The plane flight was pleasant enough, except for the snooty Myanmar lady next to me. She had tried to be elegantly dressed, but fob style. She had plonked all 2 bags of hers on my seat, then acted outraged that I wanted to sit down in the seat I had paid for. To top that off, she went to the bathroom 3 times in the space of a 70 minute flight - once right after the seatbelt sign was off, once during meal time and after the captain's announcement that we were due to land.
At the airport, I was feeling very sorry for myself with my bags and crutches. It cost me USD12 (10K kyats) to get into Mandalay and my lodgings at Smart Hotel.
I arrived at the hotel by 8am which was way too early for check in. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I resembled an old flame that the hotel manager had dated back in his younger days, so was able to get a room and breakfast within 30 minutes. Note that the hotel manager was about 70, had the shakes and would die at any minute. He joined me for breakfast, expressed how upset at my ankle he was and would get cream for my leg. This ankle is just bad luck all over. One perk was that I was driven to the Royal Palace, which I dreaded walking to due to the heat, humidity and the fact that it was about a 2km walk.
For USD10, you can obtain a pass to a bunch of pagodas and the Royal Palace. I bought the pass and merrily went on my way, hoping I'd find something interested. Inside I was thinking what a hole Mandalay was.
The Royal Palace was restored in recent times as part of it was destroyed. The layout and buildings reminded me of an old-school kung fu movie. Had I been with someone, I probably would've been doing Mortal Kombat impersonations in front of the buildings. Alas it would've freaked out the German group that I was shadowing. There is a tower next to the main royal building, with a set of spiral stairs. I climbed up this tower to get a decent view of Mandalay and its surrounds. The Germans also joined me at the top eventually, in which this was my chance to pounce and get to know them. They were a good bunch and we took photos of each other. An Aussie couple also came up to the top for the view and this is when my day turned around for the better.
After introductions and the obligatory photo taking of each other, I started chatting to them quite happily. Their names were Andrew and Di and were a good few years older than I was.
Long story short, they allowed a vagrant into their lives for one day and I tagged along with them and their drivers to all the main sites of Mandalay, i.e pagodas and Mandalay Hill for sunset photos. The pagodas varied from either having the world's largest book (each page of the scripture is on a slab of stone/marble), being old looking teak wood pagoda or a marble Buddha. At the marble Buddha temple, a 'monk' accosted us when he saw us and started telling us in rapid-fire shit Engrish about the Buddha, chants, gods, etc. He also shook our hands, which we thought was odd, because you are not allowed to touch monks. After about 20 minutes of his drivel (which may have been legit) and noticing the setting sun, we told him we had to go. The monk then asked for a USD30 donation so he could buy new robes. We refused to pay. He then proceeded to deride us by saying that we're from a rich country and how shameful we were to not donate for his time and services. Prick.
The sunset was quite nice, despite the haze around the city. The guide book had said the walk up the hill was 30 minutes. Judging by the gradient and the crazy driving of our driver, I'd say the hill would've been a good one hour to get up. Luckily we didn't insist on walking up the hill - would've missed the sunset for sure!
After sunset, Andrew and Di also invited me to come have dinner with them, which was very nice of them. We ended up at a joint called Super 81, which had rave reviews by their friends. The friends weren't half wrong - the food was amazing (from what I ate anyway), reasonably priced and massive servings. I was dropped home safe and sound by their driver afterwards.
Great day in the end with great people.
Mandalay itself - I'd give it one day there. It's a pretty sleepy, slow kind of town. Just like the Lovable Mandalay lace bra that we always had stock of at Myer.
Photos to come later! Photos added Oct 4 - yes I'm tardy.
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| Entrance to the Royal Palace |
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| Halfway down the road to the Royal Palace |
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| These guys love using glass and mirrors |
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| View of the Royal Palace from the top of the watchtower |
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| At a temple built entirely out of teak wood |
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| Temple built from a lot of marble. It was reconstructed recently, using the old foundations as a base |
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| Andy and Di making their way up the stairs... because they can walk fast :) |
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| Someone had time to use marble slabs as pages and etch the Buddshist scriptures |
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| Example of one page. These are kept in a white structure behind bars |
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| Starflower tree needs some help |
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| If you see this 'monk', tell him to bugger off |
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| Di pouring water on the Tuesday Buddha |
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| View from the top of Mandalay Hill temple |
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| Not often you see shocking pink tiles in a temple. Trust me. I've been in a lot of them by now |
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| Sunset over Mandalay |
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| The American's food list for Mandalay. Feel free to use if you ever go there |
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