Mandalay

Day 1 – The  Road to Mandalay

Up early to enjoy the last of our veranda and beach view, we then had breakfast before packing once again (I swear our case’s are getting fuller!).

Checking out we waited in reception for our coach to turn up whilst catching up on E-Mails and the like.  We started to wonder where our coach was and then a taxi driver turned up for us at around 11.10, he was going to take us the 1 ½ hours to a town called Pathein where the coach station was.

It started off quite nicely but when we got around a mile or two down the road and we were going up and down the hills the driver suddenly turned into Mikka Hakenan, practically taking the corners on two wheels, overtaking on blind bends and being in the middle of the road on the rise of the hills! Shell – ‘I don’t like this’  I didn’t either but wondered if this was normal or he was just giving Babu a run for his money in the ‘crap dangerous driver’ stakes.  Anyway after around 5 – 10 miles of this Shell looked terrified and I couldn’t take much more either so I asked him to slow down as I lied I had a dodgy stomach, at which point he slowed right down, not sure whether he was taking the piss but it made the rest of the journey much nicer.

We arrived in Pathein around 12.30 and checked into to our appointed coach waiting area. As our coach was not due to leave until 3.00 we left our bags with the coach people (Who told us to return by 2.00) and headed off to find some refreshments to calm Shell’s nerves down after our rally experience.  After going up and down the road for a bit we eventually found a beer station in a small courtyard and ordered a few beers.  Shortly after we sat down we suddenly became local stars for the kids that were hanging around, wanting loads of pictures with us doing peace signs with them.  Shell also got quite a few pictures with the girls giving her smackers on the cheek.  I tried to start up the Myanmar Hammers Supporter club by getting them to do photo’s with me doing the crossed arms hammers sign!

After a few beers we returned to the coach station and waited for our bus to board, I took this time to find some snacks for our 15 hour journey.  I purchased some local sweets which the area was famous for (Rice, Coconut, Sesame, Other Stuff – Disgusting!!) and some sort of Puff Pastry Cakes (Not Bad) and a bag of oranges.

As we boarded the coach at 3.00 we were clearly the only westerners on the coach, it clearly wasn’t a tourist bus, however the driver and assistant/flight attendant were very helpful.  We thought we had prime spots  at the front of the coach but this in fact meant we had less leg room as the drinks refrigerator was right in front of us.

Anyway we set off at a better pace than the previous drive but we found the roads to be fairly bumpy and the coach to be very bouncy (I think it maybe better to be in the middle seats), this took its toll on me and I was regretting the recent beer intake.  After about an hour into the journey I was bursting and when I was considering my options 1.  Try and find an empty drinks ,   2. Wet myself, fortunately the bus stopped to drop something off/pick someone up so I took this opportunity and the driver helped me find a small roadside café where I could relieve myself.

Now I could join Shell enjoying watching the countryside roll by and reading our books until it got dark.  There very some very nice scenes of paddy fields with little palm thatched stilted houses all along the way (reminded me of Vietnam war films).

When we finally stopped for food/comfort break the driver/assistant made sure we knew what time we had there.  Unfortunately after passing a few nice looking places to stop where the coach actually stopped was the equivalent of a UK truckers café,  the food didn’t look that enticing and as all the menu was is Burmese I had no idea what I would be ordering, so I opted for a bag of corn flavoured corn crisps from the stall next door.  Shell had already decided that she was not going to chance eating bearing in mind we had a long journey with no guarantee of when a comfort break may be. She was also getting a little fed up with Burmese food at this point: greasy and stodgy!.

Back on to the coach and we travelled into the night, during the evening we watched some series that Shell had downloaded onto her Ipad which killed some time.  We also consumed some oranges in lieu of water as we didn’t want to be caught short like I had earlier, although there were a couple of comfort breaks during the evening.  We then did our best to try and get some sleep… we didn’t really manage it!

Day 2 – The road to Mandalay – IS VERY BUMPY!

