Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ahh, Mandalay...much nicer!

I only slept in shot fits all night, so didn't get much sleep. The bus stopped for morning coffee about 6:30. My eyelids were so heavy, I was soo tired.

Got to the bus station near Mandalay about 9:00 or 9:30. We had decided to stay at Royal Guest House (was in my Lonely Planet), and a guy with a Royal Guest House sign was standing outside the bus waving it around (other guest houses had people waving signs to). When we got off, we asked him how much the rooms were, he said $10/night, private bathroom, so we went there. We had to pay 6000 kyat for the taxi. We checked the room, it looked good, there were a few other tourists around the guest house as well, so we took it.

The taxi dude also sold us a $15 afternoon tour for the both of us to see the Mandalay sights. He was going to pick us up at 3:00.

We came up with a plan. We'll leave for Bagan tomorrow, stay for two days, then go to Inle Lake for 1-2 days, then back to Yangon for Monday, when we fly out.

After checking in to the guest house, we walked to find the BBB Restaurant, everything on their menu is western. We had breakfast there, then tried internet, and it wasn't working. No surprise there.

As we were walking to the restaurant, we were walking along a quiet side road, a car pulled up beside us, and it was Rita and her husband. We were surprised to see them, and she us. She asked us where we were going, we told her and gave her the address, her and her husband talked for a few seconds, and said it would be the next street, turn left. Dad noticed a HUGE stack of bills (money) they had in their car, at least 10 inches thick. They had a very nice, new car too. They appear to be pretty well off.

While we had breakfast, we decided that there wasn't enough time to do Bagan and Inle Lake, so we'll spend two nights here and two nights in Bagan, then take a night bus from Bagan back to Yangon on Sunday night.

We walked back to the guest house, along the outside edge of Mandalay Fort, which is an old palace surrounded by a big wall and a huge moat. Each side of the moat is 2 miles long.

On the walk back from the restaurant, a guy pulled over on a bike and wanted to know if I had anything at all to sell, he wanted to buy something from me. I told him sorry, I didn't have anything!

Also on the walk back, a number of kids saw dad's camera and surrounded him. Dad took it out, and they all lined up nice and quiet for their picture. Dad took their picture and some video of them, and showed it to them. They were very exicted to see themselves.

So far we're liking Mandalay, it's not nearly as busy as Yangon, much slower pace here.

One thing we noticed is the lack of motorbikes on Yangon. There were none. Not sure why. But motorbikes are out in full force here in Mandalay. And pedal bikes too.

Back at the room, showered, went to pay for a second night at the guest house and to book a boat to Bagan for Friday, but there is no boat on Friday! If we want to take a boat to Bagan, we have to go tomorrow, as the next boat isn't until Sunday. So, we decided to just spend one night in Mandalay and take the boat to Bagan tomorrow. It's $27 for the boat, compared to only $7 for a bus. The bus isn't even an A/C bus, and it's a 10 hour bus ride. No thanks! We'll pay more and take the boat.

Dad did some laundry and dried it on the roof top of the guest house (they have a little area there).

The buildings aren't as rundown here as they were in Yangon, more renovating taking place. And the infrastructure (roads and sidewalks) are in much better shape here.

We hung out on the rooftop terrace, then about 2:45 went downstairs to meet our tour taxi..

First we went to a stone carving place, very interesting. Then to a handicraft shop. No pressure to buy. Then to Mahamuni Paya. The Buddha here was cast in the first century AD or 554 BC, they don't know. Lots of men were recovering the Buddha in hold leaf.

Next, we went to the shop where they make the gold leaf. This is crazy. Men and women pound hammers and wood for hour after hour to flatten out the gold, making it tissue paper thin. Now there's hard labour!

Then to Shwenandaw Kyaung, an old wooden monastery. Then saw Sandamani Paya and Kuthodaw Paya, each with hundreds of white stupas. Kuthodaw has 729 marble slabs hanging under each stupa, inscribed with the entire 15 books of the Tripitaka. Outside of Kuthodaw Paya, a boy was selling paintings and a girl was selling packs of small postcard-size paintings. They were awesome, and I took pity and bought a painting from the boy for 1000 kyat. Dad did the same. The girl then sent us on a guilt trip, saying she was very sad, why didn't we buy anything from her. I felt bad, but we left.

We then continued on to Mandalay Palace and Fort, and took pictures from the outside.

He then dropped us off at the foot of Mandalay Hill, and we walked up over 1000 stairs to get to the top, with big and small Buddha's along the way. There were two MASSIVE Buddha's along the path, they blew me away. After we made it back down from Mandalay Hill, the little girl who was at Kuthodaw Paya was there, trying to hawk her wares again. She saw us and came running. I asked dad if he would split on a set of her postcard-size paintings, he said yes. Her face lit up when we bought from her, and she was sooo happy. There's hardly any tourists here, and it hurts the locals that rely on that so much.

That was the end of the tour, so we had our taxi guy drop us off at the BBB Restaurant for supper, I had a good steak. After supper, we hit an internet, and it was working!! Yay!

Back to the guest house, I decided to take a trishaw (a bicycle with two seats on one side, one passenger faces forward, the other passenger faces backwards) to the Moustache Brothers. They are a comedy troupe who are now banned from public performances by the government. The leader of the troupe, Par Par Lay, has been arrested 3 times. His last arrest was Sept. 25, 2007, during the protest. Earlier, he had spent 5 years in prison, and was only released after pressure from Hollywood actors. Nowadays, they perform out of their home, and only to tourists, slamming the government and showing traditional Burmese dance and dress. Anyway, I think the Moustache Brothers was the hilight of my trip. The show was 8000 kyat, and I paid 3000 kyat for the trishaw there and back.

One of the other members of the Moustache Brothers, Lu Maw, his wife is the cover girl on an old Italian versions of the Lonely Planet.

One of the things the Moustache Brothers talked about was what the best job in Myanmar was. It's a traffic cop. Why? Corruption! They can stop anyone, threaten them and make them pay 1000 kyat to make the ticket "go away". The traffic cop, of course, pockets all the money. At the end of the day, the traffic cop has a wad of kyat in his wallet.

On the trishaw ride back from the Moustache Brothers, I was talking to my driver. He's 44 years old, he's been a trishaw bicycle driver for over 24 years, since before he got married when he was 20. He has 3 kids, a daughter 15, and two sons, 19 and 21. Trishaw drivers work in rotation, he was stationed outside the Royal Guest House. I was his first fare all day. He told me most tourists want to take taxi's, so there's not much work for him anymore. Next year, he hopes to drive a taxi. To do that, he needs to pay a deposit of either $200 or $400 (can't remember) and he has to pay 4000 kyat every day, regardless of whether he has any paying customers. He also has to buy all his own fuel. He has a very tough life, but is making an honest living and not begging. Super nice guy.

To bed about 10:30.

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