Objectively speaking, Mandalay isn’t that great as far as cities go. It’s relatively new. It’s kind of ugly. It’s very dusty and dirty. But it’s one of my favorite cities in the world. Why? The people there are the nicest and most welcoming that I’ve met anywhere. We’d be walking down the street and literally every 30 seconds, someone would wave at us, smile, or say/yell “Hello!” I felt like a rock star.
I could write thousands and thousands of words about this city, but I won’t. The next time you see me, ask me about it, and I’ll be happy to tell you why I loved the place so much. Until then, enjoy these photos.
[Note: The first two photos are from Bangkok, but all the rest are from Mandalay.]
A guy trying to throw a bucket of water through a bus window in Bangkok during Songkran, the Thai water festival. Brutal.
Some folks in Bangkok thoroughly enjoying the water festival
Water festival mayhem in Mandalay. Songkran is called Thingyan in Myanmar. Note how much water is in the street. Also note the hoses people are manning. Crazy. I now firmly believe that nothing brings Burmese people as much pure joy as soaking any white people they see to the bone. It was exhausting and occasionally unpleasant, but also very endearing and mostly enjoyable.
You know where the water was coming from? This moat. This nasty, nasty moat water. If you can look past the trash, it was beautiful to look at, though. (That could be the motto for most of SE Asia…)
Check out the huge gang of water festival partiers in the background, and then check out this Burmese woman’s enviable balancing skills. This is something I’ve never seen in Thailand.
Buddha telling us to get out. This was in one of the temples on the side of Mandalay Hill.
One of the main temples near the top of Mandalay Hill.
Looking out at Mandalay from the top of Mandalay Hill. You can clearly see the square shape of the moat.
Looking out from the hotel onto a street in Mandalay
Some incredible Indian food on the street for just a few dollars each.
Incredible, all-you-can-eat Burmese food for $2 each. Before I went to Myanmar, I kept hearing how high the prices were getting, but I think it’s probably the cheapest country I’ve ever been to.
Some of the stupas of Kuthodaw Temple. There are 729 of these stupas here. Each stupa contains a tablet with Buddhist writings on it. Together, they make up “the world’s largest book.”
Me and the main stupa of Kuthodaw Pagoda. It was 100+ degrees on this day, and the stone slabs on the ground were like solar-powered hot plates. You’re not allowed to wear footwear on the grounds of a temple in Myanmar, so we were barefooted. It was painful. You can get a nice look at my flip flop tan lines here.
Looking up at Mandalay Hill from Kuthodaw Pagoda
Mike eating some noodles for lunch
The beautiful wooden detail of Shwenandaw Monastery
Mahamuni Paya (Golden Temple) contains one of the holiest images in Burmese buddhism: this golden Buddha statue. Devotees apply little squares of gold leaf to the statue, hence the funky, blob-like shapes.
Mike and me wearing the longyi, the traditional cylinder of cloth that most Burmese men wear. We had to don them because we were wearing shorts, and they were inappropriate for going in to to see the golden buddha.
Me in front of Mahamuni Paya. That’s where the big golden Buddha statue is
As I said above, the people in Mandalay were incredibly friendly. Mike and I were riding our bikes along the road when a girl who looked to be about 12 years old waved us over. We went over there and talked with her and her family. She wanted to practice her English with us. In return, they gave us a couple bags of these little coconut rice ball things. Tasty.
Mike on the bank of the Irrawaddy River.
Monks getting into a boat to cross the Irrawaddy River.