Sagaing and Amarapura

I actually set up my alarm today for the first time in a couple weeks, so we could get a start on seeing the 3 nearby cities of Mandalay: Sagaing, Inwa, and Amarapura. We met up with two other travelers, Jake from England, and Laurie, from America but living in England, to share a "blue" taxi for the day. The "blue" taxi is so cute! It looks like a toy truck. It costs K25,000 to rent one taxi for the entire day for the 3 cities, so the more people in it, the better price you will get.


Little Blue and our driver

Our first stop was Sagaing, 45 minutes away from Mandalay. On the drive over, we saw the view from across the Ayeyarwady River, and it looked like beautiful town; tons of golden stupas dotted the green hills, making it probably the most interesting "skyline" I had seen in a while. Our driver took us straight to Sagaing Hill, and dropped us off at a side entrance, so we could bypass the entry fee.
Upon entering the gates and seeing the hill of stairs looming in front of us, it just reminded me of our previous day on Mandalay Hill. Were we really going to make it to the top this time?



During the climb, Jake and I were walking a bit ahead of Laurie and Andi. At one point, we heard a loud scream, and I thought I heard someone say " Get them off me!" I didn't think it sounded like Andi or Laurie's voice, but it the girl spoke English, so Jake and I walked back down to see what happened. Next thing I know, we see all these people surrounding Andi, so we ran down to see if she was ok. Turns out she had walked on a side path, where she encountered some territorial dogs. They actually chased her and bit her! Luckily, she wasn't hurt and not bleeding, otherwise, she might have had to check for rabies or something. It was so strange, because so far, we noticed the dogs in Myanmar have seemed scared of people. I guess not these dogs.

We did eventually reach the top, after 380 steps, and the view was very nice, but the stupa at the top was under repair. Burmese temples are so glittery and colorful; lots of mirror mosaic tiles, lights (sometimes neon) highlighting the buddha image's head, and pastel colored tiles along the floor, walls, and columns. Makes me feel like I am in a religious Candy Land of some sort. We hung out at top for a little bit and then made our way back down (which is always shorter).





Next up was Inwa, but our driver stopped at a longyi making shop first (of course. Earlier, we stopped at a gold leaf making place, but we didn't check it out). We walked into a small, noisy weaving factory with 1-2 people working on at least one piece. I thought it was a little funny that one loom had pictures of teen heart throbs taped to the side. It's like a teenage locker space, or some one's cubicle...it is a working space after all.

When we got to the point to take a boat for Inwa, we were starving, so we stopped by the local restaurant. It was getting pretty late already, and with an additional cost for a boat and carriage ride (K1000 + K3000), we opted out of Inwa and headed for Amarapura to see the famous U Bien's Bridge, a 200-year old 1.2km teak bridge.

I was expecting the teak bridge to be delicate and fragile, and somewhat of a red type of wood with a nice dark finish, but it was totally opposite. It didn't look that much different from regular wood, and it was just rustic looking. There was certainly a lot of traffic - a lot of tourists and some locals passed through (even locals on their bikes). It was a nice and pretty peaceful walk across the river. Views included fishermen and women wading in the river (riding about mid-chest height), tourist boats floating across the river and under the bridge, oxen plowing through farm fields, and a couple stupas were scattered in the background. We stayed for sunset, where we managed to steal a few good photo shots from the fields below the bridge. It was nice to see a quaint, rural side of Myanmar, even if it was a little touristy.







Speaking of, there really are not a whole lot of tourists in Myanmar. On our first full day in Yangon, we probably only saw a handful of travelers. I have recognized several people traveling already, because we have been on the same route. It's different from traveling in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, where even though there is the well traveled route, there are a lot of options of places you can go, as well as ways to get there. But Myanmar is still not as well traveled (probably due in part that foreigners have limited access to places to go around the country), so people tend to stick to the more traveled areas. Most travelers I have seen are from packaged tours, mainly middle-aged French or Korean.

We've definitely been getting a lot of stares as well. In Yangon, it was not so bad, but in Mandalay, we definitely stick out, and are constantly being asked if we need a taxi or a tri shaw.

Mandalay was ...alright. I thought it would be more developed than Yangon, having read that there is more Chinese investment in building here, but it didn't seem anymore developed than Yangon. I found it a little harder to orientate myself, despite the fact that the city is built on a grid. (Yet in Yangon, I got my bearings quite quick.)

After returning from our day trip, we had dinner at the Chapati Stand on 27th and 82nd for dinner again, but this time, Jake and Laurie joined us. Andi and I shared a potato curry, a vegetable curry, and the briyani with 2 chapatis (each)...yum! It came with this olive-tasting-but not-olive dish. I had a tea again, which came to a total of K1500. Such a good deal.

