Sunday 30th October...still in Mandalay....
A lazy afteroon in Mandalay; I walked to the market to get some oranges because I have a bit of a cold and a cough. Out for dinner with Lee and Mette.
Monday 31st October
After breakfast I hired a sturdy bicycle (no gears, but a basket to put my LP and water in) and headed out to Amarapura and U Bein bridge. It was fun cycling through Mandalay in the rush hour traffic, weaving between and avoiding other bikes, motorbikes, trishaws, old buses, trucks etc.
I headed down 84th street and continued along the main road out of town. After about 8 miles I saw the sign to U Bein bridge,although it was a bit hidden behind a billboard. It was easy to get directions from there since the U Bein bridge is on the front cover of the LP so I just showed that to the lcoals and they pointed me in the right direction.
The U Bein bridge is one of the most popular tourist spots in the country; it is a 1km long, 200 year-old teak footbridge brige across Taungthaman Lake. As I came along the road towards the edge of the lake I could see most of the bridge; I had expected it to be a bit grander, but I grew to appreciate during the day.
I pushed the bike onto the bridge and started to walk across; it was not too busy, but there were as many tourists as there were locals. The view of the lake from the bridge is lovely; the lake is not very deep and the lcoals were stood up to their chests fishing and there were a few fishing boats going around.
The bridge itself is abnout 3 metres wide at the start and gets a wider towards the middle; it is curved to protect it from wind. The bike was a bit of a hinderance for stopping so I went all the way across and at the other side got tea and samosa at a cafe. The cafe staff were happy for me to leave the bike there and I walked back along the bridge.
I am sure I saw a guy herding ducks under the bridge. He was stood up on his boat, paddling and seemed to be ushering this group of about 30 ducks around the lake and under the bridge. Either that or he was just following them!
I walked to the far end of the bridge and sat in the rest area and enjoyed people watching for a while. Then I slowly walked back across the bridge again and retrieved the bike. I cycled for a while into the next village and then turned back and pushed the bike back across the bridge to where I had started.
I cycled through Amarapura again and past a few temples. Then I headed back out onto the main road and continued south towards Sagaing. After about 4 miles I came to the Ava bridge (built in 1934) across the Ayeyarwady river; there was a checkpoint where they told me not to take photos so I rode for about 5 minutes until I was half way across before taking a photo of the many golden stupas on the other side of the river.
Sagaing is known as a Buddhists retreat and there were many in the town. I stopped often to get directions to Sagaing hill and it was about 3 miles to the base of the hill. Not surprisingly I had to go uphill to get up the hill! Unfortunately the road was too steep for cycling so I had to push the bike up the hill for about 1km, in the heat, having had no lunch yet.
But then there was a resataurant and I got a huge plate of noodles. Then I walked up the steps to the top of the hill from where there are excellent views of countryside around Sagaing and the many monasteries and stupa below. Also there are a couple of halls housing Buddha statues and round the back was a cool tiled gazebo(?) where I sat to cool off.
Even with the brakes on full I was going so fast back down the hill that I got a bit scared, but I made it back down to Sagaing ok. I stopped at the attractive, modern International Buddhist Academy which was built in 1994; the buildings are made of pink and yellow sandstone and the stone icons are similar to Hindu icons. It has a (locked) circular temple(?), with a courtyard around it and then large alcoves displaying photos of Buiddhist sites around Asia, some of which I have visited this year; a friendly local guy escorted me around (or maybe I should say 'followed me'). On the way back across the river I used the Sagaing bridge, and just kept cycling fast when the checkpoint people shouted 'Hey' at me; I think you are supposed to pay something.....
I cycled back to U Bein bridge where there were many more tourists, arrived mostly for the sunset. It was good to see the bridge in a different light and it was nice there. The sun set right between two spans of the Ava bridge in the far distance.
