18th January, 2017

I suppose it is a sign of how great the tour has been that I am having difficulty in keeping up with the blog, but I will now make a concerted effort, though we do have a full day of temple visits ahead of us here in Bagan. Here goes….

Another 0900 departure from our hotel for a day of touring round Mandalay itself. A quick word about driving in Myanmar. When the British were here they drove on the left, as they do in the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Thailand. However in a bit of anti-colonial memory policy, the Generals who ran the country after a coup in 1962 decided in the 1970s to switch to the right. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but what is a bit odd and somewhat disconcerting is that almost all vehicles have the driving wheel on the right, i.e. for driving on the left. Apparently the reason is that most cars come from Japan, who also drive on the left. I did mention that they do make cars with the steering wheel on the other side, but I am not sure that registered…

Our first stop was the royal palace or at least a reconstruction of it. The palace was housed (or should that be ‘palaced’?) behind a moat and a wall that is some 2 kms on each side in the middle of the city. It is now largely a military base and so off limits, but you can still enter from the east gate and see what actually is a very decent replica of one of the original palaces.

Two notes re the photos: the sign before you enter is a reminder of the days of rule by the army and the big tower thing is not a helter-shelter! It is an observation platform.

Next stop was a lovely teak temple with some exquisite carving, some of which was reminiscent of medieval Europe. This is the Shwenandaw monastery which the last king of Burma, Thibaw, dismantled from its original position within the palace walls in 1878 and rebuilt in its current location as he thought it was haunted by the ghost of his father, King Mindon. This saved it from burning down. It was originally covered in gilt.

We then stopped of briefly at Kuthodaw temple which houses what is reputed to be the world’s largest book. It has 730 leaves and 1460 pages, which may not sound a lot, but each leaf is a 5ft high and 3.5ft wide slab of marble housed in its own little structure. 729 of the leaves contain the Tripitaka Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, with the remaining slab telling of the construction. It was built by King Mindon with work starting in 1860 and lasting 8 years (including checking for mistakes!). There is another temple next door, Sandamuni Temple, that has commentaries on the Tripitaka on a further 1774 slabs. Possibly not suitable for holiday reading…

Off we went again, this time up Mandalay Hill. Luckily we were driven up, but you can walk up if you wish. The Hill is 249 metres high and it takes 45 minutes according to my guidebook. There is, inevitably, a pagoda at the top! This is the Sutaungpyei Pagoda, a rather blingy temple, but impressive nonetheless, with great views over Mandalay and the surrounding countryside. There is a tribute to the Gurkhas who died capturing the Hill from the Japanese during WW2.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the local girls having their photo taken. They very kindly then let me take them from the front side and it then descended into them wanting to have their photo taken with me, individually. Then a few local lads thought it would also be be fun. I was becoming quite the star! No doubt I am appearing on a Facebook page or two somewhere in Myanmar – not sure what the comment would be, though!

We drove back down the Hill and visited a centre that makes the gold leaf so beloved of the locals for placing on your local Buddha image to gain merit. Fascinating stuff and all still done in very much the traditional process with a lot of banging. Val and I were suitably adorned!

Our penultimate stop was at the Mahamuni Paya, the most important Buddhist site in the city. At its heart is a 3.8m high figure of Buddha to which male devotees can apply gold leaf (sorry, ladies, you are only allowed to hand your ultra thin layer of gold leaf to a male assistant). The figure is supposed to weigh about 6 tonnes with the gold adding a further 2 tonnes. There are some photos showing how it has got ‘fatter’ since 1984 – his fingers have almost disappeared! As my guidebook says, ‘the weight has really gone to Buddha’s calves, to such a degree that he seems to have elephantiasis’. All very stunning though and a great photo opportunity, not least of the shops selling lots of souvenirs for tourists and devotees alike – you can pick up (assuming you can lift it) a hefty bronze Buddha at a price.

And finally, a roadside photo shoot of some unfinished stone Buddhas and a visit to the wood-carving, puppet-making, tapestry-weaving centre. Very hard to resist!

Wow, done it! Unfortunately I will still be 3 days behind by this evening, but I will put in an extra effort tonight. Glorious weather, by the way, mid to high 20s and blue skies. Hard to believe it is mid-January.

More soon……..