One Day in Mandalay

Monkey Man on top of Mandalay

Trying to be bon-vivant travelers, ones who could change directions without the tethers of tickets and schedules, we have been booking as we go. Airfare and Hotels. Mostly it has worked out. In Mandalay, however, the days blended together like a passion fruit lassi. Turns out, we had only one day there.

Doorway in the Royal Palace

Could be for the best. Karma be like that. On the ride to the hotel, after our boat trip, Primo and Prima kept remarking how much this city was like India. The traffic, the people, the noise and the smell, Oh My! Certainly not the first impression that Yangon imparted.

Yep, I could live like this

We have splurged on a top-notch hotel, The Bagan King. Big rooms, soft sheets, hot water and cocktails on the roof. In the lobby are statues of Burmese Royalty and Warriors – one fierce warrior wears duck slippers. Nothing says “be afraid” like a man wearing duck slippers!

Duck Slippers

We’re very tired and make the mistake of ordering American Food at the rooftop restaurant. Unless you are going to Burger King in Asia, don’t bother ordering the Burger anywhere, ever.

Primo and Prima are leaving late the next day. We agree not to go anywhere early, so we can recover from yesterday’s 4am wake up call. We meet at breakfast. For what the restaurant failed in hamburger-land last night, they totally made up in coffee-land this morning. Real brewed coffee. WOW! Real milk, WOW!

View from the Royal Palace

The manager comes by our table. His brother lives in Indiana and is a catholic priest who left the country in the late 60’s. He has not seen him since he left Myanmar and doubts that he ever will.

We find another great driver lurking outside of the hotel. Mr. Amo, has a van-which is fabu, as Prima doesn’t have to straddle the divide of the backseat while we tour. We have limited time, so it’s first to the Royal Palace, which now houses most of the army. At the front gate there is a sign, “Tatmadaw and the people, cooperate and crush all those harming the union.” Well, alrighty then, we definitely not try and harm the union today.

Mazel Tov!

Arriving at the Palace grounds, we meet a wedding party. The bride and groom graciously pose with us for pictures. I want her hair, badly.

YES!YES!YES!

The Palace needs some tender loving care. It’s hard to know if it’s a money issue or the junta’s bid not to celebrate the old kingdoms regime. It’s probably for the best, as we have much territory to cover today in a short amount of time. No time to linger.

Not really Golden

Next, we are whisked off to the Golden Palace which is not really Golden. It is a teak Monastery, unpainted and elaborately carved. It has been dismantled and reassembled twice before finding it’s final home in Mandalay. It’s smaller that the other temples we have visited recently but because of the carving, I could stay here longer. Women are not allowed in the actual shrine, where the Buddha sits.

I got in anyway.

On the way to the top of Mandalay Mountain, Mr. Amo, who by the way speaks lovely English, asks us what we think of Trump. This conversation comes up often, so we drive up the mountain, having a lively conversation while the engine works to climb the steep grade.

Peace out!

Su Taung Pyai Pagoda is at the top of the mountain. We ride 3 very suspect escalators to the top but arrive alive. Gorgeous views abound. I am attacked by the Temple Cat, but survive and wonder if it is the reincarnation of Trixie or Bob saying hello. 

Deadly Temple Cat on the Prowl

In the afternoon, we bid Adieu to the wonderful Primo and Prima, until we meet again in Cha Am.

Water is a right

Stupa-fication Tour (take your shoes off at the door)

Stupa-fication – the process to visiting too many Pagodas and Temples daily, blending into each other.  The progression of traveling partners dreading to hear the whine: “just one more-we’ll never be here again!”

Ceiling decoration.

Even I can get the malaise of Stupa-fication. Bagan will take you there, there are just so many, over 2000. As a group, we choose a few of the biggest and choicest to visit on our last day. Mr. Myo is on time to deliver us to the Pagodas.

