Today started with a trip to a pagoda which housed 400+
statues of the Buddha which was mostly uninspiring apart from a couple of
really cheeky children popping their heads around the corner. It is so refreshing not to have children
asking for sweets and/or money; in fact one of the first things our guide said
was please do not give things to the children as it will teach them the wrong
lessons.
From there we went to a monastery at Amarapura which is home
to more than 1,000 monks who daily at 11am line up in columns and walk into
their refractory for lunch. It was a bit
of a bun fight with some Japanese photographers almost resting their long
lenses on the head of the young monks despite having just been told it was
disrespectful to the monks. Having
told one particular bloke off for doing exactly what he’d just been asked not
to, I then got chatting with one of the monks in charge who said originally anyone was welcome
to witness the daily feeding ceremony actually inside the building but that
sadly due to the disrespect shown to the monks they’d had to stop people going
in – eventually no one will be able to witness this rather humbling sight.
Then it was a short ferry ride across the Ayeyarwady River
to Innwa (Ava) Island which housed the capital of Burma for over 6
centuries. We were met by horse and cart
and proceeded along a very, very uneven track for some 20min until we got to
another monastery, this one famous for its teak posts. There was also a school
here but it was closed as today is Full Moon Day and therefore a national
holiday and this being a very religious nation everyone but everyone was out
visiting their sacred places.
Back in the horse drawn cart along a fabulous track through
banana plantation and fields to the leaning tower of Ava.
Into the cart again and took in another famous (disused) monastery on our way
to lunch near the ferry.
Having crossed back by ferry we drove to Sagaing Hills and
switched into a small jeep for the ride to the top. There was an amazing pagoda there with 45
marble statues of the Buddha, each representing one year of his life following Enlightenment (he achieved this aged 35 and died aged 80).
Then back down by jeep to the coach and off to U Bein’s
bridge for sunset. What a different
place to the tranquil one we visited on Tuesday morning; being a holiday it was
absolutely heaving with locals as well as tourists. Nevertheless we got on a boat and were rowed
into the middle of the lake for the sunset – beautiful and much more colourful
than sunrise.
We and another couple got dropped off en route back to the hotel having booked for dinner at the Green Elephant - the hotel had kindly made the reservation for us so as soon as they realised we were from Mandalay Hill Resort we were whisked away to a special tent. Plenty of wine, good food and pleasant conversation making it a nice end to our time in Mandalay.