Back on the bike I headed up to the main road and into traffic chaos, a major bottleneck with locals heading home in all manner of old and older vehicles. It was great fun being in the melee and joining the push and shove of Asian traffic. Once I was going in the right direction I made good progress, passing on the inside of trucks that couldn't go anywhere and alongside the many food stalls. As I went along quite a few people on motorbikes and bicycles turned their heads and waved, smiled and said 'hello' to the tourist. One guy on a bicycle said 'Hello Sir, Good Evening!' I cycled back at full speed, for the fun of it. By the time I got back to the hotel I was a dusty, sweaty mess on a bit of an adrenaline rush!
Some of my best day trips this year have been on bicycles, I like that I can stop when I want and go at my own pace. Today was fairly typical of such days where I end up going to places spontaneously and making up the route as I go along.
I had dinner with Lee and Mette and back at the hotel said goodbye to them as we are going in different directions tomorrow.
Tuesday 1st November
Hung out in the hotel until checkout time at midday. A bit of a last walk around Mandalay; it is a bit of a hot and dusty town but I liked it. Sat in reception until the pick-up came to take me to the long-distance bus station. We stopped often to pick up other tourists. As we were going along I realised that it is 2 years today since I left Sydney.
The bus left Mandalay at 6pm and was pretty comfortable. The Myanmar sit-com/movie was a bit loud but it did look quite funny. I was happy listening to my music. They had to wake me up when we arrived in Kalaw at 2am. It was just a short walk to Golden Lily hotel, where we had to wake up the lady owner.
Kalaw is different from Mandalay; we are at 1500 meteres above sea level and it is chilly at night - beanie and fleece temperature.
Wednesday 2nd November
I plan to go on an organised trek with a couple of the guys in the family who own the hotel, but when they knocked on my door at 7am to ask if I wanted to leave today at 9:30am I said 'no thanks'. I have a cold and felt pretty rough this morning.
Later went downstairs and organised to go on a 2 day/1 night trek on Friday. It seems a bit expensive but the hotel has a very good reputation for its treks so I will just trust them. I went for a walk into Kalaw which is a small town; the sun was very strong. After lunch I just came back to the hotel and read my book and slept, I am a bit lethargic with my cold, and there is not much to see here.
Dinner in town in the evening, a bit of chat with a friendly local who said his name is Taxi, and he drives a taxi, with his knees. Die Hard was on so I stayed until it finished. It is a bit grim having a cold, especially in a colder climate but I can not really complain while I am still on 'holiday'.
Thursday 3rd November
My plan was to be lazy again today but then I thought I might as well get up for free breakfast downstairs before it finished at 9am. And after that I felt a bit more motivated. Although I no longer set out specifically to see Buddhist temples or shrines or whatever, since I have seen so many in the last year, I did set the Nee Paya as a bit of a target, just to give some aim to my wandering in the countryside outside Kalaw this morning.
I headed out of town along a country lane and turned off to Nee Paya. As I walked I could hear local music echoing around the hills and groups of ladies walking together and a farmer herding his water buffalo. A small boy started crying when I waved and said hello. At Nee Paya, there were a few small temples housing Buddhist statues and monks and nuns and I sat inside for a little while enjoying the atmosphere.
I headed back to the main road and walked further along then left and came to Shwe OO Min Paya. With some direction I came to the natural cave wherein live hundreds of Buddha statues. My expectation was quite low so I was pleased when I saw that it really was inside a cave and there are Buddha statues of all shapes and sizes and I walked along the narrow path with Buddha on all sides and above me; it was cool. Some of the small statues were wearing purple fleece tops to keep out the cold. Some of the statues had electric flashing coloured bulbs in a 'halo' around the Buddha's head and although Buddha is sometimes seen with a kind of halo in paintings, I think this modern addition looks pretty tacky and I think I have only seen this in Myanmar; still, it's up to them I guess.
I walked back into town and got a kind of dosa at a stall by the side of the road. I walked up some steps towards Thein Taung Paya and looked at the view over the town. Well, I was a bit sniffly after my morning walk so came back to the hotel and read and slept and listened the afternoon downpour.
Today a local told me about how a rich and famous Myanmar actor headed south after Cyclone Nargis in 1998 to help the people left homeless; the Government promptly arrested him and locked him up for five years. This was at the same time that the Government was refusing to let in foreign aid workers.
