighty spans on the way to Saiging, it looked completely out of place compared to the roads that lead to and away from the structure, as you can read in the national newspaper, the bridges help to improve the nation. Their we climbed to the top of yet another hill and got a great view over all the paya's - there were loads and across to the river. We tired to make it to some cave temples to see some frescos, but the monks didn't have the key and could only say "government says no", so I guess no means no, offering money didn't help either.
Our next stop was to be Hsipaw, we had bought our bus ticket from the source, for what we think was locals price, for the early morning start 5:30am up the range. More thumbnails ...
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