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Published: December 24th 2012
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Today we headed off on a boat trip to Mingun about an hour from Mandalay. Waiting at the jetty for our boat was very interesting. It was the same place from where many small local cargo boats came and went and we saw a variety of items being loaded and unloaded. There were many children around the jetties begging food from the tourists but they never seemed to eat anything they got. Bananas were a particular favourite. The trip to Mingun finally got underway about half an hour after the expected departure time. There was much to see of local life along the river and the boat trip was very enjoyable. It cost 5000 kyat each for the round trip. The boat pulled into Mingun after about an hour’s sailing and there were quite a number of cart drivers waiting trying to gain some business. Most of the passengers from the boat decided to walk as it didn’t seem very far between sites and there weren’t that many of them. There was an unfinished Paya that had been damaged quite badly in two earthquakes, the second being in 1975. There were many large cracks in the Paya and for this reason
it was no longer possible to climb to almost the top for views around the area. It was a bit disappointing but it didn’t really look very safe anyway. There was a $3 fee per person to wander around the area, payable only in US dollars.
Next sight was a giant bronze bell, reputed to be the second largest bell in the world after one in Russia. It was quite spectacular and as far as sights on Mingun probably the most interesting. Everyone had a go at striking the bell and the number of strikes for each person had to be in threes. A young boy had attached himself to us and was acting as our guide. It didn’t really seem to matter whether you wanted them or not they simply continued to follow you wherever you went. Likewise other children had attached themselves to other tourists.
We stopped in at the local aged care home and clinic where I met a remarkable nurse who had been working in this facility for 25 years without a day off. We exchanged contact details and although she has no access to the internet it was possible to send a message
to her son for him to pass on. Her son is a doctor who visits this community once a week.
The last item of interest was a newer paya that it was possible to climb to the top of for views of the surrounding area. We had 3 hours on the island before our boat returned to Mandalay at 1pm. It was probably an hour too long. We had wandered all around the village and had some really good conversations with many of the local people including the local English teacher. When it came time to leave the attached guides decided that the tourists should help out with paying for their education and were quite upfront in asking for ridiculous sums of money for the information they had supplied on our tour. We paid what we thought it was worth but could see they were none too happy. We didn’t let it spoil our day though and thoroughly enjoyed our boat trip back to Mandalay.
We hired a rickshaw driver to take us back to our hotel. It was the first time we had used one in our trip and I still felt guilty having this person pedal
me back in the hot sun. I made sure we gave him a good tip over what he asked as it was quite a distance from the jetty to our hotel. We spent the afternoon packing our bags and reorganising as tomorrow we head off by boat to Bagan. We decided to try a local BBQ spot for dinner and were not disappointed. Every meal is always at least two courses because soup is served with everything and you don’t even have to order it.
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