Mandalay Hotels
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Mandalay Madness
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WOW - Mandalay is quite the city. I have so much to tell you all that I don't know where to even begin. Perhaps first a small statistic - Myanmar is home to approximately 65 million people and in a normal year sees about 350,000 tourists. This year that number has decreased by almost 70%. Needless to say, we aren't bumping into a lot of other travelers......
Mandalay itself has a population of one million. It feels like a rather small town from many years ago when you are here though - there are no street lights; the electricity only works sporadically; the roads are in terrible condition. Many of the vehicles on the road are about 40 - 50 years old (small Mazda trucks used as taxis)
We have basically had our own driver for the last three days here - with his trishaw. Basically that's a bike with a sort of side car that one person sits forward in and one backwards. The first time we met him it was at about 6pm and he told us during our journey that we were his second customers of the day - and he had started working at 6am. He pays 500 kyat a day for the bike (basically $0.50 US) but had only earned 300 kyat ($0.30 US) from his first customer. He, like all the Burmese, are incredibly friendly, open and honest. Chatting with him makes me realize how lucky we really are at home. The first night he picked us up, took us back to our hotel, waited an hour or so for us to get ready and then took us to a marionette show, waited an hour during the show, and then took us back to our hotel again - probably about 7km of cycling. During our drive, we arranged for him to take us the next morning to a famous temple - at 3:30am. As far as we can tell, I think he waited outside our hotel all night for us to make sure he wasn't late. He then took us to the temple (more on that in a moment) and acted as tour guide as best he could while we were there, and then took us back to our hotel - about 5-6km. At this point, between the previous night and that morning, we paid him the equivalent of $6.00 US. He was so excited to go home and show his eight-month pregnant wife his earnings. I'm assuming he made the same from us in a day as he does normally in a week. He's been our driver ever since, and has been absolutely wonderful taking us to all sorts of sights. (And he's been updating Malcolm on the football scores too!)
The temple at 3:30am?? Each morning at 4:00am, monks wash the face of the Buddha; its quite the ceremony. We went yesterday morning (March 21) which is a religious day here so there were hundreds of people there to watch. Sadly, women are not allowed to approach from the front, so I had to settle for watching from a side vestibule. Malcolm however got a grand view, I think. Once the washing is over, then men are allowed to purchase and apply small sheets of gold leaf on the Buddha, which Malcolm got to do as well. All in all, was a very special thing to see - even worth the really early morning!
Our driver took us to a gold leaf factory as well on the way to dinner last night. I can't believe how much work goes into making the leaf. Essentially, the gold is cut into tiny pieces and then layered between bamboo paper and stacks of 1000 sheets are bundled together and in three stages hammered by a man with a mallet for six and a half hours. Seriously - like a twenty pound mallet - for over six hours. Now mix that exertion in with 35C - 40C temperatures and you've got a job I wouldn't want to do!
The people here are, I think, the most special thing about Myanmar. They are very sweet and gentle, and incredibly friendly and open. And almost noble/refined in a way we haven't seen in SE Asia. For example:
Most people in other countries simply shout at you "Taxi?!" or "Tuk Tuk?!" whereas here yesterday while walking on our street a trishaw driver asked us rather quietly, "Do you require transport?" And many people speak English here, and very well also. Because most people study it in school or private lessons, they learn a quite formal English. Its really very charming. We had a really great chat with a monk today over ice cream and he was really interested in our pictures of Scotland. In fact, he asked if it would be alright if he could have one (which of course it was!!) When he and his friends were leaving, he wished us good health and hoped that we would not suffer from any swellings. I'm not too sure what that meant exactly, but it was meant with good intentions!
And to get someone's attention you simply purse your lips together and make "kissy" noises. Which is heaps of fun, but I haven't been brave enough to do it yet!
And to keep the sun off their faces and I guess to make life easy, many women balance their handbags on top of their heads.....they obviously must not keep 50lbs of rubbish in their bag like I do!
Honestly, there is just so much that I want to tell you all about it here - its just so wonderful and different here. I have been writing a list of things I wanted to mention, but of course I left the list at the hotel, so some things will have to wait for another day. When that is, I'm not sure I'm afraid - we are heading out to small places now for a few days and I doubt I will have internet access. We are heading tomorrow north east a little bit to a town called Pyin U Lwin and then in a couple of days even further north east to Hsipaw. Then back to Mandalay, and then (groan) another 12 hour bus ride to Bagan. Then from there another 12 hour bus ride to Inle Lake, and then eventually back down to Yangon.
I will write more when I can - sorry no photos yet, I can't hook my hard drive up to these computers.
All our love,
K & M
Latest Comments (1)
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Auspicious (reply)
Mar 23, 2008 23:05 EST by adriennee
You have truly had an 'experience' recently, and thank you again for sharing it with us! I love your taxi driver for taking such good care of you. I'd like to write and thank him! I loved your description of the ceremony in the temple. Felt like I was there too! Its strange that although we are so keen on our female rights in the West, it seems so appropriate and without any problem to respect th... show all
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