Mandalay

After Bagan we made the short flight to Mandalay on our Airline, Air KBZ, or Air Kanbawza. This is a local airline started by a banking company about 18 months ago and they have a "fleet" of 2 airplanes.
They were on time or early on all 4 flights, delivered luggage without a hitch and had only one bouncy landing.
Mandalay is the area of several former capitals of The Burmar people and the home of the last capital before the British annexed Burma to India in 1886 and moved the capital to Rangoon.
The area around the city is very nice with several beautiful sites, but the city itself is noisy, dirty and has only one traffic light and intermittent electrical service. It is at the terminus of the road to China and is slowly converting to a Chinese city as businessmen from China have moved in. Because of the Western economic sanctions China has wide open opportunities there.

The photo above is that of U-Bein's Bridge at sunset. It is the longest teak wood bridge at 1300 yards in length as it crosses Taungthaman Lake southwest of the city. It is a popular tourist photo op but is a critical path for locals to use on their way around the area.

We also visited the site of a former capital- Ava- that sat on an island between the great Ayerwaddy river and a smaller river. There are only pieces of the city wall still intact, and a few remnants of the palace including a watchtower that is leaning precariously.
We were taken by horse cart around the island to see the scenes...stupas and rice paddies

 

There were monasteries such as this brick and stucco example:

and this magnificent wooden monastery:

 

And another Pagoda complex we visited:

This is where we had lunch the first day; a classy place set out in the middle of the fields next to the river:

 Our next stop after lunch was the religious center of Sagaing Hill which has numerous monasteries, stupas and shrines. As well as meditation centers and even a Hospital for only monks and nuns.

 A shrine with 42 Buddhas lined up:

A nun studying Buddhist scriptures:

The second day we took an early morning boat about 1 hour up the Ayerwaddy River to Mingun. Where there is the world's second largest intact and working bronze bell. An unfinished and partially collapsed pagoda that was intended to be the world's largest pagoda and then an unusually designed white pagoda.
The boatman pushes away from shore to start the journey:

As the sun rose:

The Bell:

The white pagoda, Hsinbyume:

The unfinished and crumbling Mingun Pagoda.

 More proof I was on the trip...after climbing up to the top of the Mingun Pagoda:

View of the Ayerwaddy River from the top of the Pagoda

A monk sitting on top....I think he was posing for tourists to snap a photo:

We ended the 2nd day on Mandalay Hill to watch another sunset.

Bagan..Stupas, Temples and Pagadas Galore

On the Bagan plain in central Myanmar there are around 4,000 temples in a 26 square mile area from the 11th and 12th centuries. Everywhere one looks there is some structure..some in good shape, others crumbling. We spent the next 2 days there.
This area was the center of a great civilization based on the adoption of the Theravada type of Buddhism which created a religious fervor that resulted in this proliferation of monuments. This lasted for 2 1/2 centuries until the Mongols stormed out of the north in the mid 13th century and eliminated the dynasty.
The size of the stupas and temples is quite varied from very grand to small. Many have interiors decorated with Buddhas and mural paintings many which have stayed in very good shape over the last 900 to 1,000 years. A great earthquake in 1975 caused damage to some of these structures.

A video will help give you an idea of the scope of this site:

Some pictures of well preserved interiors:

 

We happened to be in Bagan on the last weekend of the annual Pagoda Festival so there were folks there from many of the region's villages including Monks for a special offering event.

A market was set up and many families were in town:

Did I tell you about the white stuff on the faces of most everyone in Myanmar? It is made from tree sap and is believed to be very good for the skin. Prevents sun damage, softens and moisturizes, and seems to be a form of playful decoration.

Making the skin cream:

 

Mt. Kyaikhtiyo, Bago and the Golden Rock

The next 2 days we stayed around Yangon but went to see the Golden Rock, another religious site about 3 hours drive by car, truck and hike from Yangon. We drove to the "base camp" area at Kinpun where we are crowded onto the back an open bus/truck on benches that are very uncomfortable wooden boards.

These vehicle took us up an 11km very bumpy, narrow , mostly paved road, to a staging area from which we must hike a 4km, steep track that rises 1600 feet to the top. This trek takes about an hour.
You have the choice of riding up in a sedan chair carried by 4 local men for about $10, but that's embarassing so I trudged up. However I must have looked rather tentative as 4 guys followed me up with an empty chair waiting for me to give in. I prevailed as we got to our hotel:

 

That's our porter with our overnite packs in the basket.

On the top is a broad plaza with some monasteries, many vendors with kiosks selling almost everything to thousands of folks who come here. There are also some hotels and restaurant/bars. Many families set up housekeeping and stay overnite at the plaza.

The main attraction. as you can see from the first photo, is a rock with a small stupa on top that is poised precariously on a promontory at the end of the plaza. The rock has been painted gold and the stupa has gold leaf covering it.

The sunset was magnificent:

We stayed overnite and reversed the process the next morning. A hike down that took half the time of the previous day; a harrowing ride to base camp in the truck that was careening down the narrow bumpy road. Here are some of the people we saw on the walks up and down and at the shrine:

After we got down we made a stop on the way back to Yangon in Bago, a former capital, to see the 1,000 year old Shwemawdaw Pagoda which is 376 ft high. It has been added to and rebuilt several times over its lifespan as wear and tear and earthquakes have taken their toll.

Yangon, Myanmar and the Schwedagon Pagoda

I am back in Bangkok with good internet access at my hotel, so let me tell you about my tour of Myanmar.

On Wednesday January 4 I flew to Yangon, formerly Rangoon, which was the Brtish colonial capital of Burma (the British name for the country). We visited downtown and lunch after being picked up at the airport by my guide- I took a guided tour of the country because of wanting to steer clear of political problems and the primitive nature of the infrastructure. Many of the buildings are in the colonial style.

 

We went to the riverside and took the ferry boat to the other side just for the ambiance...there are no bridges across the Yangon River:

 

Monks being taken across the river while protecting themselves from the sun:

The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Schwedagon Pagoda. It is one of the few sites that actually lives up to its reputation. It is spectacular with its 60 tons of solid gold of the main stupa glistening in the sunlight as you can see in the first 2 photos of this post. It stands on a hill in the northern section of the city in a 12 acre park filled with monasteries and landscaping. The central shrine is 320 feet tall and there are 4 covered walkways leading up the hill from each direction. The are leading to the very top of the gold stupa is festooned with 1100 diamonds totaling 278 carats and 1300 other jewels- rubies, emeralds. The very top has 3,350 diamonds totalling1800 carats and it crowned by one 76 carat diamond! On the plaza surrounding the main stupa on the top of the hill are over 70 other religious shrines. What is also notable is the atmosphere on the plaza as this is one of the main Buddhist religious sites so there are a variety of visitors- tourists sightseeing and solemn religious pilgrims with their families.
One of the covered walkways leading up the hill:

Some the shrines on the plaza surrounding the main stupa:

We were lucky to have bright clear weather to accentuate the gold.

Myanmar/Burma has Limited Internet

Internet is absent, intermittent and slow in this country. I have taken hundreds of photos which I will try to uload with commentary as soon as I get good access...which should be in 2-3 days when i reach Bangkok.
In the meantime, you can see some of the photos on my Facebook page: facebook.com/jvangrov