Last Day in Mandalay and Back to Yangon

Hey All,

Had a taxi arranged for an 11 am pick up which was nice. I have been routinely getting up at 5:30 ish the whole trip, not from an alarm, just a habit. I was able to go back to sleep until 7 which felt good. I had breakfast and went back to the room and packed. It was still only 9 so I went to the Tea Shop by the hotel and had some tea and a few snacks as breakfast here was just so-so, and I usually only had fruit and toast.

My taxi arrived at 11 sharp and he took me the the Jetty where I tried to find a boat to take me to Mingun. Arrving just ahead of me were 4 backpackers from Australia and we all shared a boat which saved some money. Just as before the boats were parked 4-5 deep at the dock area (if you call it that), so you had to maneuver through 4 other boats to get to yours. It was not too bad until a passing boat casued some waves and the planks were going up and down with the ajoining boats. I made it again without embarrsing myself thank goodness.

The boat ride was about an hour at a slow easy pace, but with a nice breeze. The 4 Australians pretty much kept to themselves which was no problem for me. Most of the boats were returning from Mingun by this time which is good. We found a nice spot in the dirt and tied up.

Now Mingun, if I remember correctly was the idea of King who decided his leagacy was going to be known for building the biggest Pagoda in the world. Unfortunately, he died and the only thing that was finished was the base. But oh my, it is huge. I am not sure how many stories tall this thing is but its massive. You have to picture this with a huge pagoda on top of it and realize what a monster this would have been. Later a couple of earthquakes damaged it severly but its impressive none the less.

Mingun is a small village and I walked around for a bit and visited a couple of normal Pagodas and had a seat in the shade with a cold water. We all agreed to meet back at the boat in 2 hours and I used the whole time. As I was leaving I passed by these 2 huge parts of what I am thinking are giant Lions on each side of a walkway, that were also destroyed by earthquakes. Just from the back side you could tell they would have been massive.

Enjoyed the boat ride back and negotiated the planks again without incident. My taxi driver was there and had a woman with him, he explained in his limited english it was his wife and asked if she could join us on the trip to the airport. He stated she had never seen an airplane before. I was more than fine with it. I had actually videoed the landing and takeoff of my last flight and took my compter out and showed her. She was so excited to see this and when the video showed the plane lifting off she grabbed the door handle like it was really happening and covered her mouth. I guess that is the closest thing to a real flight she will ever know.

The Mandalay Intrnational Airport is a hoot. They built this huge airport way out of town, about 1 hour, and its bigger than Yangon, but there is one problem, nobody is using it. Its so empty. There are 12 gates and not a single one of the jetways gets used. The couple of jets that do fly in use the bus like the little turbo props. All of the domestic flights use gates 5-6 and bus you to the plane.

I checked in at the Air Bagan Lemonade Stand and got my boarding pass toot sweet. The guy looked at my bag, lifted it and said something to the lady behind the counter. Since they did not weigh it he must have said it was good. Who needs scales? They threw a tag on it and off I went to gates 5-6. It runs about the same here but my 1815 flight was the last one of the day, so made boarding easy as we were the only ones left. I did not need to find the guy with the sign.

It was an almost full flight but nobody wanted to sit next the the fat white guy, alright by me. I was back on Air Bagan and anxious to see what the chefs had created for us this trip. When the tray came it looked like 2 bear claw pastries and this custart tart thing. When I picked up the bear claw thing there was a hot dog hanging out so I took a try. The hot dog had a funny taste and there was no cheez whiz to cover the taste. I passed and tried the custard thing. After one bite decided it would have been good 3 days ago when it was cooked. Had my hot tea and was done. I guess this airline prides itself on its ability to come up with new and creative ways to mix hot dogs and pastries. This was a swing and a miss.

Grabbed a taxi back to downtown to my hotel. Found this place by the hotel making Korean Chicken so had that for supper. The staff at the hotel remembered me (hard not too) and welcomed me back asking about my travels the past 10 days. They were impressed I had been to Mrauk U and Pyay. They were also very happy to see I was not limping as bad as I was before. They are very nice here and very sincere.

I am really exhausted and decided to cut my day back a bit tomorrow to catch up on some rest. I have arranged for the taxi driver I had before to pick me up at 0830 for a half day trip I want to do.

Happy Travels, Don

　

Day 2


Hey All,

I was picked up this morning at 0830 and headed out of town to this Pagoda Complex that is out in the middle of a lake. On the way we made a couple of stops as I would spot interesting places. The traffic headed out was bad for a Saturday and he stated it was still part of the Buddhist holiday and people were out and about. Ran into several more of the parades of people headed to the monestaries with donations, saw several pieces of furniture in one parade. It was fun to see. When we finally got to the pagoda, there were a couple of buses there which was a disappointment as I thought this place was far enough out that I would not see them here. Took the public boat over and the place was very cool. There were different buildings each with their own Buddha statues, but one speical one that most of the people were here to see. It was for sure mostly locals and being a Saturday there were also out in full force. I spent about an hour there, then took the boat back and noticed a Market close by so took a stroll through that. Lots of fish, fruit and vegetables as well as other needed items. The walkways in the market are all different slopes and drops and its hard not to keep looking down, but also looking around checking everything out.

Came back about 1 and took a rest as it was really hot today. Then went out and wandered the neighborhood taking photos and observing daily life as well as people watching.

　

Tomorrow I head out of my 5 day trip to the Southeast part of the country. First stop is Mawlamyine for 2 nights. I hired a car again for this part of the trip becuse there is so much I want to see between stops. While I was in Mandalay I stopped by the agency to book my airfare to Yangon and went ahead and booked this part of the trip. They took care of my hotels and everything so I dont have to worry about seaching when I get there. I already knew what city I wanted to stay in and had a list of hotels that were OK by me. They made a few suggestions and it was all worked out. I will end up back in Yangon on Thursday night and when I was at the hotel by the airport, I pre-reserved that night too as its close for when I leave that Friday.

I am not aniticipating any interent this part of the trip so this may be the last you hear from me for a few days.

With that said, if you followed my blog last year, I spoke to soon and wish my friend Lisa a Happy 50th Brithday a year early for which she forgave me. But Monday is her 50th and I hope you have a great day on your trip to Sedona. When we first met you were 21, and you still look as good as you did back then. Happy Birthday with all my love.

I had a special, loyal blog follower request more pics of daily life, so here are some I have taken the past week or so.

Happy Travels, Don