We only had one full day to see a little of the city so we got a private driver for the day. The first thing was to try and find an ATM that works as that is a big issue here in Myanmar and sometimes we have tried up to 5 machines before getting any money!
Here is our driver helping Don across the street to yet another machine...
Mandalay is a former royal capital located in Northern Myanmar about 700kms from Yangon with a population of approximately 1.2 million. It is a very dusty city filled with motorbikes...
It is known as a centre of Burmese culture and the centrepiece is the Royal Palace which is surrounded by a moat...
This palace was built in 1857 and is the last one of the Burmese Monarchy. It is a perfect square and each of its walls are 2 km long...
The Palace came under British rule and was turned into a fort and then during WW11 was heavily damaged by the Japenese. It has now been somewhat restored and is a main tourist attraction, even though most of it is still private as it is used as a military base.
Upon entry you see a statue of the last king...
The local people still revere the monarchy...
Some views of the interior...
After that we visited Mandalay Hill which gives a good view of the city below and is reached by climbing many stairs, a journey made by many of Myanmar's Buddhists to worship at the temple at the top.
Our guide stopped for a prayer...
The temple is very beautiful and shiny...
There was one God in the shape of a serpent that worshippers would touch its head and then put money in its mouth...
The next place we visited consisted of small temples each containing a slab with one page of Buddha's teachings on each one, there were little white buildings as far as we could see...
Inside each one we could the slabs...
Inside the main temple...
Outside the temples there were some vendors selling traditional crafts and I stopped to look at the embroidered work, it was lovely...
Another interesting visit was to one of the few monasteries to survive the various conquerors and it was made of intricately carved teak...
Some candid shots from other places...
Such grand places and beautiful children!
Some shots from the various workshops we visited....
The marble workshop where workers make statutes for temples and private homes, they are quite expensive...
The Myanmar people also are great wood workers...
And of course their leader is everywhere...
After going back to our hotel for a rest we went down by the lake to see the sights and watch the sunset, on the way we could see the people on the water...
Fishing...
Rowing...
Brightly coloured boats...
Small farms...
There is also a long teak bridge here that many people visit especially at sunset. We walked across and back again and like most things in this country it is sadly in need of repair.
Lots of locals enjoying the views...
Lots of seafood for sale...
People gathering down by the river...
Others hired the boatmen to take them on the water...
And finally the sunset... From yellow
To pink...
It was a nice way to relax after a hectic day and then to the last task at hand which was to find food. Up to this point we have not had a lot of good food here in Myanmar so we're hopeful. We lucked out and found a local BBQ place near the hotel. It was packed with locals and we were the only foreigners there.
The young women cooking our food...
The end result...
So a long day where we saw a lot of the city and now on to our next destination Bagan.
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