Blogs from Mandalay, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia

Today has been a much more successful sightseeing day than yesterday. Whilst overcast it did not rain and we were able to get out and about without getting drenched. We initially got a ‘grab’ tuk tuk to Mandalay Hill, the furthest point from our hotel that we wished to see today. Here we passed between the 2 huge lions that guard the entrance to the top. Shoes off we started the 45 minute ascent. The walk is interesting as there are a number of small pagodas to see along the way. My personal favourite was a pink one. There’s also one with a large standing Buddha, pointing towards the city, foretelling that Mandalay would become the capital of Myanmar. Stephen enjoyed the ordination hall - a concrete building that’s quite literally falling down and is a ... read more

MANDALAY One of the great things about being back at home in Washington State, between trips to “…those faraway places with strange sounding names…” is checking my memory from childhood, and often discovering my memories are completely faulty, or mixed up. I thought the phrase, “On the Way to Mandalay” was one of those “Road” musicals with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, like “The Road to Bali.” Instead it is the title of a poem by Rudyard Kipling, and is a reminiscence by a British soldier who served in Mandalay. Not so romantic now. Still…I was looking forward to seeing Mandalay because of the beauty of Burmese pagodas, and its history of royalty. I had been told that there wasn’t much of the colonial era left to see in the city, but I found plenty of ... read more

After travelling in rather more remote parts of Myanmar, it was quite a shock to the system to find ourselves in very heavy traffic. Mandalay at rush hour is complete gridlock and we were not really sure we liked it at first. We were dropped off at our hotel, url=https://www.booking.com/hotel/mm/8.es.html?label=gen173rf-1BCAsolQFCAThIM1gDaEaIAQGYAQrCAQp3aW5kb3dzIDEwyAEM2AEB6AEBkgIBeaICDXIuc3J2dHJjay5jb22oAgM;sid=3b65adcceeb66182b43724a9d65ca3f1;dist=0&sb_price_type=total&type=total&Hotel 8, and we were quite happy with our choice. It was a bit on the noisy side, but in such a big and bustling city we couldn't have expected otherwise. We had been told that after about 8pm the city went to sleep and we were quite surprised to find this was not very far from the truth. The main problem was the mosques. It was impossible to escape the call to prayer! The people working in the alleywa... read more

October 22nd This all day tour started with a trip to Mandalay Hill and was listed as a tour of that area followed by “The rest of the day the car and guide are available for additional visits till 6 pm if wanted – we suggest you to visit Yankin Hill” I had researched many interesting places and had a list of possibilities to share with my guide. Mandalay Hill - half way up we stopped at Byardeik Paye Pagoda - the first Buddha encoutered points at arrivals and seems to be showing us the way out! Within this area were also calm seated Buddhas and I was fascinated by their hands - so much so that I photographed them from every angle! Next we continued up the hill on the one-way system, to the base ... read more

This morning I was up by 5:30 to see my first Burmese sunrise, like sunset last night it was a bit disappointing but hey, there is more to life than seeing the start and end of a day. It is now noon and I will shortly be collected for a tour of the historical area south of here. After an early breakfast I left the hotel around 7:30 heading east as I thought, huh, a block later I realized it was the other way. Lucky I checked the phone map. I also remembered to map my walk and am proud to report that I covered 3.88km in 1 hour 17 minutes taking lots of photos and rejecting possibly more rides on taxi motorbikes. This in sun and temperatures above 30C. My goal for the morning was ... read more