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.