Mandalay

Well, the Myanmar chapter hasn't finished yet, here is coming the next part, a bit late, but better late than never.
From Bago we took a nightbus to Mandalay, the ancient capital before the British moved it to Yangon. In the middle of the 2nd biggest city in Myanmar is the royal palace, surrounded by a very large moat and wall. Outside towards Mandalay Hill are many old temples to visit and finally from the hill is a superb view of the city, Irrawaddy river and the landscape. Last but not least it's a nice sunset point a good place to get in touch with novices who come to the city from the whole country to go to school in the morning and practise their English with tourists afterwards.


The big moat and wall around the palace and at the end Manadalay Hill. The buildings inside the walls are all reconstructed, they were destroyed by fightings.


Mandalay is famous for many Buddhist temples at the bottom of Mandalay Hill. Very special is the wooden temple, only few of them have survived in the country.


The entrance to the staircase up to Mandalay Hill from where we could enjoy the landscape and a nice sunset.

Mandalay is a tourist place and an ancient capital. However in the region arround the city are 4 other former capitals to visit. On 2nd of totally 3 days we spent here we took a taxi to visit 3 sites in the southwest of the city.


Passing the Irrawaddy river on a brigde we arrived to Sagaing. Also once a capital, now only a lot of stupas remember of this place. The hills are dotted with them and the view from the top is great.

Afterwards we went to Inwa, situated just on the opposite side of the river on an island. Only a wall and some temples are visible in this place.


At the end we went to Amarapura, like the other places also an ancient capital. This place is famous for its teak bridge crossing a lake, the longest in the world. On the bridge is a lot of traffic, some tourists, but mainly local people who use it to go to work and back. The site is wonderful at sunset time when it gets busy and a lot of monks are hanging around.

On the last day we went by an 1 hour boat ride upriver to another ancient capital, Mingun. As in the other places, also here are temples and stupas to visit. The special one is the Mingun Paya, now only a ruine is left and from the top we could enjoy a nice view. Unfortunately never finished and also destroyed by an earthquake, it would have been Myanmar's biggest stupa.

Golden Rock, Bago

From Pa'an we went to Kyaiktiyo, or first to the village of Kinpun. From there we went the next morning up to Mount Kyaiktiyo or better known as Golden Rock. We took an overcrowded truck to get closer to the top, at the back of the truck we felt like chickens, there was no space, the bench uncomfortable and the driver very crazy, driving as fast as possible... The last part we had to walk, local people could get another ride to the top, but for foreigners it was prohibited, too dangerous.


After an hour walk to the top we finally came to the Golden Rock, a much bigger version of the rocks we already saw on the trip from Mawlamyine. The view was nice from the top and there weren't a lot of people, nearly no tourists and only a few locals, however it's one of the holiest Buddhist places in Myanmar and a famous pilgrimage site.


From the Golden Rock we went along the pilgrimage way in 4,5 hours back to the village of Kinpun at the base of the mountain.


After Kyaiktiyo we continued and went towards the north. We wanted to go to Mandalay, but on the way we stopped in Bago, once the capital of Myanmar. This small town or big village is famous for a lot of temples to visit in and arround the town, the only remainings. Only temples were built of stone, palaces, monasteries, houses, etc. were made of wood or other materials which aren't visible anymore. A lot of Buddha images can be found, standing, reclining, big, small, one's etc. There are so many that we had only time to visit the big one's.
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But not only Buddhas are possible to see, the big Pagoda is very impressive even if they repair it at the moment Bago has also one of the biggest monasteries with a lot of monk. A curious temple is this one of the big python, a really fat and long snake which is the king inside it and is free to move around. Last but not least we also visited a cigarette factory, where we could see how they produce them, all hand made (of course).

Mawlamyine, Hpa'an

After being recovered from the illness, we continued from Yangon to the south and after a 10 hours train ride we arrived in Mawlamyine (Moulmein). On the way we passed along many rice fields, small villages and a lot of mountains which have a pagoda on the top. In Moulmein we arrived just on time to enjoy the beautiful sunset on the other side of a big river.


On the next day we went on a trip to nearby mountain, where the Nwa-La-Bo Pagoda is. It took us 4 hours to walk up and down again, it was hot and we still felt weak, but it was very nice. The landscape and the views are great and the best were 3 people who accompanied us during the whole walk, 2 monks and a Burmese. We could learn a lot about their country, culture and also the language.
The Pagoda is something similar like the Golden Rock (which we visited after this one), but we were the only people going to the top, so it was a very quiet and relaxing place. The Pagoda are 3 stones, one above each other, which remains mysteriously in their position.


The town of Mawlamyine isn't big, but it's lovely situated on the board of a river and on some small hills behind are many pagodas from where it´s possible to have a great view of the surrounding landscape.


From Moulmein we went by boat upriver and after 6 hours we arrived Hpa-an. On the way we passed through a beautiful scenery with small villages and fields.


In the town of Pa-an itself isn't a lot to do, but the countryside offers some nice places to visit. In the morning we went to Mount Zwegabin, at the base is a field with over 1000 Buddha statues. After an 2 hour climbed we finally reached the top from where we enjoyed a nice view. Also Fredi liked it, just a pool with water he missed, it was a bit to dry for him.


In the afternoon we continued to visit Saddar Cave. The entrance is a big hall and the interior is full of Buddha images, afterwards it's possible to walk through the cave and after 15 minutes we came to the other end where a small lake is. On the way to the cave we drove through rice fields and fishing houses.