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Published: October 22nd 2011
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When Rudyard Kipling wrote of his time spent in Burma, he neglected to mention that the aforementioned road to the former capital city is akin to driving over a cattle grid with every 5th bar missing. For over an hour after leaving Bagan we rumbled through arid countryside, the bus shaking more than Elvis in his pomp. Bagan lies a mere 90 miles southwest of Mandalay, but the journey took us 6 hours, which gives you some indication of the infrastructure problems that blight the country. When we weren’t testing the welding of the bus on the dirt roads we were fording 4ft deep streams of water that criss-crossed our path for much of the journey. The wet season runs from June to October usually, but the area around Bagan and Mandalay is not usually badly affected. Still given the lack of sealed roads the rain waters follow the quickest route downhill, regardless of roads and buses. If fording a river wasn’t bad enough in a 40 year old bus imagine my surprise when at one point we took a sharp left turn and drove over a viaduct – straddling the train tracks no less. At this point I was grateful
Old Suzuki Interior
Jerry can linked to the engine...! for the lack of regular train services in Myanmar.
After the heat and history of Bagan I was looking forward to more of the same in Mandalay. As the last capital before the British Empire took over I had romantic notions of a bygone era, wooden palaces, tightly winding streets and ancient temples. The reality is somewhat disappointing. The city as it is now is thoroughly modern, 95% concrete with a dash of steel and glass every now and then. It is also thoroughly ugly, more so than Yangon. The reasons are two fold. Firstly, the British managed to destroy most of what was good about the city as they set about annexing Burma at the end of the 19th Century. Secondly, much of what was left standing was made of wood, and as such has been replaced over the years.
The Palace Complex, which I had read about in Amitav Ghosh’s novel “The Glass Palace”, is long gone, replaced by a modern structure that is only accessible after parting with a crisp 10$ note. As with most entrance fees in Myanmar, this will go straight into the pockets of the Government. As our taxi driver put it
“in the temple there used to be wild animals, now there are 4000 tigers in military uniform – please don’t feed the tigers”. So, with that warning in mind we set about planning how to spend a few days in and around Mandalay.
Within Myanmar Mandalay is famous for marble statues, gold leaf shops, Mandalay Rum, and the many ancient cities that surround it. On our first full day we set out to see the sights of Amarapura, another former capital city, and home to the famous U Bein Teak bridge. We clambered into our battered 45 year old Suzuki, along with our new Swiss travelling buddies Marco and Karin who we had met on the bus from Bagan, and set off to see the sights. The first stop was on the south side of town where all the statue workshops are based. Temples throughout the country order their Buddhas here, either in marble or bronze, before having them shipped out in wooden crates. It was a touch surreal to see hundreds of Buddha statues lining the roadside, but fascinating to see how the statues are mainly produced by hand, with only the final polishing being done with power
tools. We then moved on to a large Buddhist University, home to over 1500 Buddhist monks and novices. Every so often local families club together to donate enough money to pay for a meal at the University, and we were lucky enough to arrive in time for the ceremony to begin. The monks all line up with their alms bowls at the ready, and when the head monk sounds the gong the families begin to serve rice and curry to all 1500.
It was then time to move on to Mandalay’s most famous attraction, a 1km long footbridge made solely of teak. It is named after the man who built it, a Mr Bein. It is the world’s longest teak bridge, and I am sure you are now wondering (as I did) if there is even another bridge made of teak in the world? Honestly, I am not sure, but there must be, right? Anyway, we walked across it, took the obligatory photo of monks crossing the bridge, and then continued with our trip.
In the afternoon our trust Suzuki turned out to be not so reliable after all, but we still made it to Zagaing Hill and
temple, on the opposite bank of the Ayerwaddy River. From here we had stunning views over the valley, back down to Mandalay and beyond. Once again the skyline was dotted with hundreds of golden spires as far as the eye could see, reminding me (not that I needed it following Bagan) that Buddhism is taken very seriously in Myanmar.
In fact, given the Government’s stance on nearly everything in Myanmar, most things are taken incredibly seriously. Life is tough here, particularly outside the large towns where tourist dollars are rare and government help invisible. The government is so strict, that even comedy is banned to a certain degree. Traditional Burmese comedy troupes used to tour the country entertaining people with dance, song and jokes in the tradition of variety acts the world over. Some troupes still tour of course, but many have been restricted in their movements owing to their political views and anti-government jokes.
One such troupe is called The Moustache Brothers, and we went to see them on our last night in Mandalay. The Moustache Brothers mix dance and song with political satire, not the best idea in a country run by a military junta. As
a result they have been arrested and imprisoned on many occasions over the last decade or so, most recently in 2007 when they performed at the house of Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who until recently was under house arrest. The brothers have since been reunited and continue to perform every night from their home in Mandalay. In order to get around the censors (or KGB as Lu Maw refers to them) they now perform in English. It may not quite be the laugh a minute show that you might expect, but it is still brilliant to see open dissent in Myanmar. I imagine that some of the act has been toned down in recent years, and who can blame them if that is the case, but the government still comes in for plenty of stick over the course of the two hour show. I recommend that you look them up on Wikipedia and Youtube for a better idea of what they do.
Our final act in Mandalay was to book a ticket to Pyin U Lwin – with Marco and Karin still – a former British hill station two hours north (and 1000m higher) than Mandalay.
And that, along with the rest of our adventure in Myanmar, will form the body of my next blog!
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