Day 6: Another long day of cycling today – 83km. We are literally “on the road to Mandalay” which was a song, a book, a movie and a poem! Apparently Rudyard Kipling, who’s poem called Mandalay was inspired on a visit to Burma was deeply impressed by all he saw and a particular girl he encountered. I read the poem with high hopes but it did nothing for me! Ah well, back to the cycling…
We pass this guy blocking the road which is fun – he’s collecting money for the local monks and he does a little dance for us!
Lunch is at a beautiful open air restaurant and then it’s back on the bikes….
After a brief rest from the long day cycling we jump on the bus to go for a traditional meal. They call Mandalay one of Burma’s motorcycle towns and I can see why… it’s very busy and there are lots of motorcycles. You can see monks, nuns, babies and sometimes whole families on the back of a motorcycle here.
There are lots of Buddhist nuns around. They wear pink robes and have shaved heads, they look cool especially when on motorbikes!
We get a brief view of Mandalay palace which is huge. The walls around it measure two kilometers on each of the four sides and it has a moat all the way round too. The palace buildings were home to the last independent rulers of Burma and were restored in the 1990s. We don’t get to go inside, it’s not on the Intrepid tour for cultural and possibly political reasons (from what I can gather).
Our dinner is in a very basic looking restaurant but the food is fantastic. It’s buffet style so we can try whatever we like….
Day 7: We set out from the hotel and cycle away from Mandalay toward Amarapura and the U-Bein bridge which was, at one point, the longest teak bridge in the world. The Chinese may have recently built a bigger one but it certainly holds the record for being oldest at approximately three hundred years.
It’s 1.2km in length and we have time to walk the full length and back. It’s not crowded but there are a mixture of tourists, locals and monks..
We see workers in the fields on either side.
Although we don’t get to stop there, we get a view of Sagaing hill which is spectacularly covered in magnificent golden spires and white temples. Although it’s a bit misty it’s really impressive as we cycle by.
We stop on the bridge for a quick photo
Continuing on our bikes we reach Mingun, a river village famous for having an unfinished pagoda which would have been the largest in the world. The story goes that the king was told in a premonition (or maybe by a holy monk or Buddha I can’t quite remember!) that if the pagoda was finished it would signify the end of the kingdom so they stopped working on it! In reality it seems he ran out of funds and labor… and then he died!
Considering what you see is only the first third, it certainly would have been huge. It also suffered damage in a number of earthquakes and you can see the cracks.
Across the road lie two huge brick ruins. These are the remains of what would have been giant protectors of the pagoda. They are called chinthe, which are half lion, half dragon guardian deities.
There are plenty of sellers around the area and I decide to buy a bracelet from this lovely lady who chatted to us for ages and had great English.
Next on the list is the Mingun bell. Continuing the “biggest in the world” theme the Mingun bell, when commissioned in 1808 was the largest of its kind. (It’s now surpassed by a bell in China!). It’s 13 ft high and 16ft wide at the lip and the biggest bell that’s actually ringable. I give it a thump with some wood and get a good sound out of it.
Next is a beautiful white temple called Hsinbyume pagoda:
Suzanne and I are like celebrities here as many locals want to take photos with us.. it’s great fun!
After a beautiful outdoor lunch by the river, it’s time for a cruise on the Ayeyarwady river to get us back to Mandalay. It’s a relaxing boat ride and we even get to do some shopping with the crew!
We continue to move at a fast pace and meet up with our yellow bus to continue our tour of Mandalay. Onwards to another temple….. Mahamuni temple is second only to Shwedagon in it’s importance to the Burmese people. It’s odd in that you can’t get too close to the Buddha, in particular ladies are not allowed into the inner section and lots of people pray in front of the large television screens that show the Buddha statue. The statue is thirteen feet high and some believe it to be two thousand years old and one of the few statues made in the correct likeness to Buddha himself!! It has been covered so much with gold leaf that large pieces of solid gold have formed.
The next stop is truly a drive by as we are pushed for time. We stop at the gold leaf factory to see how they make gold leaf. We stay all of about ten minutes but it’s just enough time to see the stuff!
We are running out of time to make it up Mandalay hill for sunset but the tuk tuk driver takes it serious and tears up the hill at top speed to get us there. It’s like being on a rollercoaster the way he takes the corners and I honestly have a moment where I think we’re going over. He gets us there in one piece, if a little shook though and I even get a photo with the lunatic!!! 
At the top of the hill is Su Taung Pyan pagoda. It is said that Buddha visited Mandalay hill and again a beautiful temple is built in his honor.
We watch a very nice sunset from the hill along with lots of other tourists (it’s the first time we’ve seen a lot of tourists).
It’s been a long day out so we have an easy meal back at the hotel and call it a day.
odohertyelaine 