Brett and Kiersten's Travels: Myanmar/Burma part 2

From Bagan we boarded a bus (fortunately not another night bus) and travelled the 8-10hrs or whatever it was to Mandalay. Mandalay was a laid out in a massive grid and therefore quite easy to navigate. We spent our 4-days in Mandalay on motorbikes exploring not only the city but also the nearby towns.

On the day we arrived we me a guy from England named Calum who shared a taxi with us from the bus station to downtown. We ended up hanging out with him while he was in town. That night he convinced me (Kiersten was not convinced) to watch the Euro 2012 England vs Italy match with him. Unfortunately because of our location the game started at 1:00am. There was only one area nearby playing the game. It was tea stall located on the street about seven blocks from our hotel. Upon arriving at the stall we were surprised that 30 to 40 locals were already gathered around the small TVs chewing betel nut and smoking cheroots waiting for the game to start. The Burmese like most people in the world loved soccer and were apparently really stoked for the game. They also seemed think it was cool to have and actual Englishman and a Canadian watching the game with them. There was some serious rain that night and the power kept going out but it added to the surreal experience of watching the game on the street in Myanmar. There is pretty much no nightlife in Mandalay so the streets were empty except for our massive crew. The game finally ended at 4:00am with Italy wining in a shootout. I was tired as hell but it was a fun experience. It was pretty obvious how late it was walking home because some people were already getting up and preparing for the day ahead.

Kids swimming in the streets after a big rain

The next day after sleeping in until 1pm, Kiersten, Calum, and I rented scooters and road up Mandalay hill to take in the view of the city. At the top of the hill (like many hills in Myanmar) there was a big Pagoda with a bunch of monks who liked to practice there english and talk about soccer with tourists (as well as meditate I guess). It was funny how much more a monk from Myanmar could know about the international soccer scene then I did.

Riding in Myanmar, like any big city in Asia, took a little getting used to. Major intersections, that in Canada would definitely have street lights, wouldn't even have a stop sign. You would just kind of roll up to them and squeak through as best you possibly could while trying not to get hit. After four days I was a pro but tt took more concentration then mountain biking and the stakes were a little higher. At the end of the day we road down to the Irrawaddy and walked among the slums that line the river. Almost instantly we were surrounded by kids that wanted nothing but to get there picture taken. We would take their picture then show them on the camera and would be overjoyed. None of the begged or asked for money. They just wanted to hang out. For kids that had so little in life, they were all so happy and had big smiles on their faces.

Awesome kids from Mandalay

The next day we rented bikes again and set out to find the U Bein bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world. Not really knowing how to get there we consulted a map and ended up on the highway that goes all the way back to Yangon. The traffic was intense and at one point we found ourselves on an overpass that was apparently only meant for cars. Almost immediately we were pulled over by the local traffic police and I was asked for my drivers license. Not having an international drivers license I handed them my BC license. This seemed to satisfy them and after paying a little fine (about $10 cdn - which was apparently a total rip off) we were back on our way. We did finally make it to the brige but later realised there was much easier way to get there.

Fishermen near the U Bein bridge

U Bein bridge - longest teak bridge in the world

U Bein bridge

Sea food was available in abundance in Mandalay

The following day we got on our bike and road even further out of town the ancient city of Innwa. It isn't much a city anymore, just dirt roads, small thatch huts, and ancient ruins. We explored what ruins we could without paying the government fee (we tried to support the Junta as little as possible while we were there). It was a nice quiet place with some interesting sites, including a massive teak monestary, old buildings left over from the British, and of course Pagodas.

Taking the ferry over to Innwa

Women selling sandlewood outside of the teak monestary

Women doing some intricate hand weaving

On our last day of motorbike exploring we travelled across the Irrawaddy to another ex-capital called Saigaing. There wasn't any one site here that was the draw, it was really the city itself. The whole city is filled with golden pagodas. We road around the small paved streets passing old colonial buildings and uncountable pagodas. We eventually made our way north of the city along the Irrawaddy, passing a number of small villages, before arriving at the town of Mingun. It was much more touristy then the other places we had visited due to the ferry that brought tourists from Mandalay, but nonetheless there were some cool things to see. It was the site of a massive partially built pagoda, that if finished would have been the largest in the world.

One of the bridges to Saigaing

A hill in Sagaing

A girl chopping beetle nut in a small village on the way Mingun

Ox-cart in Mingun

If finished, this would have been the world's largest pagoda

Saigaing

A religious ceremony in Saigaing

From Mandalay we made our way to the hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin, a summer retreat for the British in colonial times. It is most famous for the national botanical gardens which we explored by bicycle. The ride from Mandalay to the gardens was a lot of fun as well. Because it was only a few hours from Mandalay we took a shared jeep with a bunch of locals. I was invited to ride on the roof of the jeep with a couple chain betel-nut chewers. From the roof I got awesome views of the countryside and a lot of thumbs up from the people we passed. I also had my first experience chewing betel nut which my roof riding friends kept offering me. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it sure forced you to spit a lot. I wasn't nearly as good at spitting as they were so they gave me a little bag to spit in. The road up to Pyin Oo Lwin was a series of switchbacks that provided an awesome view of the countryside below. It was a great experience for me because I had been wanting to ride on the roof of a vehicle since Nepal