Adventures With Mama Britton: The Road To Mandalay

There is an old poem (and then later, a song) about The Road to Mandalay. I have heard many people reference it whenever Mandalay comes up, but I had never heard of it before moving here. I knew very little about Mandalay before traveling here with Mama Britton in June 2017. I also did the least amount of research for this stop on our trip, so I did not really know what to expect. It was such a surprising stop for us - Mama Britton and I saw and did so many amazing things in our two-day stay in Mandalay!

Mandalay did not disappoint!

On a Wednesday morning, Mama Britton and I ate one more delicious breakfast at our lovely hotel in Bagan before heading to the airport. We arrived fairly early and got our paper tickets as the woman checked our name off a paper list of people on the flight. We continued through security and were surprised when we boarded early - we're talking super early. Apparently there were only eight of us on the flight, so once we all checked in, they loaded us up, closed the doors, and we were on our way. 

Our flight landed in Mandalay a mere 15 minutes after our scheduled departure time. That was definitely a first for me! Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar, and it has an international airport. It looks very similar to the Yangon International Airport, but it is much smaller. One other difference is how the bags were delivered from the plane to the terminal. There were baggage carousels, but I guess our small flight didn't require the use of the carousels. Rather, two workers strapped all the bags to their bodies and carried the rest to the terminal, where they simply handed over the luggage to the passengers as we all arrived together. Mama Britton and I tipped them because that seemed like a lot of work! We hired a taxi outside and made our way to the beautiful Hotel Sedona in the city of Mandalay. We immediately noticed a difference along the roads as we mad our way to the city center.

Beautiful breakfast views.

They gave us stickers that were color-coded for the flights.

Our paper tickets had hand-written seat assignments and gate numbers on them.

Fewer temples, but lots of green!

These guys behind me carried our luggage all the way from the plane to the terminal. No machines or push carts this time!

MANDALAY

Views through our taxi window.

Scaffolding... or balancing act?

Mandalay is the former royal capital in northern Myanmar. Currently the population is a little over one million people, but it feels much smaller than that. There are many more motorbikes in Mandalay than there are in Yangon. In fact, Yangon is one of the only places in Southeast Asia where I see more cars than motorbikes on the road.

Mama Britton and I decided to splurge on our hotel in Mandalay because everything else on our trip had been so cheap. We paid a whopping $136/night to stay in this five-star hotel with sweeping views of the fort, which is exactly in the city center. (FYI - I paid roughly the same amount for a small room at the Hampton Inn when I went to visit my brother in St. Petersburg, Florida later that summer.)

When we checked in, the hotel staff seated us in comfy chairs and brought us some cold juice. I have no idea what kind of juice it was, but it was very tasty and refreshing. Mama Britton and I dropped our bags upstairs, squealed over the stunning views from our hotel room, ogled the enormous bathtub (not a shower head over a drain on the floor, which is typical in this part of the world), and then set out for an afternoon adventure. 

Sedona Hotel Mandalay

WOW.

The hotel had a list of suggested sites to visit. I'm mostly keeping this picture here for my future travels that bring me back to Mandalay.

Our "thing" - and look how big our smiles are!

Mama Britton and I went downstairs to ask the concierge about hiring a taxi driver/tour guide for the day because we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Bagan in this way, and it is a really affordable way to travel in this part of the world. He directed us to a taxi stand next door to our hotel. We walked over and negotiated a price to hire someone for the rest of the afternoon. He offered some choices of places to visit, so we made a plan and set on our way.

Our first stop was at a gold workshop in the Gold Pounders' District. The men who work here pound gold into small sheets so that people (mostly men) can offer them to Buddhas when they visit temples. The gold sheets are also used for other things like jewelry, too. 

It is very hard labor to create these tiny little gold sheets. The men use these giant hammers to pound the gold. They fasten it to a large piece of stone, then place is at an angle below them. Then they swing the hammers against the stones to pound the gold into shape. It creates a sort of rhythm when they are all swinging hammers. The workers use a coconut as a timer - water drips 18 times every hour - and each gold sheet is beaten for six hours.

