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Published: November 23rd 2013
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I am assured by the girl at the front desk that we will get a 4.00am wake-up call to enable us to catch our 5.30am boat to Mandalay. Luckily for me the prayers are still coming from the temple and wake me at around 2.00am. And even with my toilet paper ear plugs, I can't get back to sleep. It's a stroke of luck that I am still awake at 4.00am as the wake-up call is non existent. The security guard is found asleep on the floor in reception, however I give him a serious wake-up call before getting in the taxi for the boat.
A river boat, on the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay is a wonderful experience. It's an 11 hour trip up one of Asia's great rivers, a wide muddy river from the annals of Kipling, and we are in the company of six other early risers. We have the whole boat to ourselves and is really more like a cruise. The trip is a truly relaxing experience and Malcolm and I enjoy breakfast and lunch in the company of a young Japanese girl who is traveling around South East Asia on her own.
On arrival in Mandalay, our first task is to find a hotel and this happens on our third attempt “The Silver Star”. Not to be recommended, this hotel is in downtown Mandalay, not a particularly beautiful city, but it's home for two nights. The streets around the center of town are filled with motor cycles, which makes crossing the road a particularly hazardous experience. Mandalay is so different from Yangon where motorbikes are banned. Our hotel room is on the seventh floor and has a leaky air conditioner. A damp spot in the corner expands over the two nights, kind of like “The Blob”, it doesn't quite reach our beds. If it had, who knows what might happen. The Lonely Planet describes the hotel as spotlessly clean, in my experience, it is far from clean.
The following morning, Tuesday, Nov 19
th, we take a taxi for two hours to explore Mandalay. First, the teak temple. What a find, a ten thousand Kyets (10 US) entry fee to all of Mandalay's attractions gets us through the doors. It's around two hundred years old and exquisite, the carvings that adorn both the outside and interior are fantastic. It
seems that this was once within the palace walls, but was moved out years before a fire gutted the palace. One interesting fact; there is an area in front of the Buddha that only men can enter. Anyway, I hope one of my photo's will do the temple justice! Then, on to more temples including one that holds the largest book in the world. It's a bit like the tablets given to Moses, carved into stone and each tablet housed in its own mausoleum. There are hundreds of them. Mandalay Palace is our next stop, within the walls is a large army barracks, however we get a wave from the guards at the entrance and in we go. The palace is a relatively recent rebuild, because as previously mentioned, the original burnt down. Not really worth a visit.
Our driver departs, leaving us at the bottom of the many steps to Mandalay Hill and we ascend the covered walkway slowly. It takes us around 55 minutes as we have to stop occasionally for Malcolm to have a cigarette. Along the way, there are platforms with the ever present Buddha and eventually we make it to the very
top The views over Mandalay are a little hazy, probably because of the pollution in the air. A Polish couple talk with us and the four of us head off for a beer before going to the longest teak bridge in the world to experience sunset. On the way back into town for dinner, a large viper slithers across the road in front of our taxi and into the rubbish that rings the roadway. Dinner is at a Chinese restaurant and the four of us indulge in duck dishes that we all feel are extremely tasty.
The next morning we are up at 5.30am and off to Inle Lake by air. I'm over buses, as I picked up a bug on our Yangon to Bagan trip that I am still unable to shake. Arrival in Heho, about a one hour taxi drive from Nyaung Shwe at the top of Inle Lake. Our hotel, the Cassiopia has only been opened approximately three months ago. We have learned that hotels that have been open for any length of time are no longer spotlessly clean, there is always a layer of dust on windowsills, and usually there is something broken
or not working quite right....
Cassiopia is great, our manager is attentive, service is good and in the words of Caroline, “you get what you pay for!”. After walking around and getting a feel for the town, we arrange a boat trip for the following morning, Thursday 21
st. What can I say, it's a great day. We spend the whole day on a narrow boat with a boatman for 30,000 Kyets. What an experience! Thankfully, the day is overcast. First we visit the 5 day market at the bottom of lake one. It's a biggie, tourists and locals all over the place. Of course the souvenir sellers are there in force, and I do enjoy a good bit of bargaining. The market also has food stalls, meat and vegetable sellers., Click, click, click, my eyes can't take in everything, but my camera captures lots of images. There are many women with head dresses of one kind or another, and some have taken to wearing bath towels as a turban. We affectionately refer to these as the “towel heads”. Time to go, it's back on the boat and we now go to a weaving factory in one of
the many villages on stilts over the water. Malcolm takes particular interest in the weaving process and purchases a longhi (sulu). Off again, for a run down to the bridge at the bottom a narrow waterway that separates the two lakes. This is followed by a stop at a local festival on the banks of the lake and by a large temple complex. The festival has it's own casino in the mud, a contraption holds three large dice about 1ft cubed and allows people to bet on the outcome of the released dice. The dice are released one at a time and you win if two dice have the same animal (ie 2 turtles, 2 tigers etc). It's kind of fairground style, but money changes hands. There are many of these betting stations, and then, the high rollers, all men have several more, all to themselves......
On the way home our final stop is for the Long Necked Women, of the Kayan (Padaung) Tribe. Their home village is approximately 600km from Inle lake. However, one of the women weaves at a local souvenir store in a stilt village over the waterways. Again the people have lovely dispositions
and don't mind us taking photographs even though we don't buy anything. The long necked women start having the bands put on their necks at age nine and stops after 24 bands have been put on. Win, the weaver has her full compliment of bands and the two young girls have a couple of rings on their necks. We hang out on the deck and spend time talking to the woman that is part owner on the store. Then it's back to the dock where we finally arrive at at around 6.00pm. It has been a full day, 7.30am through 6.00pm. This is a big one!!
The following day when I wake, my epiglottis is swollen and the bug that has been niggling me since Bagan has finally won. However, it's not bad enough that I am confined to the hotel. On checking with the Hotel Manager we find that foreigners are not allowed to rent motor bikes and E bikes , so we decide to hire a couple of pedal bikes to take us the 3 km to a teak monastery. This one is in need of repair and is not as ornate as the one
in Mandalay. We make it back to the hotel and find that we have internet for about a minute before it drops out again. The Govt. Service provider is the problem! In the evening we have a failed attempt at biking to a winery in the foothills above town......
Internet Service is bad!
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Dave M
non-member comment
Trippin'
Mate, when do you type out the bloody thing? And do you take notes as you go? Are you perhaps harbouring a tiny Indian lady (as a secretary) in your (large) suitcase? Whatever, magnificent....