The remainder of our slow boat ride from Bagan to Mandalay was nice and we just relaxed on the top deck. The southeast Asia sun definitely burned me and Conner!

As we disembarked the boat in Mandalay we were surrounded with cab drivers begging for our business. We found one who seemed nice and had a good price. He drove us the 15 minute ride to our hotels. Jess and Christopher were staying down the street from our hotel Yadanarbon.

As we entered the nice lobby we were greeted with a welcome drink and nice cloths to wash our hands ( pretty customary in Asia). After settling into our room Conner and I went to the nice rooftop for sunset.

We were given a complimentary cocktail and ordered 2 orders of spring rolls appetizer. When they arrived we realized we could split an order-they were huge- each had 10 spring rolls. They were very good and the sunset was beautiful. They informed us a traditional show with singing, marionettes, musicians and dancing would begin at 7:30. We messaged Jess and Christopher to come and join for dinner and the show. We had a pretty good dinner and I really enjoyed the show! The costumes were really pretty and performers very talented.

After the show we went to bed, again planning to get up early to explore the city of Mandalay.  The next morning we quickly realized Mandalay was very different from both Bagan and Yangon. Mandalay had the hustle and bustle city feel of Yangon, but not quite as hectic. Most roads in Mandalay are dirt roads, much like in Siem Reap, Cambodia. As walked near our hotel we walked through a crazy street market. We have seen many of these throughout southeast Asia. At times you question the cleanliness, and we reminded ourselves that all the restaurants we eat in likely get their produce from these markets.

I’ll never forget the time Conner tasted durian fruit in Vietnam from a woman on the street who looked like she hadn’t showered in weeks and was cutting the fruit with a knife that has probably never been cleaned. I thought he was nuts! Jessica is pretty liberal with her street food tastings. I like to consider myself adventurous- there was the time I ate a bowl of snails from s street vendor in Morroco, and I’m pretty sure we never really knew what exactly we were eating in Beijing half the time.

Many street vendors in Myanmar have women selling these fried looking patty things that are filled with different things- beans, shrimp, vegetables.  I kind of wanted to try one, justifying it was probably safe considering I just saw the woman remove some from the hot fryer. Christopher changed my mind though when told me about “ gutter oil”. Apparently it is a thing in China, not sure about other asian countries. It is literally oil from the gutters. Yup, I’m good. Not that hungry.

We set out to find a camera repair shop (1 of only 3 in the city) for Jessica’s sunscreen damaged camera. We found the shop down a side road. The repair man was very nice and told us to come back in 3 hours (at least thats what we thought he was saying). He told us he wouldn’t charge her any money if he couldn’t fix it. We prayed he would be able to!
We continued on to find the Royal palace.  Passing a public exercise area on the way, they decided to try it out. These types of things are common in Vietnam as well.

Once we arrived at a palace entrance locals tried to tell us we couldn’t go in that way. As we got closer we realized they were right- tourists could not enter from that point. The entry point we could use was about a 45 minute walk. A guy offered us motor bikes but I refused. I have heard from too many people about tourist injuries , especially in the cities with busy traffic.

We couldn’t find a cab so after some time the motor bike guy waved down  a pickup truck looking vehicle with benches in the back. We have seen locals transported this way but we hadn’t done it. It was actually a cool experience.

A man with betel but red-stained teeth sat in the back next to me trying to make conversation. I was distracted by his teeth, but he seemed nice.

As we arrived near the palace we noticed a parade lining up along the street. We asked to get off the truck so we could check it out!  It was so fun to see! All the beautiful multi colored costumes, hundreds of horses and carriages, elephants and cows. It was quite a parade!

On our walk to the palace we find little public workout exercise area. These are common in Asia also. So fun! LOL

We made our way through the palace. As we walked through I tried to imagine what it would have been like to live there thousands of years ago.

After the palace we walked up a hill to a pagoda surrounded by white structures. After taking off our shoes and socks we were allowed to walk all around. It was really a beautiful place! We were definitely hot though at the peak sun time of the day!

We found a nice taxi driver outside the pagoda to take us to the camera repair shop. He called himself “ Mr Very Nice guy” and tried to sell us on letting him be our driver the following day. We had planned to venture to a few area outside Mandalay to see some sites. We got his card and told him we would call him.

Back at the camera repair shop we arrived to find it closed. Oh no! Didnt he tell us to come back at this time? We were confused and concerned until an elderly man approached us telling us the repair man was at lunch and would be back. He even called him for us to let him know we were there. The man was so cute. He kept insisting we sit down in his nephews shop next door.  He told us he was  a retired teacher and was receiving a pension.

