A Boat to Mandalay

February 6, 2012

I'm writing from the upper deck of the Shwe Keinnery  a river boat heading up the Ayarwaddy River from Bagan to Mandalay .
The air is warm and there is a haze of low laying smoke that brings a warm glow to the scene as locals make there way as I imagine they have for the last thousand years or more. Woman balancing baskets on there head, ox carts carrying wood and other assorted goods and fishermen cast there nets from small narrow wooden boats. As we lazily make our way there are pagodas that regularly dot the shore line. With slow determination, a steady stream of cargo and transport  vessels work there way up and down this watery highway, many with young men at there bow sounding the water depth with long poles as they go.

February 7, 2012

The boat arrived in the evening just after sunset and I decided to take a trishaw (a bicycle with a sidecar) to the hotel.  The hotels in Mandalay, and Burma in general, are basic and typically over priced compared to the rest of SE Asia.  A plane and unloved room with fan is about $20-30 per night, about twice the cost of a similar room in Vietnam, Cambodia, and most of Thailand or Malaysia. That said, I am quite comfortable and at least the internet works... on a basic level anyway.

The taxis in Mandalay are particularly interesting for there size if nothing else, they are tiny.

And somewhat undependable...

I took the "around town Temple/Pagoda Tour the next day.  I visited many sights.

The Burmese are a very devout people.

I happened on a ceremony at one of the temples.

Wood carvings are common and very detailed.

Painting the Stupas

The day ended with a climb up Mandalay hill, what a work out.  I appreciate the exercise, but doing it with no shoes really beat up my feet and ended up bruising my feet to the point that I'm finding it hard to walk the last few days.  To enter any religious site it is required that a person take off there shoes and socks.  That's not usually a problem except that many (most in Bagan) require climbing on and over rough and broken terrane. A real problem for my tender feet.  I'm sure they, my feet, will toughen up as I go. In the mean time it is giving me a chance to catch up on the blog.

View from the bottom

On the way up I couldn't resist a self portrait

View from the top

I came across these Nuns while at the top

When I got to the top, Buddha was there to tell me to go back.

The architecture of the buildings is impressive and the number of these religious sites is astounding.  Everywhere one goes there is a temple, pagoda or a monastery and if not one of those, than some sort of supporting enterprise such as gold smithing or Buddha carving.

Pounding Gold into sheets of gold leaf

Placing gold leaf on small paper squares

People have been adding layers of gold leaf for many years.

Mandalay is a pretty basic town otherwise, the people are nice though there is the sent of money in the pockets of  the tourists on the street that is proving to be a temptation to the local population that is eager to charge what ever they can get for the services and products that they provide.  I'm not saying that isn't the way it is everywhere, but some places they just make it a more pleasant process of exchange.