Young devotee's

Undoubtedly, the most famous, largest and shiniest Pagoda in the area is the Shwezigon Pagoda. Someone has told us that the beginning of the word “Swhe” indicates gold or golden. The Shwezigon Pagoda or the Ground of Victory, was completed 1077-1113. It is said that a rare white elephant picked the spot to build this Pagoda. Tradition has it that it has on the premisies,  a tooth and collar bone of the Buddha. (Poor Buddha, they must have chopped him up into many little pieces, as most of the big Temples we have visited here and there have relics of him). All the older Buddha’s have capes, which I like. It makes him more of a superhero.

Lovely Lady Buddha

The Swhezigon, is lovely but the nicest part for me, was the small Temple for the Lady Buddha. IT was beautiful and elegant in it’s simplicity. She stood alone with a simple silver alter and a single vase of flowers. The room was painted sky blue, with no ornamentation. The floor was laid with tiles of roses and lotus. I was reminded of what it could be to lay in field of flowers under the blue, blue sky. It was peaceful oasis in a riot of worship.

Foot Picture!

The Adanda Temple is much more of a triumph of building technology. Adanda means “buddhas infinite wisdom”. It too is ancient being built around 1090. It is an example of an airconditioned building, due to the fact is is laid out like a Greek Cross, with cross ventilation corridors in all directions. Along the four main corridors are the 4 Buddhas reincarnation. (Remember we are waiting for the 5^th incarnation) Young Monks wait near the corridors, with alms buckets. For a small donation they will pose for a picture. Sometimes happy, sometimes not so much. 

Looking for Alms

Driving in Asia is best done to professionals. There are no lines, no order and the streets are lined with all sorts of vehicles (motorized and animal powered). Mr Myo unfortunately was fiddling with the radio and runs into another vehicle. This is not good for Mr. Myo, but for us is somewhat entertaining. No police are called, who knows if there is insurance here but there is a whole lot of hand waving and head slapping. Poor Mr. Myo it is his fault. Somehow, he convinces the injured party to let him take us back to our hotel. Nobody wants to inconvenience a tourist.

On the corner, near our hotel

The end of our day is spent on a buggy ride, out to the fields where farmers plow the land next to temples of little or no note. Horse carriage drivers are trained and licensed by the state. Their horses are well treated compared to horses belonging to farmers. The pecking order of the road is Pedestrians first and animal carts second but here on the sandy back roads, we are kings. As the sun sets, we arrive to a 2 story temple which has a staircase to assend to the top. We can take pictures and our horses can rest and drink deeply from the water station. 

My ride awaits.

The stairs to the top are narrow steep and lit with candles. No steps in Myanmar are equal height. The outlet at the top, is shallow and one must bend over – almost crawling out. The climb is worth it. The sun setting is lovely over the farmland surrounding us. The wind is cool after the hot day. We are all apprehensive about returning to the stairs but our chariots await to take us home in the dusk, when all the sound we hear are the clopping of hoofs, the creaking of wagon wheels and the loud chirping of crickets, signaling nightfall.

Nightfall

We may never get down from here.

A New School

Jr. Scientist and Future Neurologist

Today we are to meet at 9am with Ma Pwe, an engineer who has been referred to Primo by both Tycoon Pun and the notorious and unmet, Haymar. She is to escort us to a school in need, which is being considered to be an new project for the Jamestown Rotary and Primo and Prima.

Kindergarten and First Graders Classroom

Ma Pwe and her husband meet us in the lobby. They have procured 2 vehicles for the journey, to be paid for by the new Rotarian Club in Yangon. The school is for 1^st thru 5^th grade. There are no trained teachers there, nor principle. All of the teachers have agreed to come and meet us, on their day off, to show us around. Primo and Prima were teachers for many, many years, so they will be able to access the situation and abilities of the staff. I am there to take pictures.

Classrooms divided by grass mats

The school is about an hours drive from Nyuang U. We turn down a side road and eventually turn onto a dirt path, between some sketchy looking stores. In front of us is the school. It is one large, long building – only one room with woven grass mats separating the classes from each other. To the left of the building is a 3 sided wooden/grass mat structure with a  wooden floor about 1 foot off the ground that is being used for kindergarten. Beside that is a rudimentary playground consisting of 4 old tires buried in the ground, a dangerous looking swing set with fraying rope and a splintery old teeter-totter.