When the repair man returned, we were bummed to find out he wasn’t able to fix the camera. Jessica was pretty sad, and we all felt badly. We continued on to a hillside pagoda for sunset. It was really pretty. We all agreed we had never seen a sun set quite that way. The sun itself appeared to be 5 different colors at one point. Magnificent!

Conner found a good rated Italian restaurant on trip advisor for dinner. We were all excited to have something different! Mangia, a cute, clean Italian restraint was only about 1/2 mile from out hotels. The overwhelmingly strong smell of garlic was refreshing as we entered!

I ordered a beef pasta with red sauce, while the others ordered the cream bacon sauce pasta special. I was hoping I could have a glass of red wine to go with my pasta, but learned the didnt have any. They only served Myanmar beer. The waitress explained that to sell anything other than Myanmar beer required a special license. No wine for me!
We found a taxi driver who offered to be our driver the following day for almost half of what Mr very nice guy had offered. We agreed and he said he would arrive at 8:30am to pick us up.

Our following day began with a local pagoda we hadn’t been to.

Check out the boys in their skirts 😉

We then drive 1.5 hours to an outside town. Jess got a little car sick. It was a pretty bumpy ride on dirt roads. She had some motion sickness medicine back at the hotel but didnt want to take it because it makes her drowsy. After we were out of the car she felt better.

We explored the interesting , unique sites and walked around. Mingun.

Looks like an elephant behind–

Ancient Mingun bell

 

Christopher bought some bamboo wallets and we checked out the old Mingun bell. After finding our driver we asked him if we could stop for lunch. He took us to another amazing pagoda area –amazing!!!

Conner cleaning his yucky feet for the 20th time that day 😉 ( we carry wipes in our bags)

And then to a village area and pulled up to a local place telling us it was good to eat. The place seemed to be the stop all drivers bright tourists too. The drivers ate in one side of the place, and the tourists on the other. Me, Jessica and Conner ordered a chicken curry dish, and Christopher a fried rice and meat dish. Our food was way less than appetizing. I ate the rice and some of the chicken just because I was hungry. We all prayed we wouldn’t get sick. It just didn’t seem like the most hygienic place. Again, when you travel to other countries, these are just things you will come across, and learn to deal with.

After lunch we were led down to the surrounding river area where we were told to board a small motor boat to take us across the water way to the island village. I was a little afraid the boat may tip over, but we made it across. As we pulled up I noticed a group of 10 local girls pointing to the boat and I knew just what they were doing. They were each calling dibs on which tourist they wanted. We had learned previously in Myanmar that this was common practice. They do not want to “compete” with each other so they each pick their designated tourist to attempt to sell to.

They are sweet and although somewhat pushy, they are just trying to make a living. They all have the same English lines- “hello, you look so pretty. Look at my necklaces. You should get for Christmas present.” and “ You will be my first customer of the day which means lucky money- you will be lucky if you buy from me!” Haha and my favorite- “it is so cheap it is almost free”.

I politely tell the girl that I have already bought things and have no room left in my bag. We start walking through the island where there are about 50 horses and carriages. The carriage drivers started aggressively harassing us “ carriage ride to monastery- you must ride, walk too long”. They kept saying the walk would be 2 hours, some even said 5 hours. Conner’s trust GPS map confirmed that it was indeed not that far- maybe a 20 minute walk. We kept refusing the carriages but they followed us. It got a little annoying after a few minutes. We kept walking passing many local villagers, pigs, banana trees everywhere.

We arrived to a cool pagoda to climb. The stairs were a bit sketchy and not sturdy, but we made to to the top.

View from the top-

rice fields everywhere!

locals playing volleyball type game

with 2 of my fave guys!!

We walked around some more and saw some local girls staring up to a tree. I asked what they saw. They explained that a burmese python lived in the tree. “She comes out in the morning”, the young teenager told me, “ I see her when I pass by on my way to work. She is sleeping now”. They kept staring up as though it may come out. We looked for awhile but never saw anything. That would be crazy to have seen a wild python! The girls said it was 6 feet long and very wide.

We got back on the little boat with the bottom floor made of 2 inch width boards, water seeping through some. We made it back to shore and found our driver waiting for us. I desperately needed to use the bathroom. Conner and Christopher had warned us about the lunch restaurant’s bathroom, but it was our only option. It was an outhouse type bathroom. I waited outside while Jessica went in first. I heard commotion and chatter from  behind the fence. I peaked around to see a group of men gambling and playing cards. I snapped the photo below and the laughed saying “ five dollars’. I knew they were kidding. They immediately dispersed after that though. Jessica came out and said the bathroom wasn’t “the absolute worst she had seen”. Ugh. I went in holding my breath as long as I could. I wanted to get in and out as fast as possible. It was a squatter, meaning no seat- just a hole. It smelled so incredibly bad that I started gagging. Needless to say I made record time getting out.