A lazy afteroon in Mandalay; I walked to the market to get some oranges because I have a bit of a cold and a cough. Out for dinner with Lee and Mette.
Monday 31st October
After breakfast I hired a sturdy bicycle (no gears, but a basket to put my LP and water in) and headed out to Amarapura and U Bein bridge. It was fun cycling through Mandalay in the rush hour traffic, weaving between and avoiding other bikes, motorbikes, trishaws, old buses, trucks etc.
I headed down 84th street and continued along the main road out of town. After about 8 miles I saw the sign to U Bein bridge,although it was a bit hidden behind a billboard. It was easy to get directions from there since the U Bein bridge is on the front cover of the LP so I just showed that to the lcoals and they pointed me in the right direction.
The U Bein bridge is one of the most popular tourist spots in the country; it is a 1km long, 200 year-old teak footbridge brige across Taungthaman Lake. As I came along the road towards the edge of the lake I could see most of the bridge; I had expected it to be a bit grander, but I grew to appreciate during the day.
I pushed the bike onto the bridge and started to walk across; it was not too busy, but there were as many tourists as there were locals. The view of the lake from the bridge is lovely; the lake is not very deep and the lcoals were stood up to their chests fishing and there were a few fishing boats going around.
The bridge itself is abnout 3 metres wide at the start and gets a wider towards the middle; it is curved to protect it from wind. The bike was a bit of a hinderance for stopping so I went all the way across and at the other side got tea and samosa at a cafe. The cafe staff were happy for me to leave the bike there and I walked back along the bridge.
I am sure I saw a guy herding ducks under the bridge. He was stood up on his boat, paddling and seemed to be ushering this group of about 30 ducks around the lake and under the bridge. Either that or he was just following them!
I walked to the far end of the bridge and sat in the rest area and enjoyed people watching for a while. Then I slowly walked back across the bridge again and retrieved the bike. I cycled for a while into the next village and then turned back and pushed the bike back across the bridge to where I had started.
I cycled through Amarapura again and past a few temples. Then I headed back out onto the main road and continued south towards Sagaing. After about 4 miles I came to the Ava bridge (built in 1934) across the Ayeyarwady river; there was a checkpoint where they told me not to take photos so I rode for about 5 minutes until I was half way across before taking a photo of the many golden stupas on the other side of the river.
Sagaing is known as a Buddhists retreat and there were many in the town. I stopped often to get directions to Sagaing hill and it was about 3 miles to the base of the hill. Not surprisingly I had to go uphill to get up the hill! Unfortunately the road was too steep for cycling so I had to push the bike up the hill for about 1km, in the heat, having had no lunch yet.
But then there was a resataurant and I got a huge plate of noodles. Then I walked up the steps to the top of the hill from where there are excellent views of countryside around Sagaing and the many monasteries and stupa below. Also there are a couple of halls housing Buddha statues and round the back was a cool tiled gazebo(?) where I sat to cool off.
Even with the brakes on full I was going so fast back down the hill that I got a bit scared, but I made it back down to Sagaing ok. I stopped at the attractive, modern International Buddhist Academy which was built in 1994; the buildings are made of pink and yellow sandstone and the stone icons are similar to Hindu icons. It has a (locked) circular temple(?), with a courtyard around it and then large alcoves displaying photos of Buiddhist sites around Asia, some of which I have visited this year; a friendly local guy escorted me around (or maybe I should say 'followed me'). On the way back across the river I used the Sagaing bridge, and just kept cycling fast when the checkpoint people shouted 'Hey' at me; I think you are supposed to pay something.....
I cycled back to U Bein bridge where there were many more tourists, arrived mostly for the sunset. It was good to see the bridge in a different light and it was nice there. The sun set right between two spans of the Ava bridge in the far distance.
