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Published: January 2nd 2009
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(Day 268 on the road)We arrived in Mandalay by means of another uncomfortable overnight bus journey, that left us stranded at the bus station far away from the city centre at four o'clock in the morning. After finding a reasonably priced hotel (which took us over an hour) and a morning nap, we soon discovered that Mandalay itself is nothing special. It is a big, dusty and busy city during the day, and at night it is pitch-black and noisy, as electricity is extremely patchy and all the restaurants and hotels have their generators standing out front near the road.
We planned to stay for two days, and spent the first day exploring the city on bicycle, mainly a few temples and the presidential palace (we didn't go inside however, as the palace was a) restored with forced labour a few years ago and b) the 10 USD entrance fee goes directly to the government).
In the evening we went to see the famous Moustache Brothers. This is a comedy trio that became famous because its leader got arrested a few years ago for criticising the government in one of its shows. He spent a few years in prison
and has been re-arrested twice since. These days, the show goes on in their home and seems to be allowed by the government due to its fame; however these days it is exclusively for foreigners and any local person that attends the show apparently faces dire consequences. I found the show itself a little disappointing: I expected a sharp political satire, but instead they just over a few lame jokes about the situation in Myanmar these days, and the rest was only a dance performance by his wife and extended family that lasted for an hour or so. I didn't enjoy it too much, maybe because my expectations had been very different.
The real attraction of Mandalay however lies in the ancient cities in its surroundings. So the next day,we rented a cool jeep for the day and explored the area. We visited three places, namely Inwa, Sagaing and Amarapura. The latter featured the longest teak wood bridge in the world called U Bein Bridge, built in 1849 with a length of 1,2 km. During that day, I also chewed betel nut for the first time. People here in Myanmar chew it excessively, and the aggressive nut slowly destroys
their teeth and gum over the years, until everything in their mouth is dark red. I figured trying once will not do any harm, but the nut stimulates the saliva flow, so I was spitting its red juice for the next hour, until I finally got rid of the whole thing altogether.
Driving back that evening in our jeep and in almost complete darkness, my only hope was that we did not kill one of the monks that was walking the unlit streets (electricity was not available). I am a convinced atheist and Buddhism is a strange belief to me, but on the off-chance that there is such a thing as reincarnation, I was pretty sure that killing a monk would not speed up my path to eventual nirvana.
Next stop: Bagan (Central Myanmar).
To view my photos, have a look at
pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete
book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).
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