Cistern for Water

The School has no electricity or running water, though there is a cistern/holding tank to catch 

rainwater. In the back of the school are 4 “squats”, 2 for teachers and 2 mini sized ones for students. In the building on the walls are all the trappings of learning- science projects home ec stuff, grammar and English language classes. Prima is busy talking to the teachers to see which ones speak the best English. Looking up, the roof has holes thru out.

Holes in the roof of the school

This is school for about 50 kids – 24 girls and 25 boys. It sits next to a monastery. The teachers have dressed up in their finest clothes. Everyone wants to make a good impression. Everyone knows how much they need here. After the tour, our kind hosts’ have provided refreshments for us in the principal’s office. Hot Tea, Bottled Water, Roasted Peanuts, Tempura Vegetables, some sort of donuts filled with fresh coconut. This is a bounty of food for a poor people. The teachers refuse all the food offered to them, this is for us. It is humbling. 

Snacks in the Principals office with Ma Pwe

Tycoon Pun has already donated 1000USD for the school. The Jamestown Rotary will pitch in. Between them, the will be a new roof, a new playground and hopefully, enough to run electricity for fans and lights. In addition, Primo and Prima will return sometime in Feb 2018, to spend a week teaching students’, check on the work/renovation and help the teachers with their English skills and lesson plans

Educators of The New Myanmar-Grades 1 thru 5

Not bad, and it’s not even noon yet.

Back in vacation-land, we relocate to Nyaung U, the big town near the ruins. There we meet Mr. Myo, the great taxi driver. We just want to see stuff. Local stuff. We hire him for 2 hours. Driving thru town, we collide with a parade! There’s lots of loud music and pretty girls with parasols. It is quite charming. Nyaung U is not a pretty town. It’s just dusty.

Pretty maids all in a row

“Take us to the viewing tower!”

The only way to appreciate the enormity of the range of ruins, is to view the landscape from the air. A hot air balloon costs several hundred dollars. We are cheap. Not going to happen. But some wise fool, built a 9 story viewing tower in the middle of a posh resort, so maybe someone like us can see the view. 

The tower is a reproduction of the tower at the Royal Palace in Mandalay

Mr. Myo takes us down sand covered roads, thru farmlands and by golf courses to get there. The scenic route. What Myo does not anticipate, is the amount of sand on the road and the depth of sand on the road and thus we become stuck, deep in the hot, white sand, in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, we have pushed a taxi out of harms way before and without asking we all hop out of the car and begin to push as the tires fling the fine sand onto our clothes.

Landscapes littered with Temples and Pagoda's

Presto, we’re back in business. Mr. Myo is beside himself. Tourist’s helping- tourist pushing the car!

Within moments we are at the tower. Monkey Man pays for Mr. Myo’s ticket to join us at the top. He has never had the chance to ascend and his smile is our reward. 

Top of the tower, The Irrawaddy River in the distance.

The view is indescribable. Mountains on one side, the Irrawaddy River on another, and in-between thousands of temple complexes littering the ground.

Lots and Lots of Buddhas

Before going back to the hotel, we decided to visit just one temple for the day. It is a small complex called Alotawpyi-gu-hpaya Temple. It is very old, dating back to the 12^th century. The astounding part of this temple, is that there are hundreds of buddhas painted on the inside which have survived the test of time, the test of tourists, lights and environments’ degradation that normally wipes out such treasures.  The Buddhas depict the 28 reincarnation of the Buddhas. The first thing I witness there, is a monk, his cell phone out, taking pictures of the buddhas. 

Sunset over the Irrawaddy

As a group, we decide Mr. Myo is the man for us tomorrow, for the Temple Trail/ Stupa-fication Tour. We will meet him at 830am.