Motorbikes, Stupas and Stairs

I loved my time in Mandalay, but the surrounding towns were 100 times better and full of interesting things to see and do. Danna and I arranged for two motorbike taxis to pick us up and take us around to Amarapura, Sagaing and Inwa. Our drivers were two lovely gents named Soe Soe and Mo Mo. Throughout the entire day, I was only sneaky enough to grab and put the motorbike helmet on once by myself. Every other time, Soe Soe would not give it to me and insisted on placing it on my head and buckling the strap for me. In all the times I've ridden a motorbike, I can honestly say, that has never happened before!

Before actually getting outside Mandalay, we stopped at Mahamuni Paya, a pagoda containing a huge Buddha statue covered in about 15cm of gold leaf. It is a very popular spot with the Burmese and to gain merit, men go in and place gold leaf on the statue. This has been going on for so long that the original shape of the statue has been distorted. Also, every morning, monks wash the statue's face and brush it's teeth. I'm not entirely certain why they do this but it is broadcast in different locations throughout the pagoda. Women are not allowed to enter the area the statue is kept in. Yesterday, after meeting and talking with a cultural anthropologist, specialising in Burmese culture, I learnt the reason for this. Women are lower on the cultural totem pole and this is because they are seen as having done something bad in a past life. The Burmese believe that first you go through a stage in hell, followed by being born transsexual, then a woman and finally a man. Upon learning this, I finally was able to figure out why I always see so many more women praying than men and that is because they are trying to gain merit for their next life.

As I mentioned above, it is a very popular spot for the Burmese and it was filled with a ton of people. Besides the revered Buddha statue, there are also war relics from Angkor Wat. The sign that explained how they ended up in Myanmar was a bit confusing, but what I got was this: Thailand had stolen the relics from Angkor Wat during a war and years later, Thailand owed Myanmar a debt for help during a different war and as a result, gave the relics as part of the payment. Now, I could be totally wrong on all of this, but as I said, the sign made next to no sense!

Our first town we stopped in was Amarapura at Ganayon Kyaung, a huge monastery. 1500 monks, including novices, live here. Every morning they have a procession to breakfast. They line up in the street holding their alms bowls and walk past the rice distribution before entering the dining hall to eat. The first ones in line are finished and gone before the last monks even sit down. It was an amazing thing to witness, including the silence all the monks, even the little ones are able to maintain




! The only talking came from guides explaining what was going on and the difference between novices and actual monks.

Our second stop was in Sagaing for the strenuous climb up the stairs to the top. The views were absolutely spectacular and well worth the burning in the legs that started about halfway up. Sagaing is home to over 500 stupas and they are located everywhere you look. Some are small and some are monstrous, but they all work together to give the area a unique look and feel. If I ever come back to Myanmar, I'd spend an entire day in Sagaing walking up and down stairs to get to all the different stupas and pagodas.

After lunch, we went to my favourite town of the day, Inwa. We had to take a ferry to get there so we left Soe Soe and Mo Mo to rest and take care of the bikes. Danna and I hired a trishaw to take us around to the different spots. Yadana Sinme Pagoda was our first stop along the route and was probably my favourite stop of the day. It was this old, rundown, deserted, brick pagoda complex that was amazing. No one else was around while we were there so we were able to explore the complex in peace and wonder at who built it and why nobody uses it any longer. This was the first brick pagoda I've seen since coming to Myanmar and I like it a little better than the shiny, concrete, white and gold pagodas that seem to be in Yangon and within Mandalay.

Next, we headed to Bagaya Kyuang, an old teak wood monastery. However, before we got into the actual monastery, we were distracted by a dirt road leading to some old stupas located in the rice paddies. Danna and I decided that it would be a good idea to follow the horse cart and foot path around to all the different stupas we could see. Most of them were beginning to crumble or becoming overgrown with grasses.What was amazing to me was that none of the other tourists in the area found these as awesome as we did. We didn't see a single soul, tourist or local, until we snuck into the backside of the monastery through a hole in the wall. We were feeling tired and didn't want to walk all the way around to the front.

The monastery itself was gorgeous. The dark wood and dim interior lighting give it a medieval feel. There was even a small classroom set up off to the side of the main shrine. It didn't contain any desks, only benches that didn't look very comfortable!

The last spot of this magnificent day, was at U Bein's Bridge, the longest teak wood bridge in the world. It measures 1.2km. We walked from one end to the other and watched the sun go down behind the mountains.