Republic of the Union of Myanmar

January 27, 2014.

After an overnight stay in the oh-so-dangerous Bangkok, Kaley and I flew into Mandalay, the last royal capital of Burma.  We took a shared taxi from the airport, where we met Anja of Austria, who was staying in the same hotel as us. We got to our room, settled in, paid a dollar for a map of the city and roamed around a bit to get a sense of the city.

First impressions: very different from what I was expecting, and absolutely different from the island paradise and whatnot I had just left in Thailand. Dust and dirt were the name of the game, and the stares were worse than Korea. Walked to the western wall of the Royal Palace, whose walled and moated boundary was more than a mile on each side, and ran into...Anja!

The moat at the western wall of the Palace.

Anja had met up with her best friend's brother, Borut, who she had only met briefly before the trip, and his friend, Vitia, who she had never met before. Borut and Vitia of Slovenia both had thanaka on their faces (a pale yellow paste made from ground bark that many Burmans wear) and accents that reminded me of Gru from Despicable Me. After the introductions and warm welcomes, we set out on what wound up being a terribly enjoyable 5 day journey together.

We made our way the northern entrance to the Palace, only to be turned around by the guards there. Instead of going another mile around to the eastern entrance (the only entrance open to tourists), we opted to check out the world's largest book first. It's located at Kuthodaw Pagoda, just off the northeast corner of the Palace moat. You have to buy a 10-dollar ticket to get in. The ticket covers entrance to four or five attractions in Mandalay, so it's not a terrible deal, but luckily, we got in to the pagoda for free! How, you ask? For starters, we weren't actually at Kuthodaw Pagoda... We didn't actually find out that we went to the wrong one until the next day!

The stupas housing the "pages" of the book at Sandamuni Pagoda, with Mandalay Hill rising in the background.

We walked into Sandamuni Pagoda accidentally, but as it houses a rather large book, as well, we were easily fooled. The place is beautiful, regardless. There are hundreds of inscribed stone slabs, each housed in its own white stupa topped with a golden pointy thingy (yay vocabulary), and the golden Sandamuni Pagoda stands over all in the center of the complex. While there, we talked a bit with one of the young girls selling postcards. She told us about her school and how much it costs and how the postcards help alleviate some of that. She wants to be a tour guide and is learning a few languages.

Sandamuni Pagoda (left) and one "page" of the book housed around it (right).

Next up was the Royal Palace. As far as I could tell, tourists were only allowed in one entrance and only allowed on the road to the central palace grounds. There was some kind of housing on both sides of the road, and there were military buildings and personnel further inside. After we got in, a few foreignor-driven antique cars passed by. One, with an Austrian at the wheel, stopped and Anja and Borut talked to him for a few minutes. As it turns out, they were part of some auto club that got special permission to drive around Mandalay in their cars. A few photos, but nothing worth sharing.

Stop light sign (left) and Anja, Kaley, and Vitia seated in front of the entrance to the Royal Palace (right).

The Palace itself was really great. We roamed about the dozens of buildings for about half an hour, then climbed a tower on the southern side of the grounds to get a better view of the main building and Mandalay Hill rising behind it.

Stairs (left) leading up to the storybook tower (right).

The main palace building, with Mandalay Hill in the background.

The main building from the ground (left), and graffiti at the top of the storybook tower (right).

Anja and Vitia opted to head back to the hotel when we left, but Kaley, Borut, and I decided to check out sunset from Mandalay Hill. As Borut said: "This is why I love Americans. You never give up!" 

Mandalay Hill viewed across the Royal Palace's moat. Taken on the bridge to the eastern entrance.

As sunset was less than an hour away, we had to walk quickly. At the bottom of the hill, we shoved off our shoes and proceeded up the stairs. I have no idea exactly how many stairs there are, but my feet thought they were more than enough. The ascent was covered the entire way and it wasn't steep, with several small temples, a few large temples, about a million dogs, and shops scattered throughout. There was a time near the top that we settled down onto a bench, thinking we had made it, only to find that if we walked around the temple a bit more, there were yet more stairs to overcome.

The shoeless ascent to the top of Mandalay Hill pretty much looked like this the whole way up. Say hello to Borut and Kaley!

Random stuff we saw on the way up.

Dpgs, dogs, and dogs.

I bet these stone benches are much less interesting if you can actually read the script, but they lined the entire stairway up the hill.

We made it just before the sun set over the mountains to the west of Mandalay, and we looked back and could see the golden tops of each of the pagodas and temples we passed under on our way up. The place was crowded, of course. I didn't take too many photos, mainly because I didn't want to pay the camera fee to do so. Call me cheap, but it seems silly to pay a dollar to take a picture of something after you already paid for an entrance ticket. Not that I paid for the entrance ticket, either. So yeah, maybe I'm cheap.

The view from the top of Mandalay Hill. You can see the moat of the Royal Palace below

Taken moments after we made it to the top, and moments before I was asked to pay the camera fee.

 For whatever demented reason, we, the newly-dubbed "Mandalay Trio," WALKED all the way back to our hotel.  It had been a long day, full of walking and then more walking, yet still we walked. I will never forget the pain and the confusion that coursed through my body during that fateful hour. Nor will I forget the pure joy and satisfaction of finally getting back to the hotel and letting my exhaustion take hold.

It was a great start to Myanmar.