On to U Bein teak bridge, again with lots of other people.  This is one of the most picturesque sites in the country, but not easy to photography when other tourists are all strolling along. It’s still quite amazing, and we walked the full 1300 metres.  Our first sight, too, of oxen carts ploughing the fields.   This time we were followed by a young girl, who chatted with Harry while I kept my distance.

 Buying and releasing a bird is said to be an act of good karma.  We understand the birds know where to return to at feeding time.

Restored after lunch and more cold beer, we saw the Kaunghmudaw Paya, with an enormous white dome.  Or formerly white. It is in the process of being painted gold, apparently to the irritation of a number of local residents.  All the other pagodas have gold leaf or gold paint, and this was known for being white.  It was an interesting time to visit, because some of the roof was still white, some was orange, the base for the gold paint, and some had already been painted gold.  The painters, strung from a rope along the side of the roof, looked very hot!

Then to Umin Thounzeh, with 45 Buddhas all in a row, and the Soon U Ponya Shin Paya, with great views of Mandalay, and large bronze frogs which serve as collection boxes – along with other bronze hares, they represent Buddha’s various lives.

Once again we were exhausted, but enjoyed the drive back to Mandalay past mountains of watermelons.  Kyaw Ngwe stopped to buy one, and also stopped to explain the blossom of a local tree (Bombax ceiba) to Harry.

Again we were happy with our hotel, the Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel http://www.mandalayhillresorthotel.com/  Very comfortable room, looking out over the pool and the gardens, with spa and mini temple.  Again met with cool drinks and damp towels, very welcome after a long day.

And again we didn’t feel like much dinner, and  tried out the Kipling bar, very comfortable, obviously designer done, to recall the ‘old’ Asia.  But they were advertising a young musical group, The Rock Journey Band, and I expected to be driven out by loud music, the bane of our life.  Who knows, said Harry, they could be Beatles wannabees.  And sure enough, they came out and started with ‘Imagine’ followed by ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane.’ They weren’t bad at all, once we got over the culture shock of sitting in Mandalay listening to golden oldies.

Thursday 17 February

A wonderful morning.  We left the hotel around 8 to go the jetty for our ‘private boat’ to Mingun.  Not sure what I had expected by a private boat, but it certainly wasn’t this.  We had to walk across planks from one boat to another, and somewhere around the 7^th or 8^th found ours - wooden, fairly primitive, home to a young couple with a baby.  But deck chairs on top and a sun canopy, so we were comfortable.  And riding along the Irrawaddy, with mist on the edge of the river, seeing temples rise out of the mist was quite amazing.  We took photos of everything, including the toddler helping her mother with the ropes as we landed.

On landing, we did not take the ox cart ‘Taxi’, but instead walked the short distance to the Mingun temple, a monumental uncompleted stupa, which we did manage to climb, for great views. On to the ‘white temple’ Hsinbyume Paya, where whitewashed terraces represent mountain ranges, and to the Mingun bell, supposedly the largest hung, un-cracked bell in the world, weighing 90 tonnes.  Managed to give it a thump.

By now we were learning not to speak to all the children who followed us, but they still followed anyway.  The last stop was a visit to the Buddhist Infirmary, a nursing home for elderly with no family.  It’s interesting that this is on the tourist itinerary, but it is unusual for Myanmar, as older people are usually looked after by their families, and so this type of home is very uncommon. 

Back on the boat to an attractive restaurant by the river, where we had quite a good lunch.  By now we were usually having curry with cashews, tempura vegetables, rice and beer. 

In the afternoon we went by various workshop areas with wood carving, stone carving, and embroidery.  My lungs were suffering after a few minutes with the stone carvers, most of whom were not, of course wearing any masks or protection.  I hesitate to think what their lungs look like after a few years.

On to the Temple of the Living Buddha (Kyauktasgyi Paya), with a 900 tonne Buddha, and to the wooden Shwenandaw Kyaung monastery, once part of the palace complex.  Then to   ‘the world’s biggest book’ with its 729 marble slabs, on which are inscribed the 15 books of the Tripitaka.  However, soon after we arrived, we had our only problem with ‘tourist tummy’ and decided it was better to head back to the hotel.

A quick drive back to the hotel, where some local rehydrating salts’ and our Western medicines seemed to do the trick, but we decided our sightseeing was over for that day.

Mandalay Palace

Friday 18 February

On our own again, we decided to walk down to the Royal Palace, which we had been told was not far from our hotel. Obviously not many people walk, and we were stopped by a number of people offering us taxi rides, etc. One of them got us to agree that we ‘might’ take his tuk tuk if we needed something when we came out. Projections of the distance varied, and we finally gave in and agreed to go with a trishaw. Very nice man, and certainly an experience, especially crossing a particularly busy intersection, where we were a little too close to the traffic.

On arriving at the Palace, we said to the driver that we didn’t know how when we would be out – ‘but if I am here you will take my trishaw?’ Sure, we said, and wandered into the palace. There is only one entrance for tourists, as most of the area is an army barracks. It was a quiet, mainly shady walk, past vegetable gardens, cyclists and the occasional army personnel passing by. There isn’t too much to the palace, as most of it was destroyed in the war, but there are several interesting buildings. We particularly liked the cows walking around the edge of the building.

On arrival at the gate, we were greeted with a slight problem. Both the trishaw driver and the ‘blue taxi- tuk tuk driver were l waiting for us. We thought that, since we had already given some business to the trishaw driver, we would take the blue taxi – he opened up the back of the truck spread out blankets and pillows, and off we went back to the hotel. This time we were a LITTLE further away from the traffic, but still had a good view of all the motorcycles speeding along – including one right behind us with a toddler riding the handlebars. Apparently the blue taxis were part of Japanese war reparations to Burma – it wasn’t clear if they were still using the original post war vehicles, but it certainly seemed possible.

Our driver took us back to the hotel for a shower before lunch, and agreed to wait for us, take us to the restaurant, and bring us back – ‘you decide how much.’ So we did that, and went to the Green Elephant restaurant, part of a group of 3 or 4, which we would find in other cities. This was probably the best meal I had, with nice creamy curry, good tempura. Unfortunately Harry wasn’t really hungry, still suffering a little from the previous day’s bug, and didn’t get to try very much. We came home with the driver and gave him 5 or 6 dollars, more than we had originally agreed, but certainly worth it.

Mandalay Hill

Saturday 19 February
Now that our stomach bugs were over, I woke up with the beginnings of a cold. We headed out anyway, found the Mandalay Hill, guarded by huge white lions, and proceeded to walk up. This doesn’t sound like much but it’s 760 feet high, apparently 1729 steps, with various Buddhas and temples along the way. Luckily all along the steps are benches, built into the wall. It took quite a while, but was interesting – lots of school groups running up the steps calling out ‘Hello’, someone washing her clothes in a cement tub at the side, people selling flowers, horoscopes, you name it.

Once we got to the top we saw that there was a road that we could have taken in a taxi, which would have been easier, but then we couldn’t say we climbed the Mandalay Hill. It’s ‘considered a rewarding experience and a meritorious deed at the same time’ we had read.