Back on the bike I headed up to the main road and into traffic chaos, a major bottleneck with locals heading home in all manner of old and older vehicles. It was great fun being in the melee and joining the push and shove of Asian traffic. Once I was going in the right direction I made good progress, passing on the inside of trucks that couldn't go anywhere and alongside the many food stalls. As I went along quite a few people on motorbikes and bicycles turned their heads and waved, smiled and said 'hello' to the tourist. One guy on a bicycle said 'Hello Sir, Good Evening!' I cycled back at full speed, for the fun of it. By the time I got back to the hotel I was a dusty, sweaty mess on a bit of an adrenaline rush!
Some of my best day trips this year have been on bicycles, I like that I can stop when I want and go at my own pace. Today was fairly typical of such days where I end up going to places spontaneously and making up the route as I go along.
I had dinner with Lee and Mette and back at the hotel said goodbye to them as we are going in different directions tomorrow.
Tuesday 1st November
Hung out in the hotel until checkout time at midday. A bit of a last walk around Mandalay; it is a bit of a hot and dusty town but I liked it. Sat in reception until the pick-up came to take me to the long-distance bus station. We stopped often to pick up other tourists. As we were going along I realised that it is 2 years today since I left Sydney.
The bus left Mandalay at 6pm and was pretty comfortable. The Myanmar sit-com/movie was a bit loud but it did look quite funny. I was happy listening to my music. They had to wake me up when we arrived in Kalaw at 2am. It was just a short walk to Golden Lily hotel, where we had to wake up the lady owner.
Kalaw is different from Mandalay; we are at 1500 meteres above sea level and it is chilly at night - beanie and fleece temperature.
Wednesday 2nd November
I plan to go on an organised trek with a couple of the guys in the family who own the hotel, but when they knocked on my door at 7am to ask if I wanted to leave today at 9:30am I said 'no thanks'. I have a cold and felt pretty rough this morning.
Later went downstairs and organised to go on a 2 day/1 night trek on Friday. It seems a bit expensive but the hotel has a very good reputation for its treks so I will just trust them. I went for a walk into Kalaw which is a small town; the sun was very strong. After lunch I just came back to the hotel and read my book and slept, I am a bit lethargic with my cold, and there is not much to see here.
Dinner in town in the evening, a bit of chat with a friendly local who said his name is Taxi, and he drives a taxi, with his knees. Die Hard was on so I stayed until it finished. It is a bit grim having a cold, especially in a colder climate but I can not really complain while I am still on 'holiday'.
Thursday 3rd November
My plan was to be lazy again today but then I thought I might as well get up for free breakfast downstairs before it finished at 9am. And after that I felt a bit more motivated. Although I no longer set out specifically to see Buddhist temples or shrines or whatever, since I have seen so many in the last year, I did set the Nee Paya as a bit of a target, just to give some aim to my wandering in the countryside outside Kalaw this morning.
I headed out of town along a country lane and turned off to Nee Paya. As I walked I could hear local music echoing around the hills and groups of ladies walking together and a farmer herding his water buffalo. A small boy started crying when I waved and said hello. At Nee Paya, there were a few small temples housing Buddhist statues and monks and nuns and I sat inside for a little while enjoying the atmosphere.
I headed back to the main road and walked further along then left and came to Shwe OO Min Paya. With some direction I came to the natural cave wherein live hundreds of Buddha statues. My expectation was quite low so I was pleased when I saw that it really was inside a cave and there are Buddha statues of all shapes and sizes and I walked along the narrow path with Buddha on all sides and above me; it was cool. Some of the small statues were wearing purple fleece tops to keep out the cold. Some of the statues had electric flashing coloured bulbs in a 'halo' around the Buddha's head and although Buddha is sometimes seen with a kind of halo in paintings, I think this modern addition looks pretty tacky and I think I have only seen this in Myanmar; still, it's up to them I guess.
I walked back into town and got a kind of dosa at a stall by the side of the road. I walked up some steps towards Thein Taung Paya and looked at the view over the town. Well, I was a bit sniffly after my morning walk so came back to the hotel and read and slept and listened the afternoon downpour.
Today a local told me about how a rich and famous Myanmar actor headed south after Cyclone Nargis in 1998 to help the people left homeless; the Government promptly arrested him and locked him up for five years. This was at the same time that the Government was refusing to let in foreign aid workers.
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