The “outhouse”– yuck!!!!!

locals I caught gambling — busted!

We carry hand sanitizer everywhere. I used a lot all over my hands and arms. Our driver then drove us to our last destination for the day- U bein bridge. This very popular bridge on many postcards is a photographers dream. Surrounded by beautiful scenery and water, it is quite pretty. We walked across the bridge. It definitely did not seem sturdy or extremely safe but many people were walking across. The wood panels have many gaps between them and my foot slipped through a few times. We were getting restless and although it was pretty, we didnt want to wait another hour for the sunset. We know the pictures would have been amazing but we still had an hour drive back to the city.

locals playing games

Arriving back in Mandalay we decided to have dinner at a Korean restaurant. We were led to a second floor where 3 young people tried to take our order. I noticed the one girl spoke very good English and seemed to be helping the others. Conner ordered korean BBQ chicken wings, while I got a bibimbap dish. Christopher and Jessica have been to South Korea so they ordered some unique things that we got to try. One thing was kind of like a fried sushi roll without fish , just veggies. It was pretty tasty. Our meals were all good!

We started talking with the young girl who spoke good English, As it turns out, she is a 21 year old student at University of Mandalay. She is not employed by the restaurant but her sister is a cook. She told us the owners are Korean and introduced us to their daughter. We learned her Myanmar name was Chow, chow, (meaning beautiful, beautiful), and her English name was Madison. Apparently, many students are given an English name by their teacher. She already had completed a degree and language and was now working towards a second degree in diplomatic studies. Chaw chaw was 1 of 5 children, to a mother who sells chicken in the street market, and a father who helps her. All 5 kids attended university. Amazing!

Jessica and I loved talking to her. We learned so much. She is christian and hopes to marry a Christian man. She was sweet and smart! The boys were tired and had to pull us away from chatting to go back to our hotels. We said goodbye and took a picture. Jessica got her email information to stay in touch.

The next morning we were taking a bus from Mandalay to the capital city Napitaw. This is the “new” capitol in a country with a long-term political divide. This article posted in Time this week explains in detail—- fascinating article–

http://time.com/4597920/myanmar-peace/

Originally Christopher and jessica were not sure if they were going to stay in Mandalay an extra day or come with us to the capitol. We had to all make it back to Yangon to fly out to Laos two days later. Conner had found that the capitol city had 1 of only 2 Hiltons in the entire country. He figured we could break up the 8 hour journey back to Yangon by staying overnight at the Hilton.

The 4 hour bus ride was fine. We slept most of it, and stopped halfway for breakfast. As we arrived in the Napitaw we saw many very large mansion homes and many nice hotels and government buildings. The town seemed like a ghost town though. Conner described it as “post-apocolyptic. It was obvious this city was built and designed specifically to host summits and foreign diplomats.  The story goes that a high-up official was told by his astrologist or psychic, the capital of Yangon would get attacked and that a new capital had to be established elsewhere. The city of Naypyidaw ( different spellings), was built in secrecy. Government and military were apparently told without notice they had to moe there in a few days time.

Another article explaining so much-https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/19/burmas-capital-naypyidaw-post-apocalypse-suburbia-highways-wifi

Getting off the bus we were again bombarded with about 20 taxi drivers begging for our business. I found one to take us for 4,000 kyat (about $3 USD).

The Hilton property was like an enormous compound. Arriving at the gate surrounded by police and security, our car was checked for bombs upon entry. Jessica and Christopher didnt have a room booked, but lucky for us, Conner was able to work some magic. With his diamond status we were able to get upgraded at no extra cost to a suite. It was a nice size suite and we were happy! We immediately changed to go out and enjoy the beautiful pool. The hotel was very scarce with occupants. There were many workers everywhere, but very few guests. The place was immaculate. We had lunch ordered at the pool and enjoyed the sunshine.

Back at the room it was discovered one of the bathrooms had a leak from the AC. Well, this worked in our favor! They upgraded us again to an even bigger and better suite. It was beautiful! Huge bathrooms, living room, bedroom. Very nice!

We got lounge access where we enjoyed complimentary wine, beer and appetizers. It was enough to fill us for dinner. We played monopoly in the lounge for a couple hours and chatted with a Canadian man who lives in the hotel. He is a teacher to the diplomats and military children. He has lived in different countries in Asia for 10 years teaching.

After our game (Jessica and Christopher tied), we headed to the lobby bar area where there was some live music. I was fading fast and tried to stay awake for the entertainment. I just couldn’t do it! Plus, I wanted some good sleep because we were heading back to Yangon the next day– and after that Laos!!!

kaunggsawnyapar ( goodnight in Burmese),

King