We were due to arrive in Mandalay at 6.00am so during the night we tried to get some sleep but it was hard with the bouncing of the bus and it being a bit cramped, although Shell claims to have heard me snoring and I saw her doing some good fly-catching impressions!  So after a night of fitful naps we actually arrived and hour early at 5.00, it’s a good job Shell managed to get us a 6.00 check-in with the hotel the prior day.

Getting off the bus we thanked the Driver very much for looking after us and he in turn pointed me in the direction of toilet (I think he thinks I have a weak bladder – not a beer problem!) and we found a cab, who was asking 8,000K to our hotel and Shell did well to haggle down to 5,000K even though we had no idea how far the hotel was.

Arriving at the hotel even earlier than we expected we were still welcomed in and checked in without a problem and shown up to our room.  After a quick inspection it was nice, big and clean, we both went back to bed to catch up on our missing sleep.

After waking again around midday we decided to have a look around the town, firstly getting some refreshment at a nearby bar. We then headed off in the direction of the daily market, which was full of all sorts of produce and very busy with traffic so after a fairly quick look around and picking up some safety pins from one of the stalls we thought we would check out the Mandalay Palace.

However on the way there we got some hunger pangs as we had not really eaten for 24 hours so we decided to search out a restaurant, after a lengthy hunt we eventually had to plump for a Chinese.  The food was fairly decent and the owner had good English so we took some tourist advice off of him for the next day.

The food had the effect of making us tired so instead of visiting the palace, we picked up some beers for our room fridge and headed back to our hotel to relax for the eventing – sightseeing can wait until tomorrow

Day 3 – Mingun, U-Bein and more…

Making up for wasted time sleeping yesterday, today’s plan was to get an early boat trip to a place called Mingun which is an ancient city about a 45min boat ride away (we like boats)

Arriving at the port we were directed to a ticket office where upon arrival we saw people handing over passports in order to get their tickets!. Given my track record of losing things (Shel not Glenn!)  we keep everything locked and tied back at the hotels. The only form of I.d I used to carry around was my driving licence which was lost back in Bangkok, we could be in trouble here!. Given we had got up early for the trip I was loathed to give up without at least trying to blag our way on so wrote 2 fictitious numbers  (in pink pen!) on the back of my guide book and handed this over to the ticket bloke together with a card for the hotel we were staying at. IT WORKED!.

We scrambled across 3 other boats over (very) thin planks to reach our boat which I managed without falling in!. The journey was pleasant and we got chatting to a few girls who gave us some good tips on the other places we would be visiting in Myanmar. On arrival we paid an entrance fee and set off on foot to look at the ruins and temples.

The island was a pleasant escape from the City - From our brief tour the previous day we decided that we didn’t like Mandalay as much as Yangon as it was too spread out and a little dirty with taxi drivers trying to blag larger fares - There were no vehicles in Minghan , only carts pulled by cows which offered to taxi you to and from the temples, we declined (may have had something to do with Glenn’s new cow phobia!). 

Our First stop was at a temple that claimed to have Buddha’s footprint so we could add it to our collection of Buddha’s tooth and hair. After a few more temples and seeing the world’s largest bell (without a crack!)  we climbed a massive Paya which did have a huge crack through it caused by an earthquake. It was quite a few steps up and we were feeling pretty smug when we started over taking lots of people (our Nepal training kicking in) and reached the top where we got great views. Rewarding ourselves with a quick beer afterwards, we then boarded the boat back to the city.

I’d read about a monastery (Shwe in Bin Kyaung) that was made from wood and  looked pretty impressive, wanting a change from Golden Pagoda’s Glenn found a route close to the port which kept us off the main roads and followed a canal all the way down to the Monastery. After initially fighting through a cloud of mosquito’s and the stench of sewage the pathway then changed to shacks where we were able to witness local village life of people doing their laundry in the canal, kids playing, people cooking and almost everyone waving at us as we strolled along. We also passed a couple of impressive wooden bridges, one appears to the laundry bridge, (see pic).