Mandalay

We arrived at the Mandalay bus station at 6am, and it was not as scary or chaotic as it was when I first arrived in Saigon. Yes, there were people trying to solicit their hotel and trying to offer taxi rides, but I read on WikiTravel to just by pass this all and walk West outside of the station to take a pick up to the center of town. The ladies who were already waiting in the pick up said it was K300 to get into town, but everyone else was telling us K400. It was a little frustrating, because even a monk told us it was K400! So we just went along with it. After all, it was a fraction of the price of a taxi. We ended up getting door to door service, right to our hotel.

I had to take a nap, since I didn't sleep much on the bus, so we had a late start on our first day in Mandalay. We started off with a late lunch at this food stall we stumbled across. We had chicken curry and rice, which came with a vegetable soup, and several side dishes, like kimchi sprouts, boiled spinach, fresh cabbage/lettuce/cucumber/mint leaves, fried peanuts, and a few other dishes down the table I didn't get to try. All for K800! It was the cheapest meal we have had in Myanmar, but it came with so much stuff.

After that, we planned to go to two sights that day; the Mahamuni Paya and Mandalay Hill. But they happend to be at opposite ends of the town. Easiest way to get around? Rent a bike! Sure glad we did too, because it would have been one hell of a walk. Since it was later in the day too, the guy only charged us K1000 instead of K1500.

Mahamuni Paya was interesting to people watch. I'm starting to see a common theme of the Payas here....it's where locals just hang out, and where some pray. There are usually sections too where there are vendor shops or just vendors selling food (if not outside, it's inside the paya grounds). People will have lunch or a snack at the temples. Another thing we are learning, just carry your shoes when you have to take them off at the temples. Or else you have to pay K200. Oh, bike parking was K100.

Afterward, we biked all the way to Mandalay Hill, on the northern side of town. We were trying to get to the top by sunset, but the only thing that stood between us was the stairs. Oh...the stairs. The climb up the stairs was pretty tiring. We had to take our shoes off, so walking up on concrete stairs just got harder and harder on the feet. And at every platform, there was a Buddha image to see, with another flight of stairs waiting for you to get to the top. When we reached a (seemingly) top platform, we saw the sunset over Mandalay, but then learned we WEREN'T at the summit. Andi felt she had to just climb to the top, since we were there anyway, so I followed suite. Maybe after 10 minutes of stairs, we ran into Martin, the Czech traveler we shared a taxi with to Mandalay. He said it was about 15 more minutes to the top, but since it was after sunset, we figured it was best to start heading down since we would have to bike back to town in the dark (darn).







After getting back into town, we were pretty famished. We went to a popular chapati stand for dinner, and we had a great meal. I had the mutton curry, 2 chapatis, and tea for K1500. I am so glad the curries here aren't spicy. I was getting tired of ordering Thai food, only to find it was too spicy for my taste buds! But the curries here are just right for me :)



When we finished dinner, we took a walk down to the "Entertainment" district (I'm not sure what that describes, honestly) and caught The Mustache Brothers show in their little home garage theater. The comedy troupe had been performing for years (even performed for the Lady), but were arrested and even detained in prison for making jokes at the governments expense. They put on a comedy/cultural/dance show every night at 8:30pm for foreigners (they aren't allowed to perform in Burmese/for Burmese people). It costs K8000, but the proceeds go to political prisoners. It was pretty silly at times, but definitely entertaining and worth supporting. After the show, we took some pictures with the Brothers and chatted with them for a little bit.

Yangon Part 2

We had about almost a full day left in Yangon, before our night bus to Mandalay. There did not seem like a whole lot left to do in Yangon, so our only goals were to visit the Botataung Paya and to see the view of Yangon from the Sakura Tower.



The Botataung Paya was...not as impressive as the Shewdagon Paya. (admission $2) (I am pretty sure this statement wil hold true, since the Shewdagon Paya is the most grand and famous paya in all of Myanmar). Usually, the zedi (stupas) are solid, but the neat thing about this one was that the zedi was hollow, and you can see the hair relic of Buddha. ( We didn't REALLY see it since it was enshrined and displayed at a distance.) Walking inside the zedi was a little overwhelming; it was completely painted in gold, and there were large gates guarding the shelves of little Buddha statues. It felt a little claustrophobic at times. And there were people asking for money as we walked around (even a monk! I couldn't believe it.)