They also make bamboo paper at this workshop. That is a very slow and tedious process - it takes THREE YEARS to make bamboo paper! It was absolutely fascinating to learn how they make all of these beautiful things, but I did not take any videos of the workshop. It felt weird to record them while they were doing something so physically demanding.

Within the workshop, there is also a resting area. Men were resting on mats and in hammocks during their break time. I cannot imagine how much physical strength this job takes. But the end products are quite beautiful. Mama Britton and I bought a pack of gold sheets so we could make an offering, but it turns out we are the wrong gender to do so (more on that later). 

On our way to find adventure!

This taxi had furry mats like our driver in Bagan. It was quite comfy and clean.

Our driver was so quiet and kind. He taught us a lot about this beautiful city and its culture.

Next our driver took us to Mahamuni Temple. Maha means "big," and Muni means "pagoda." That's right... it was a (very) big pagoda! Our driver dropped us near the entrance, and we had to walk the rest of the way to the temple. There were very long hallways with many stalls and stores selling all kinds of things from gongs to snacks to offerings for the Buddha. We had to pay a foreigner fee, which was a very small charge that we were happy to pay in order to visit.

I love this picture because of these beautiful women in their colorful longyis, the traditional dress here in Myanmar.

We wandered through the temple and admired all the gold details. It really is a stunning temple. The main Buddha in the center is one of the largest and shiniest that I have ever seen! Mama Britton offered to hold my backpack while I queued up to go make our gold offering - you do this by sticking the gold sheets on the Buddha (which is part of the reason it is so shiny). There was a security area that you have to go through, and as I waited in line, I noticed something: I was the only woman in line. As it turns out, only men are allowed to make offerings and touch the actual Buddha. I had heard that this is common in Myanmar, but I have not really seen it in the big city of Yangon where I live. There is no fight against tradition, so I went back to my mom. We sat on the floor and watched as men made offerings, and their female counterparts meditated or prayed in the outer area. The gold sheets now hang on the wall in my apartment - I figured it is the next best thing!

Women are allowed to offer flowers and meditate/pray in the outer area, while the men are allowed to offer gold to the Buddha inside the alter area.

As we explored the temple, there was a lot of staring. Mama Britton and I were the only Westerners in sight, and well... I don't exactly blend. Someone asked me take a picture with them. I usually don't like this because it makes me feel like I'm some kind of freak show or roadside attraction. Mama Britton told me that I was being being silly, and it was actually a compliment. I reluctantly agreed to take a picture with someone, and then the photographer and the model switched places. The next thing I knew, a long queue was forming for pictures with me. NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. It no longer felt like a compliment, that's for sure! My mom understood my feelings at that point. We had a good chuckle over the matter, but I refused to pose for amy more pictures. I pretended not to hear people asking me to stop as we wondered around admiring the beauty in this grand pagoda; I wanted to enjoy the rest of the time with my mommy.

The lotus flower is very important in Buddhism. I love these flowers.

Offerings for your day of the week (what day you were born)

💛 🎶

These bells were HUGE (see the woman on the steps for scale). Not quite the same as my trip to the Liberty Bell in Philly!

Next, our driver offered to take us to Central Market. I absolutely LOVE markets in Southeast Asia, so we were excited for the chance to explore. It was super busy by the market, so our driver had to drop us and continue moving along the street. I got his phone number and agreed to call when we had finished exploring.

This was not your typical outdoor market like Bogyoke Market in Yangon or Chatuchak Market in Bangkok. Rather, it was more of a local market that sells household goods like cooking supplies and tupperware, school supplies like pads of paper and pens, and other random daily necessities like flip flops and sponges. The aisles were piled high with bags and bags of merchandise. It was really narrow and really hot, as there was not much ventilation. Most markets here are outdoors, but this one was largely enclosed with no means of circulating the air. It was rainy and quite humid that day, so Mama Britton and I decided to cut our visit super short. Our driver was surprised that we finished so early, but he simply took us to our next destination.

Roadside Buddha shop

Cool clock tower near Central Market

We drove along the road outside the massive fort as we traveled to our next destination. Although we could see it from our hotel, I had a whole new appreciation for its size as we drove along the fortress walls and moat. 

