Mandalay 4 Oct to 5 Oct

There is a new ‘international’ airport at Mandalay built with the hoped for influx of tourists in mind which was opened last year. No international flights come as yet. Mandalay does not have the crumbly, decayed feeling of Yangon. It is dry dusty, filled with bicycles, but the pavements are still a major hazard for unsuspecting walkers. There is a hill overlooking the town that we went up. It had wonderful views of Mandalay and the nearby Ayeyarwady ( otherwise known as Irrawaddy) river. We visited the shanty town that springs up on the banks where boats are unloaded. We watched large barrels of molasses being carried off boats and up the bank and onto waiting trucks, pigs being manhandled from the larger boats, through the shallow water, up the bank and onto a truck etc. Kids played happily with their kites made from plastic bags amidst the trucks and mud.

We visited Amarapura, the capital before Mandalay, in order to visit the Mahagandayon Monastery. This was a very interesting place. There are currently 1300 monks living and studying there. We arrived just as they were lining up for their 2nd ( and last) meal of the day at 10 am. There were in neat rows, including the boys between 5 and about 10 years old in their white robes, then the novices from about 10 to 20 and then monks all in orange. We met about 4 senior monks – elderly gentlemen who oozed calm and contentment. We met some of a group of about 200 people who had travelled from somewhere in the north by train and bus for a day and a half to bring food for the monks as their annual offering..