Myanmar - Part VII
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Although I'm going to compress this into one page, we actually had two short spells here on our Myanmar trip. The first bit was after Bagan. We caught a bus to the former capitol, and spent a night before heading out to Shan State and Lashio. Later on after we got back from Lashio, we spent another two nights here before flying out. Although we didn't plan on spending that much time here to begin with, by the time we left we had been able to spend almost three days seeing it.
Although Mandalay is a place eponynomous around the world as some place foreign, wild, and off the grid; famous from Kipling's famous poem "Mandalay" and the term "the road to Mandalay"; and invoking images of steamy jungles and ancient princes, the city itself is actually quite young. Originally founded in 1857, the city sits at the foot of Mandalay Hill, is laid out in an extremely nice grid pattern. Before Mandalay, the power of Upper Burma had mostly been centered around the town of Ava, about 15 kms southwest of the current city, and now in the present-day town of Amarapura. Mandalay was almost completely destroyed twice in it's short history; once during the removal of King Thibaw (the last true King of Burma) by the colonial British powers and the anarchy that followed it, and again during the Japanese bombings of World War II. So the city that you see today is really younger than it looks, with a good percentage of the buildings dating only to the past 25 years.
When we first got into town from Bagan, it was early afternoon. One thing we had stumbled upon whilst on the internet was that Mandalay recently had it's first legitimate shopping mall- the Mingalar Mandalay- completed on the outskirts of the city. Also, we learned that it had a Lotteria, possibly Myanmar's only Lotteria. Although we don't normally get down on Lotteria back home in Da Nang, we were actually feeling like getting some, so we caught a taxi over to the mall and indulged. The shopping mall was interesting to see because it was a solid indicator of the prosperity that has come to Mandalay. It was full of affluent locals, and many, many Chinese and Koreans. We would see a pretty strong Chinese influence not only in Mandalay, but also Lashio, which was not only much closer to, but also on the main road to China. Lotteria was just as gross and awesome as advertised. We spent some time strolling around the mall, buying a few knick-knacks at the bookstore, people-watching, and enjoying some urban lifestyle after a solid week of wild Myanmar.
It was starting to rain by the time we caught a cab back to the hotel. Our room was on the 9th floor, and was pretty high up in the Mandalay skyline. So, we had a pretty impressive view of the mighty rainstorm that was about to crash down upon us. This storm, which ended up being a 2 or 3 hour affair, was pretty crazy in it's intensity. While it lacked the serious winds that you would see in a tropical storm (or other equivalent-level storm) the amount of rain it dropped was staggering. Within an hour the city began to flood, with water seemingly everywhere. I of course ran outside with an umbrella, so below is a small gallery of Mandalay flood photos. Click to make much larger.
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It was pretty impressive to see how fast it flooded, just like that. But, in a country used to that, life went on like normal, and no one batted an eye. In Colorado that would've been a biblical rainstorm; here it was just a Tuesday. We didn't realize it at the time, of course, but the next day the same rainstorm would prove to be actually quite troublesome for us, as we would have to deal with it again on the drive into Shan State and on to Lashio.
We had an early appointment with a private taxi the next morning, so we went and got some dinner fairly early, and were back in bed at a reasonable hour. I have to give a shameless plug to the Bistro @ 82nd restaurant here. It was damn delicious. Mostly Italian but other similar "nice" dishes. It's well worth the price. Ok, done plugging. The next morning our taxi picked us up and were quickly off to the mountains.
On to Part VIII: Shan State & Lashio....
or...
Mandalay, Round 2
Returning from our adventure in Shan State and Lashio, it was a bit of a welcome sight to see Mandalay. Also, since we were a day early, we now had an extra day to explore Mandalay that we didn't previously plan on. So, we decided to go see "The Glass Palace", which is one of the "must-do" things in Mandalay, although that's not saying too much because there isn't really that much to see around Mandalay anyway. The U Pein Bridge, Mandalay Hill...there's not that much else. And, it was close and would give a nice walk to get there. So, we set out and found our way to it.
Mandalay was founded in 1857, and was laid out in a grid right from the get-go. Situated in the upper part of that grid is a gigantic, sixteen block by sixteen block reserve separated from the rest of the city by a moat 200 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Inside is a giant plot of land that now belongs to the Burmese military, but was once the private domain of the King and his Royal subjects. The palace used to be an awe-inspiring sight, with gilded buildings and priceless treasures filling exquisite rooms. However, when the British came to Burma in the 19th century (specifically in 1885), King Thibaw, the last King of Burma, was forced into house arrest by the British soldiers awaiting the arrival of their superior officer and made to sit by and watch as the local citizens of Mandalay came and carted off most of the priceless treasures, jewels, and artifacts of the history of the Upper Burmese Kingdom.
Later on, during World War 2, the Japanese firebombed the entire city of Mandalay, and most of the palace was completely destroyed. So what you see today is just a faithful reconstruction for the 1990's that matches the buildings perfectly, but is almost otherwise completely empty. The old Ladies Room has been turned into a small museum, and has a few precious artifacts, but for the most part, everything is just so sparse. It's kind of sad, if even a quarter of the stuff had survived, it might be a real impressive place to visit. As it is, its just a neat place that could be much better.
We strolled around for a while, just enjoying the peace and quiet of the area. The Palace itself only covers a very small portion of the separate reserve from the city, and now the Burmese military controls the rest of the space. Inside is basically a town within a city, as there are lots of barracks, workhouses, offices, depots, sporting areas, and pagodas scattered around the grounds, including a 9-hole golf course. Foreigners aren't allowed to stroll around the grounds, and are kept confined to the Palace itself.
That afternoon we had some vegetarian food that was rated pretty high on TripAdvisor, and it was simple and basic but quite tasty. For dinner we went to a Western placed, also called the Bistro, (different place) and and had some steak and pasta that was pretty damn good too. We had really good luck with eating in Mandalay altogether. The next morning the rain was socked in, and our trip to the airport was pretty uneventful. At the airport things got kind of fun; I was able to get on the airplane to Yangon without showing my passport once. At check in, security, and boarding, nobody ever asked for it or looked at it. Interesting..... So, after a bumpy takeoff into the rainstorm, we were out and off to Yangon. I don't know if I will ever come back to Mandalay (except as a transfer point) but it was nice to have seen it and had the extra day to see the palace!
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On to Part VIII - Shan State & Lashio...
(you have to now because there's no more)
All photos copyright Kit Davidson, unless otherwise cited.