Inside the zedi


We finally reached the Sakura Tower, but when we went to the top, we would have to pay a pretty penny just for the view. The meals were about 6 times as much as the street food. Not too surprised, we went back down and decided to go back a little early to catch up on email before going to Mandalay.

And speaking of internet, it is pretty darn slow in Myanmar. Our hotel was charging $1 USD per hour, but we found a place across the road for only 300K per hour (about $.038). We can access Gmail, but not Yahoo or Hotmail. Facebook is ok. Not really feeling the need to spend any money on internet just to check email makes me want to put it off. I wasn't going to check everyday cos I don't get much emails anyways. The occasional ones I send to family to let them know I am ok is fine enough.

And now, part 2 of the day....the bus ride.

Our bus to Mandalay was leaving at 7pm, with an arrival time of 7am (12 hour bus ride...wee! You'd never think of riding Greyhound in the US for that long, right?) . Our hotel told us it would take about an hour to get there, and it was already 5:45pm Andi, Martin (a Czech traveler), and I tried to catch a cab at the very last minute and managed to get one taxi for K6000 (K2000 each). The clock in the cab gave us a little scare, but we learned it was running fast. But before you know it, we got into the bus station early, at 6:30pm. This was probably the oddest station I had been in, because it seemed like another whole neighborhood! We entered through these gates, and usually, you will see a couple rows of buses, but instead, we saw tons of food and snack stands, with some buses spread out around every corner. It was huge. Our taxi driver had to ask where our bus was located, because it was really that big of a place.

Having taken long bus rides Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, I had some low expectations for Myanmar buses and roads (although I read the roads are better than Laos). But it turned out to be one of the more comfortable buses I had been on. They were old buses from Japan (I am guessing 1970s, based on decor), with plenty of leg room and seats that reclined for sleeping. Andi and I had the second to last row, with no one behind us (in the beginning), so it was a good set up.

I tried to stay awake so I would fall asleep at a normal time. This was a dumb idea, because little did I know, not only would we stop for multiple rest stops, but we would be forced to get off the bus during those stops as well. This doesn't sound like a bad thing in the beginning, but when you are just about to fall asleep, it's time for a stop, even at 4am. And the weather is probably 10 degrees cooler than the previous city. The last several buses I took in other countries didn't make you get out of the bus if you were sleeping.

Another thing, a couple of the bus workers went to the back seats to fall asleep, but one fellow in particular was super annoying, and just plain creepy. In the Buddhist countries, it's a big no-no to touch someone on the head, but apparently, this guy had no problem doing that to me and Andi. At first, I thought he was just being nice to us, because he would lightly push my head against the headrest, to indicate for me to go to sleep, but he did it so often, it got super annoying. At one point, he even smelled my head! It was so bizarre and just plain creepy! Later, I found out from Andi, he was trying to get her to lay in the backseat with him. Gross. I was so happy to get off the bus when we arrived. The ride was fine except for that guy and the rule to get off the bus.

Yangon - Part 1

Our first full day in Yangon went surprisingly well. Started off with a Myanmar breakfast (coconut gravey noodles) at our hotel and we were on our way to explore the center of the city, about a 20 minute walk from our hotel.


mohinga

First thing to note on traveling in Myanmar, there are not a lot of street signs. Not even in Burmese. We encountered a little fork in the road maybe 3 minutes into our walk, but luckily, we met Henry the Engineer, who prevented us from getting run over by a car and helped us with directions on going to the center of town. We chatted with him for a little bit over the next several blocks, until he saw us off from his destination.

Walking on Yangon side walks are such a trip. So many things are going on at once. As you're scoping out the area, you're also looking at people walking by, vendors and their goods, saying hi to people who shout hello at you, trying to avoid the men who run up to you and ask if you need to change money (similar to tuk tuk drivers asking you where you are going), and watching your step where you walk, because one mistep on the uneven curbside (I'm talking rubble, shifted cement tiles, missing side walk panels and gaping holes...all hazards) can lead to a twisted ankle or a trip into the sewer hole. We definitely took some time to get into the heart of the city.


When we did arrive to a big intersection, we came across a man named Toe, a bus guide who gave us direction/location of where we were. His English was really good, and he kept chatting with us and talked about the recent happenings in Myanmar, from the Lady being freed to the inaugaration of the new capitol. He seemed optimistic and hopeful for the people of Myanmar. He was full of information, and very friendly too. Didn't try to sell us that much on his bus services, which I appreciate.

We took a walk around central Yangon, passing the city hall, which looked like an abandoned building, the Sule Paya, which was under construction, so we couldn't actually see the stupa, and passed several colonial style buildings, most of them in disrepair. We criss crossed around the Indian Quarter as well, with vendors crowding the sidewalks and lots of people rushing through. The pace was definitely faster in Yangon than the other SE Asian cities.