We made our way to Kyaktawgyi. This "newer" pagoda (built in the 19th century) has stunning grounds with lots of greenery, trees, and beautiful statues. There are also many ogres that serve as guardians. 

Temple dog!

So beautiful - even the temple cat is enjoying the scenery!

There is a long hallways that leads to the center of the pagoda, which houses a massive 900-tonne Buddha. I was absolutely awestruck by this one! It literally took my breath away when we walked into the room. 

Notice the scale - the men in the front are kneeling, and the Buddha is massive above them.

When we left Kyauktawgyi, we traveled a very short distance to a UNESCO site called Kathodaw Paya. It has a beautiful gold stupa modeled after Shwezigon Zedi, which was our first stop during our day of temple-ing in Bagan the previous day. 

Kathodaw Paya houses the world's largest book. This 729-page book contains important Buddhist scriptures. Each "page" is carved into a marble slab and is housed inside its own marble stupa. The rows are quite impressive - it took us 3 minutes and 44 seconds (I timed it!) to walk at a moderate pace down one row.

The doors are carved out of teak.

Amazing!

The number above the door corresponds to a page number.

 

Inside, the marble slab page.

No filter needed.

Model of the grounds

A few local girls were inside the pagoda selling trinkets. Usually you will find vendors outside the temple area, but this was the first time I have had people actually follow me around the temple, trying to pressure me to buy their goods. We smiled and told them "no thank you" many many MANY times. It got to the point where they were walking in front of us and being really obnoxious, so I finally had to use a not-so-nice voice. That caused them to follow us at a little bit of a distance, but they were very persistent. We never bought anything from them, and we tried to ignore them while we admired the beauty of the main stupa.

 

We ended our outing with a trip up Mandalay Hill. You can walk up this hill, but it is just under 2,000 steps up to the top! We had just climbed Mount Popa's 777 steps two days before, so we opted for the driving option instead. 

Our driver dropped us at the car park near the summit of the hill, and we rode a steep escalator up and then walked about five minutes to the top of the staircase. Sutaungpyai Paya (the pagoda on the top of this hill) charged another foreigner fee, but again it was worth it. The statues were obviously beautiful, but the hallways were my favorite part. They were covered in colorful little mirror-like tiles. There were also random little rooms with colorful Buddhas and other statues inside.

 

 

We made our way to the lookout point and admired the sweeping views of Greater Mandalay. It is flat beyond Mandalay Hill (which is about 760 feet tall), so we could see pretty far. I really liked the red flowers in the trees.

As we walked around, there were small groups of school-aged boys talking to foreigners so they could practice their English. I had previously read about this, and as a teacher, of course I was happy to oblige. Their English was quite good actually, and they were very polite. They were excited to find out that I live in Myanmar, and we talked about our favorite local foods and places to visit. They told us about a puppet show that evening. /mama Britton and I really wanted to go, but we were exhausted and ended up missing the show both nights. It is something that I would like to see the next time I visit Mandalay.

That night, Mama Britton and I ordered room service (taking a break from local food to indulge in some burgers) and went to bed pretty early. We had already been on quite the adventure, considering it had been a travel day!

Thursday, June 15th, 2017
We hired our same driver to take us out the next day, too. We wondered if it would a switcheroo situation like we had in Bagan, or if we would have the same driver. It turned out to be the same driver, and we had another exciting day as we explored Greater Mandalay.

I woke early that morning to go for a run along the fortress. There were many other runners and walkers out there, too. I kept the run short, as I knew we would do a lot of walking that day. After a quick breakfast, we met our driver and went to a monastery to see the young boys line up after morning prayer. Some tourists were quite aggressive with their picture taking, but I remembered what that felt like yesterday when people took photos of me at the temple, so Mama Britton and I mostly hung back and observed. All in all, it was quite a peaceful way to start our morning.

Such a pretty run!

 

We climbed into the taxi and made our way to the next destination, the famous U Bein Bridge. This was the one place that I had my heart set on seeing while we were in Mandalay, so I was really excited as we made our way toward Amarapura. It is the site of the former royal capital before a prophecy moved it to its current location in Mandalay during the mid-19th century.