Reaching the Monastery we found that other than one other person, we were the only tourists there and were able to wander around, take in the great architecture and soak up the peace and quiet. Glenn managed to help us avoid an embarrassing moment when he rounded a corner and looked down to see a Monk taking his daily bath, I quickly retraced my steps!.

The plan was to then find a recommended restaurant, we did, it was closed, we found a beer station instead!, what can you do?. It was getting close-ish to sunset where we wanted to see the famous U- Bein bridge so after asking at the beer station, and being surrounded by about 8 men babbling at us, trying to guide us and not having a clue what they were saying, we opted to head down where we saw a motor cycle taxi stand where we hoped to pick up a taxi-car. No joy with the car we finally agreed a price for a bike/driver each and hopped on the back for the journey to U-Bein. The guys were really sweet and drove cautiously, mine even stopped to re-tie my helmet when he realised I was only holding on with one hand… the other holding on my helmet as the strap was broken (by me, but I  opted not to share this info!).

U-bein Bridge is a long rickety bridge made out of teak (much like Laundry Bridge) and is said to be the longest wooden bridge in the world (1.2k long). Arriving, we set off across the bridge passing monks including pink monks where we managed to get a couple of sneaky snaps for you (see pics, stunning aren’t they!)

About half way across we left the bridge and climbed down onto an island where we managed to negotiate a boat for the sunset, sharing the price with a lone female traveller from Canada. We went out across the water and waited for sunset, lovely and peaceful until we came cross 2 boats of Germans chatting away together, smoking and buying alcoholic drinks from a passing rowing boatbar thing (can’t blame them). Glenn was unable to make much conversation with our boat companion as she had a slight moustache problem (poor thing) so we sat watching the sunset in silence and then headed back to shore.

Back on shore, we negotiated a taxi ride back to the hotel but now starving,  we explained that we wanted to eat first and headed to one of the shacks on the shore for some food. The woman who served us appeared to be the matriarch, bossing her team of family members around and politely but firmly informing us that we had 3 choices of food, 1: Fried Rice with chicken, 2: Fried noodles with chicken and 3: something neither Glenn or I could understand but it probably came with chicken!. Just as we were about to finish the taxi drove by with a fare in the back explaining he would be back to collect us. Its quite a drive back to the main city so knew he’d be ages but as there was now no other taxi’s around we had no other option but to wait it out whilst being bitten alive by mosquito’s.

The restaurant now closing and taking pity on us managed to negotiate two young guys to take us back on their bikes. This time my helmet worked (glenn’s didn’t) and we set off back to the hotel again with both bikes taking care as we sped through taking the sites of the city in, loved it!. Would recommend it as an alternative and cheaper way to get around!.

Arriving back at our hotel and high after the journey we decided to go and look for some beers. Finding a local shop that sold them we sat down outside where the owner proceeded to introduce us to his entire family, Gran, Wife, Sister and Niece.  What a wonderful kind and warm family they were (which we later discovered was typical of Myanmar people).  I asked for a picture of them (at which point Gran sped off as she had a flannel on her head) and noticed that the niece was shying away so beckoned her forward to join in and started chatting to her. After this she took a real shine to me and proceeded to bestow me with little gifts: elastic hairbands, a diamante hair grip and beaded bracelet.  She then set off at a march down the street and returned with a puppy to show me I’d found a silk scarf Id had which she shyly took from me before running off not to be seen again. We finished our beers, I vowed to wear the bracelet for the rest of our trip (broke 2 days later)  and headed off back to the hotel where we both agreed that today had been one of the best days of the entire  trip and actually, we really quite liked Mandalay J

…If you are ever in Mandalay and see a young 17-18 something year old shy girl (above first left) wearing a purple scarf and holding a puppy, say hello from us (and don’t tell her I broke her bracelet!)