Sunday, October 31, 2010
Today we spent exploring the cities of Amarapura and Sagaing. I wasn’t feeling great last night and this morning felt a bit weak so I stuck to eggs and toast. When J.P. saw me, he thought I looked a bit pale and gave me some rehydration powder to add to my water. We all met downstairs at 8:30am to start our day. In need of some snacks, our first stop was a supermarket. Then it was off to the gold leaf workshop. We watched as three young men with 6lb weights beat stones to flatten the gold sheets. It’s a fairly lengthy process to get the super thin sheets of gold. It may seem like a strange observation, but one of the guys had really good teeth. People here not only have poor teeth, but the problem is exacerbated by the fact they chew on betel nuts which leave a deep red tint sitting on and in between their teeth. Most of the men I’ve come across have really horrible teeth; the women aren’t much better.
From there we drove to the town of Amarapura, meaning ‘City of Immortality’ built by Bodawpaya as his new capital in 1783. In 1857 Mindon Min decided to make Mandalay the capital, and the changeover was completed in 1860. We stopped at Maha Ganayon Kyaung, a monastery founded in 1914, renowned as a center for monastic study and strict religious discipline, and home to 1200 monks. We arrived just before an 11am meal and saw all the monks lining up to get their rice and move into the dining hall. The stream of crimson robed monks carrying a bowl and mug seemed never-ending. Monks kept coming from various buildings to join the queue. It was a pretty incredible sight but there were a lot of tourists taking pictures, including an obnoxious man who was snapping photos right in the walkway and a woman videoing from inappropriate locations.
On Taugthaman Lake (which is named for an ogre who supposedly came looking for Buddha here) is U Bein’s Bridge, a 1300yd-long teak footbridge leading across the shallow lake. Still strong after 200 years, the world’s longest teak span has 1060 posts, most of which are original, and curves to better withstand the wind. I walked about a third of the way across observing the many fisherman in the area before turning around; I still wasn’t feeling 100% and didn’t want to waste my energy simply to walk across the bridge. As I was walking back to the bus, I saw a painter working on black and white drawings. I told him they were too big, so he agreed to make one half the size with a design of my choosing. So I took a seat and watched him work; happy with the outcome, I paid him the requested dollar. Donna and I stood around the bus chatting waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and trying to stay cool (we were mainly waiting on Ros who decided to walk the entire length even though she wasn’t feeling good).
Next stop was the town of Sagaing, home to 500 stupas, even more monasteries and nunneries, and some 6000 monks and nuns. We had seen the town from the Ayeyarwaddy, which is named for the trees hanging over the river. Sagaing became the capital of an independent Shan kingdom around 1315, after the fall of Bagan had thrown central Myanmar into chaos. Its period of importance was short, for in 1364 the founder’s grandson, Thado Minbya, hop-scotched the capital to Inwa. We explored Umin Thounzeh, famous for the 45 buddha images in a crescent-shaped colonnade, and walked to the top for views over the surrounding area. Shoes and socks off again when we got to Soon U Ponya Shin Paya, a pagoda built in 1312 containing a large Buddha whose head was illuminated in colored lights.
Our lunch spot was nicer than expected, including cloth napkins and tablecloths (it is amazing what you become accustomed to when travelling around Asia). I still wasn’t feeling in the mood for much food, so I ordered steamed rice and ate some of Donna’s noodles. Norm didn’t feel well either, and he spent the entire morning lying down in the back of the bus.
We made a quick stop at an area known for its marble carving before continuing to Mahamuni Paya, one of Myanmar’s most famous Buddhist sites. The gold-and-crimson site was originally built by King Bodawpaya in 1784, when a brick road was constructed from his palace to the pay’s eastern gate. The paya’s fame comes from its shrine centerpiece, the highly venerated Mahamuni Buddha image, which was seized from Mrauk U in Rakhaing State in 1784. It was believed to be of great age at that time and it may even have been cast during the 1st century AD (though many in Rakhaing believe it to have been made in the likeness of the Buddha during his legendary visit in 554 BC). The 13-ft high seated image is cast in bronze, but over the years thousands of devout Buddhists have completely covered the figure in a 6in-thick layer of gold leaf. Only men are permitted to walk up to the Mahamuni buddha image and apply gold leaf. We basically went inside to see the Buddha before leaving. Most of us were pretty templed out by that point.
Now we’re back at the hotel with a couple of hours until dinner. Roslyn is thoroughly pissing me off. She never stops talking, she snores at night (not that she can help that but its loud), and now she’s got a phlegm-y cough. Apparently she also can’t watch TV with the light on, so I’m sitting here in practical darkness writing. This trip is definitely teaching me patience, as it takes a lot to be stuck with a roommate like her. Seriously, right now I am listening to music and writing, and I’ve told her I wanted some quiet time. She is trying to watch something on TV and still is making comments to me. Urrr.
(after dinner)
We ended up at Unity restaurant tonight (part of Unity Hotel) which was empty except for us. I’m not sure the last time they had dinner guests in that place. All chicken dishes and Western food were unavailable. Besides that dinner was so uneventful that I didn’t even bother taking pictures. The food was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it in the future. I guess, as J.P. had mentioned, that the food in Mandalay leaves something to be desired. We got back before 8pm so that J.P. could see off the couple people going to the Moustache Brothers show (I decided not to attend as I didn’t think I knew enough about Myanmar politics to keep up with the jokes). Tomorrow is a somewhat early (6:30am departure, instead of 4:45am) so I’m off to get some sleep.
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