Mandalay, day one, Nov 22

Arrived in Mandalay at dawn at the dusty bus depot on the edge of town. Here we go off to the guest house.

The man on the left was my driver from the bus depot and the one on the right was my soon-to-be-driver for the rest of the time I was there. He operated his taxi from a spot across from my guest house.

This is a taxi. Nuff said!

I walked a few blocks down the street to the old palace and caught it as the sun was coming up.

After I got into my room and had a 3 hour power nap. Those night buses take it all out of me.

Then I was off to see the largest temple.

As usual, people are sitting in the temple.

Another view, this of the courtyard around the temple.

There are always vendor stalls. I brought a hand embroidered longi at one of them.

Women are not permitted to approach the altar and the Buddha. They sit at the foot of the altar.

Then we taxied over to the Teak Monastery. It was pretty run down but had been magnificent in its day.

This cement container is filled with water for washing. They dip water out and pour it over themselves.

On the bus trip we had an early morning stop at one of these to use the toilet and wash. They even gave us toothbrushes and facecloth on the bus.

The grounds were sand and rocks but you could see that the rocks had been swept away where they walk. Hard on the bare feet.

A shot of a market stall in the town.

Interesting looking church.

In the evening I got my taxi guy to take me to the home of The Moustache Brothers for a Vaudeville show. They are political activists who have been arrested many times for their public performances against the government.

They have been performing in their house and the government doesn't bother them there.

The cast is mostly from one family. Below you see some of their traditional costumes.

This is a monkey.

The whole cast.

Second day in Yangon, Nov 21st

A view of the lobby of my Guest House, May Shan Hotel, shot from the sitting area which also doubles as the family living area. It turned out to be a good central location and adequate digs with a private bath for $15 US per night.


La Pyayt Wan Shopping Center which is nicer than it looks including a large grocery, Internet, several restaurants and many shops is near my hotel.


Caught this glimpse of the train coming in to the station with people hanging out all windows and doors. I didn't use the train but it is said to be very slow and hot.

Train and station.


A typical way of carrying, even in the city.


Visiting the Shwedagon Paya, the largest in Myanmar. Folks from all over the country make pilgrimages here. As usual there are many steps to climb to enter and also, as usual, there are many sellers of articles for use in the temple and otherwise.



A view of the roof from a hallway.






A man placing incense after lighting it on the burner provided.

It was the day of a special full moon and the temple was extra busy well into the night.


This was "Burma" in my mind before coming here, the biggest and the best stupa in the country.


Many people brought meals and were eating and resting in the temple for hours at the foot of certain Buddhas.




While I was washing my feet outside the temple the little guy in red came over and indicated I should give him something to put in his mouth. He spied the popcorn in my pak so I offered it to him. Then his two pals showed up and they went nuts with awesome poses for pictures.

Photo of the Stupa I had just visited from a tower restaurant on the way back, the Sakura tower.


There were a gazillion bus company offices all in the same place. This was mine. Thankfully the hotel had booked my ticket and the taxi knew where to take me. It was a jungle of buses, offices, people coming and going and sellers of snacks.

A view coming into the bus depot area in the taxi. It was dark by the time we left Yangon for Mandalay.

Looking forward to seeing Mandalay but won't see much in between because of the darkness. Night bus was the only option unless you traveled in short hops.

Getting to Yangon

I found a computer game place that knew how to get me on to Blogger, only the upload worked different from here, so these are in the reverse order.
This is a view down one of the main streets near me. The crowds on the sidewalks are a combination of vendor tables and pedestrians. You can buy almost anything out there.


Just a closeup of the beautiful clock in the previous picture.


The Yangon River is just down this street.


Another street view, this one not so crowded.


There are many working piers on the river. This is a passenger boat which also carries cargo.


Another river view.

This looks posh but it isn't. These are street sellers too.


Carrying cargo onto the boat.

These young fellows from the temple always look so serious. This boy is on the street (in this case, a coffee house) asking for money. He gave permission to take his picture.


See the ambulance. The building it is parked in front of is a free hospital for the poor.


This machine is for squeezing the juice out of sugar cane. They make it into a drink with water, ice and a little lemon. The locals drink lots of it. Very refreshing. The boy jumped into the picture at the last minute and is posing for me.


My neighbourhood is right next to a huge traffic circle with the Sule Paya (temple) at the center.
There are many nice old buildings nearby.




Here is the Sule Paya.


This is an Indian temple I think.


My room is clean and adequate.


The outside of my guest house, the May Shan. It was highly recommended in Lonely Planet.


This is the airport. It looks like they are restoring it. It is pretty small too, like Saskatoon airport but the serve 5 million people.

So that is my first day.

I have piles of Kyat in my pak as well as my wallet. Also have US dollars (go figure) to use for larger expenses like bus tickets. There are no ATMs here and no way to withdraw more money. The occasional high end hotel will do it apparently in an emergency.