From Mandalay to Bagan

After a further full day in Yangon, seeing the city by cycle rickshaw gave me a good feel of the layout of the city and its colonial past. Highlights included the bustling market, walking the streets of the Indian district and half price cocktails at the Strand Hotel ( a beautiful old colonial hotel where to stay would have way, way beyond my budget- Mick Jagger and George Orwell have been previous visitors!)

The overnight bus to Mandalay took me to a the second largest city in Burma, once the capital during the days of the Empire. Rudyard Kipling made it famous in his poem Mandalay, although he himself never got that far! Arriving at 5am I shared a pick up truck into the city itself and witnessed it coming to life. The sight of hundreds of monks in their red robes clutching their alms bowls is one I will not forget in a hurry- Burma has more monks than any other country, many of them still boys. Arriving at the accommodation so early it made sense to make the most of the day ahead, the only one I would be able to spend in the city. The highlight seemed to be Mandalay Hill and along with a French guy we decided to walk to it, a journey that took a good couple of hours but after a night on a bus seemed good exercise (although the heat was intense even by mid morning) although I looked longinly at times at the procession of tuk tuks and cycle rickshaws that plied their trade and is a constant feature of life in Asia. Mandalay Hill then had to be climbed (we did it with regular breaks as well over 1000 steps) but the views from the top made it worthwhile. I took a motorbike taxi back to the city for lunch and spent the rest of the day downtown, drinking tea (tea shops are everywhere and you are always seeing groups of men in longyi- the tradition long skirks worn by men and women alike, chewing betel with their mouths stained red and sipping tea and spitting out a red coloured juice) and just soaking up the atmosphere of this crazy city. Next stop: Bagan