Mandalay, temples, pickups, and living on the cheap!

Our time in Mandalay was a fun (and incredibly cheap) time. We rolled into the city after a nine hour bus ride where we sat on a wooden bench (not quite but close) and felt like we wanted to see Mandalay our own way... so we did!

A game that is popular in the area. Its played with a rattan ball and feels like people playing hacky-sack, except there is more showing off. People spinning, jumping, kicking it behind their back, etc... cool.

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We've decided that while seeing the "highlights" of a place is fun and gives you an idea of why they make postcards (sometimes we pick what to see based on what is on the postcards!) there is something to be said for leaving the other tourists aside and trying to do it yourself. So when we were looking at what to do, we decided to forgo the packaged sights and attempt to see some of the other ones.

Getting gas for our bus. Who needs pumps when you have a funnel and some big drums of diesel.

We did this for three reasons: first the packaged items are all contained on the same entry ticket, which costs 10 bucks... a lot on our budget. Also, the proceeds from this ticket go to the governmental run agencies ,and Megan and I don't feel like supporting a government that has some of the worst infringement of human rights on the planet. So screw them, we'll do it ourselves. Finally, like many of the things in Myanmar, the old and historic has recently experienced "improvements". For example, the ancient palace of Mandalay was damaged during WW II but rather than repair it or leave it in ruins, it was torn down and rebuilt in modern brick and concrete (with forced labor). Similarly, Bagan with its crumbling towers has had several new additions to the ancient monoliths, making for a weird juxtapositions of ancient brick and modern concrete. So with that in mind, we didn't feel obligated to see more of these "new" old buildings and monasteries.

A look along the new Mandalay Palace and its moat.

This decision made for a lot of walking and a lot of just wandering through a city we knew nothing about dressed in Longyi (aren't you glad you know what those are?) and getting stared at by locals. We accidentally wandered past a school during its lunch time, and they were utterly fascinated with us. We ended up leading a little herd of children who smiled, waved, followed, and stared at us as we ordered ice cream; I felt like the Pied Piper.

We still ended up seeing some of the main-yet-off-the-tourist-path highlights. The first thing we found was a Buddha where you can add gold leaf as you feel inspired (assuming you pay for it), and consequently he is literally covered with tons of the stuff. I do believe its the most gold leaf on a Buddha anywhere. Adding to the curiosity of it was that Meg wasn't allowed into the inner sanctum because she was a woman. I thought that was odd given the inherent equality of people within traditional Buddhist thought or so I thought.

The gold leaf-ed Buddha. The monks shine his face every morning while the rest of him just sits and acquires more and more gold leaf.

Just for perspective.

We then spent the next several hours wandering around a neighborhood looking for a teak wood monastery... it took us a while and we walked by it a couple of times but eventually we found it. I'm not sure how else to describe it aside from a "cool wooden monastery." Not mind blowing but still quite fun to be the only ones there aside from the monks.

Megan really just wanted a picture in of me wearing my longyi out and about.

Wooden carvings.

The next day we decided to brave what passes for mass transit in Burma and try to get from our hotel to the bus station and buy our tickets out of Mandalay(it is cheaper at the station). Mass transit in Mandalay are really just pick up trucks with benches in the back that run on fixed routes. Few of the drivers or callers (people who stand in the back yelling the "bus" route and collecting money) speak English, and we didn't really know how to say where we wanted to go but with some confused looks, a hearty attempt at the name of the bus station, and a picture of a bus later, we were on. By the end of the day we had the hang of this process down... but it was never easy to yell out the name of a place you can barely pronounce, while having a man wave you onto a truck that is rolling away, as he continues to shout something that is allegedly the name of route.

A little boy we met on a pickup. He was quite shy until Megan took his picture then his face lit up like Christmas tree. He also was holding a chicken the whole time, which he said was his... this wasn't that abnormal for Mandalay.

Mandalay was a good time and a rather fun city (Especially for one that is so poor. Roads in the middle of the city may or may not be paved, sidewalks are traditionally broken up, any standing water smelled suspiciously rank, and electricity was always hit and miss. Funny to be in a city of almost a million people and to not have reliable electricity). I think its biggest appeal was how "exotic" it felt. Monks in robes, people in pick ups, women selling fruit outside of a pagoda... it felt just about as different as can be from anything I've ever known. It felt unlike home and fairly untouched by the tourist machine. I'm still novel here and this place still feels unique, which I think is why the country has been growing on me as we spend more time here, and I get more of the feel of it.

A visit to the "World's Longest Teak bridge." But in reality it just felt like a long dock.

"Duck herders." I don't know if that's what they call themselves but all they did during our trek across the teak was herd ducks.

P.S.

Megan wanted me to quickly add this picture. While we were visiting a ruins site we met another couple (who are dutch) and the woman's last name was Feenstra! Crazy!