Sule Paya

Little India

When it was time for lunch, we found a stall at the intersection of Shwedagon Paya Road and Mahabandoola Road. These two lovely ladies served several curries. I had the fish curry with the fixings: vegetable soup (spicy, a little sour, with daikon), plate of veggies (eggplant, okra, tomato, cucumber, bok choy), two dipping sauces (shrimp paste/chilli and another chilli pepper one) tea, and a little palm sugar candy for dessert (K 1000).

The women did not really speak English well, so they had an older Indian woman from the shop around the corner come translate for them. It was nice to chat with her; gave us some insight on the Burmese people. She emphasized that it was a poor country, but all they wanted was democracy. She said the women working at the curry stand show up at 3 or 4 am everyday to set up shop. She was happy to tell us how the Lady had recently been released and that she was at the Shwedagon Paya on Thursdays. It was interesting how when she talked about the Lady, she would lower her voice, as if someone were eavesdropping. We talked for a bit and then she left, only to return maybe 10 minutes later, with an enveloped photo of the Lady. She took out the photo but made sure to conceal it so no one else could see it but us.

After lunch, we still felt like our feet were super tired, so we tried our hand at public transportation with the #43 normal bus (K50) to avoid the 25 minute walk to the Shewdagon Paya. The trickey thing was that the bus numbers were all written in Burmese, so we asked a tour agent to write the number and the name of the stop in Burmese for us. It was easy to just had the note to the conductor of the bus. When we finally saw our bus number, we ran up to the bus, the conductor read our note and pulled us up right on board. I'm surprised the bus actually stopped, because we noticed the buses basically swings by curbside, and coasts along with people running on the side to jump in.

The bus dropped us off on 3rd Baya street. On the walk to Shewedagon, through 3rd Baya, saw several monk-robe sweat shops, crammed with women at sewing machines. It was a little strange.

Our first introduction to the Shewdagon Paya ($5) was during our scenic ride from the airport to our hotel. It was brightly light up at night and it looked fantastic. We timed it to see the Shwedagon for sunset, the nice golden hour to take photos. And it was great timing.

When we approached the entrance, we "had" to leave our shoes at the check-in (K200). (We could have really just carried our shoes in, but we though we had to check them in.) The Shwedagon is heralded as Myanmar's most famous temple, and even though it was the first paya I visited in Myanmar, I agree with that statement. I've seen a lot of temples by now, but I think this one is the most beautiful one I have seen, mainly because not only is it visually stunning, but it was nice to see people actual there praying and meditating. There were plenty of locals there utilaziing the temple, not just monks or tourists. There was a lot going on too; there was a buddha image everwhere you turned; if not housed in a temple, it was in a mosaic on the outside of a temple or represented in statue form just outside the main stupa. There was just so much to look at. Andi and I probably spent an hour and a half wandering through out the huge complex.






Afterwards, we took the #204 bus back to center of town (train station stop, K100). (I got pretty excited that we were learning how to read numbers in Burmese.) We walked by Ruby Market on the way back home, a big shopping complex with a bakery, supermarket, pharmacy, book store, electronics, etc. We stopped by to pick up some snacks for our bus trip to Mandalay the following evening. I didn't think much about it when we were there, but then I realized it might be somewhat government related or that I was probably giving some money to the government since I was spending money at a more "rich" establishment. Argh. Trying to be conscious about how I travel here, but it can be easy to slip.

For dinner, we stumbled across a food stall serving Korean hot pot noodles. This consisted of a variety of noodles in a hot pot mixed with veggies, 2 quail eggs, some light sausage (tasted like bologne/lunch meat), came with kimchee and a garlic/spinach side dish (K1000).

We had a pretty tiring full day of Yangon, but it felt like we saw most of what the city had to offer. We were ready to leave for Mandalay the next day.

Happy New Year from Thailand!

I am way behind on updating...almost a month now :( But that is because I have been hopping around too many places with no time for the internet!

The last month of the year was great. I spent a majority of it in beautiful Vietnam. I had a great time exploring the coast from North to South and meeting a lot of great people along the way. More detailed entries will be made, I promise.

I rung in the new year last night at the Koh Phangan Full Moon Party (although there was no full moon). It was nuts! Thousands of people on the beach with music blasting from all areas. Probably the best fireworks show I had seen, only because it was right there in front of you. I stayed the whole night until 7am pretty much. I am still catching up on sleep....

So on that note, happy new year! I'll try to update more before I go to Myanmar on Jan.11, because internet there probably won't be as accessible...