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.