Day 2: Mandalay City
On my second day in Mandalay, I wanted to make sure to be able to continue my journey before anything else. One of the things I’ve learned about trekking is that: The first thing you do when getting to a certain place, is figuring out how to get to the next spot. Because: ‘It’s not the destination that counts, it’s the journey” (anonymous quote).
Therefore I headed to the river side of Mandalay, where I met a ‘nice guy’ who helped me arrange a ticket for the boat to Bagan, my next destination. After this, it quickly became clear to me that the ‘nice guy’ was actually no more than an ordinary moto-taxi-driver who wanted to get some money by guiding me around the city. Not having anything properly planned for the day, I freely let him guide me around Mandaly, discovering the Mandalay Palace. The palace, situated in the heart of the city is actually completely fake as it was detroyed by the Japanese during WWII. The concrete walls surrounding it are magnificent though, but paying 10000Kyat (around €8) to get it is a waste of money as it has been completely rebuild, and thus fake, and the so-called museum is not much more than a bunch of pictures and/or tales. The watchtower though gives you a great view over the city, as the palace is located in n the city centre. Oh, and there were three ancient carriages, which is always cool to see!
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| Mandalay Palace (100% fake) |
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| View from the Palace's Watchtower |
Next was the Schwenandaw Kyaung Monestary, which is the only official Palace building still standing as it had been removed from within the palace walls to the city itself in the late 19-hundreds, before the palace was destroyed. Nice, but not more than that to be honest. Following the monestary, my driver brought me to the Kuthodaw Paya, also located Mandalay city, where around 300pagodas (=small and medium temples) are assembled one next to the other. Being very impressed by the amount of temples so close to each other, my driver laughed at my comments and drove me to the nearby Sandamuni Paya. I should’ve known what was coming. Not less than 1774 the same pagodas are built here, all containing a unique marble slabs, which tell the long story of Buddha’s life. One day, King Mindon ordered monks to read the full text nonstop. It took 2400monks nearly 6months to finish it. Don’t even try to understand this, as I didn’t while seeing it in reallife. This pagoda-park is also known as the world’s biggest book.
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| A kidd selling flowers. Breaking hearts along his way. |
The last stop of the day was Mandalay Hill. Without telling me what I would be seeing, my driver said that I should climb the stairs and expect the unexptected. Well, it was unexpecgted that I had to do 1729steps before reching the top… Via the south route, starting between two giant chinthe (=half-lion, half-dragon guardian deities), it took me nearly 40mins to reach the top, without taking too much rest. On the way there, every some-hundred steps a Buddha would appear, indicating I was still on the right way. I got to the top right before sunset, showing me an amazing view over Mandalay and a great sunset after a long day of sightseeing. The worst part was, I had to go back down all 1729steps as well…
I had dinner at the Why Not-restaurant again and this time I met with one of the owners’ girlfriend, an italian woman from Rome who had been living in Mandalay for nearly a year. We had a good chat, before I returned to the hotel and enjoyed a good night of sleep.
Day 3: Mingun: a unique trio
On my last day in Mandalay, I took a ferry to Mingun, a small town about 1hr across the river. This village, known for its trio of unique pagodas is a real tourist attraction. For a good price of 5000Kyat (around €4) a return trip is well worth it. Upon arrival tourists must pay another 3000Kyat used for the preservation of the buildings. The Cinthe Ruins, Pondaw Paya, Hsinbyume Paya and Mingun Bell (2nd biggest in the world, after a China one) are nice attractions here. But the best and most beautiful one is definetely Mingun Paya. This temple, which would’ve been the biggest in the world if finished, is an incredible work of art. You can go all the way to the top and have an amazing view over the surroundigs. Mingun is definetely worth the effort of going, if only for the Mingun Paya. After a quick bite, with one of the best views I’ve ever had during lunch, the boat headed back to Mandalay.
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| Mingun Paya |
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| On top of Mingun Paya |
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| Inside Mingun Bell |
I could’ve continued my afternoon visiting even more temples, but as I felt like I had seen the best and with temperatures of +30°C from early morning to late, I believed I deserved a swimm. In Mandalay City Park, some kind of attraction park for locals, I found a nice swimming pool with not too many people and even some water slides! After enjoying some water time, and being photographed secretely and less obvious, I was suddenly surrounded by four youngsters of whom only one could speak proper English. Before I knew it, we had been chatting around some beers for about two hours and it was time for me to go back. It was a good experience talking to locals about their and my culture and comparing them. Speaking to locals is definetely one of the advantages of travelling on your own, as people tend to walk towards you more easily.
A quick dinner at Why Not, followed by a good chat with an Irish couple who were travelling the world since nine months, brought me back to my hostel and to bed. The last day in Mandalay had come to an end. On to the next city: Bagan!
peace out_
& safe travels_
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| Lunch with a view |
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Taxi anyone?
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