The U Bein Bridge is the longest teak bridge in the world. One of the iconic pictures of Myanmar is a scene of monks crossing this bridge at sunrise. It was pretty busy that day, and parts made me a bit nervous because the old bridge does not have any railings. 

Here we go!

 

Despite the fact that it was rainy season, the water levels were quite low.

About halfway across the bridge, there is a set of stairs. Since the water levels were low at the time, we went down the stairs so we could have a ground-level view of the iconic bridge. Later on, there was a little covered part of the bridge. Inside there were vendors selling fresh fruit, water, and paintings. Just beyond the covering, the bridge curved a bit and continued.

 

 

Made it to the end!

It took us 28 minutes to cross this long bridge (yes, I timed it!). When we got to the other side, we decided to explore the little village. We passed by several interesting little huts and shops along the way. We stumbled upon Shin Pin Shwe Gu Pagoda, and it was so quaint and quirky that we decided to step inside. Most of the statues were rather cartoonish and very colorful. It was such a fun little place to explore!

 

 

 

 

We made the long journey back across the bridge and were happy to rest inside the car as we rode to our next destination. Our driver stopped on the Sagaing Bridge, which is much newer and built by the British. It crosses the Arawaddy River, which is where boats travel to Bagan. You have to pay taxes in order to cross this bridge. It has a little photo-op place. We stopped here for our picture.

We crossed the bridge and entered Sagaing. Back when the British and Japanese bombed Burma during World War II, many locals fled to this area to hide. Now, many monks and nuns live here.

We traveled to Umin Thouzeh. There is a temple on the top with amazing viewpoints. The hill is not as high as Mandalay Hill, but it still has very pretty views. My favorite part was the building that houses 45 crescent-shaped Buddhas. 

Next we stopped at Kaunghmudaw Paya. Some say that the king who commissioned this had it modeled after his favorite anatomical part of his wife. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, but it definitely does resemble a giant ________. 

This pagoda was nice, but it was not our favorite. It is not as well maintained as some of the other temples we had seen in the area. The main Buddha inside is off-limits to foreigners, which is not uncommon in this country. I think this is a fair rule, and after we made a lap of the pagoda we headed back to our taxi.

The clouds were my favorite part of this stop.

We stopped for lunch at this little hut with local food. I was super proud of Mama Britton for being adventurous with her food on this trip. She enjoyed some chicken and pineapple, and I had some fried noodles (one of my favorite dishes here in Myanmar) along with some refreshing juice. The seating was all outdoors, so we enjoyed fresh air while we ate. There were other tourists, but we were the only Westerners in the place.

After lunch, our driver offered some options. We ended up saying 'yes' to all of them (I guess you could say we are eager people!). We headed to the Jade Pagoda next, which is made entirely of - you guessed it - jade! The sky was super blue that day, and the backdrop against the jade was absolutely gorgeous. 

Next we went to Kyaw Aung San Temple. It houses giant reclining and sitting Buddhas. The grounds kind of remind me of a miniature golf course because of the colors and the way things are positioned. There is also a small room that has many many Buddhas who almost seem as though they are playing hide-and-go-seek.

 

 

This Buddha is sitting on top of a serpent. His friend behind him is doing it too. #epicfriendship

  

 

Our final stop that day was the Chinese temple Jin Taw Yan. The man working in the temple spoke very good English, and he showed us around. The structure is very different from the other pagodas we have seen around Myanmar. 

The man explained a bit about the gods: The red faced one is the god of fairness and truth. He does not like or help liars. The second one is the god that merchants pray to so that they can have good prices. The final one is the god of family and education. According to our adorable little tour guide, that last god is a very busy guy! Hehe.

When we reached the back structure, there were monks chanting and playing drums. It was a very spiritual experience. I also loved how much pride the man took in his temple. Mama Britton and I left a small donation on our way out as a way to show thanks for this opportunity.

After a very adventurous two days in Mandalay, we were quite tired. We enjoyed the amazing sunset views from our beautiful hotel room before calling it a night. 

We went to bed early that night because we were #happytired, but we also had a big travel day the next day. Stay tuned to find out where our adventures took us next!