Saturday, October 30, 2010
When we left the hotel this morning (not until 8:30am, a sleep-in morning!), I couldn’t help but wonder “what are we all doing here?” I was watching the people of Mandalay go about their morning business, so many people on the streets, biking or walking around on the unpaved sidewalk. Not that I get very philosophical about life very often, but it did make me wonder what the heck we’re doing on this earth. I mean, these people are so poor, living in a military dictatorship. What drives them to survive? So many children have come up begging for bon-bons or asking for shampoo. Most people seem to have small stalls selling items which there could never be enough demand for by tourists.
We drove to the jetty for our private one-hour boat ride to Mingun. The clouds moved northwards as we went upstream, creating a perfectly clear day. (Yesterday it rained in the morning, so we were lucky with the weather.) We visited the following places:
- Pondaw Paya – 16ft high white pagoda is a working model for the gigantic, unfinished Mingun Paya
- Mingun Paya – Actually just the cracked brick base of the original plan. The grandiose pagoda King Bodawpaya had in mind was set to reach 500ft. Construction began in 1790 with a labor force thousands of slaves and prisoners of war. Work halted in 1819 when Bodawpaya died. An earthquake split the monument in 1838 and reduced it to partial rubble. Each side of the enormous base measures 240ft and the lowest terrace measures 460ft. I climbed up the wobbly bricks on the base for views of Hsinbyume Paya, Mingun village and the river while trying to avoid help from the locals who wanted money for showing you the way.
- Mingun Bell – In 1808 Bodawpaya had a gigantic bronze bell cast to go with his gigantic stupa. Weighing 90 tons, the bell is the second largest un-cracked bell in the world. The bell is about 13ft high and over 16ft across at the lip.
- Hsinbyume Paya – Built by King Bagyidaw in 1816 three years before he succeeded Bodawpaya as king, this unusual stupa has a couple of stories behind it. Some say it was constructed in memory of the king’s senior wife, the Hsinbyume princess; others claim Bodawpaya’s daughter built it with unused materials from the Mingun Paya. The seven whitewashed wavy terraces around the stupa represent the seven mountain ranges around Mt Meru, while the five kinds of mythical monsters can be found in niches on each terrace level.
After visiting the main sites in Mingun, we took the boat back to Mandalay. We split up for lunch, and a group of us went for Indian food at Pan Cherry. When I got back to the room, it was locked but the front desk had told me that Ros was in the room. Housekeeping let me in the room and when Ros finally came back, she insisted she didn’t have the key. After blaming reception, it turned out the key had been on her the whole time. Typical! I had some time to do laundry at the hotel before we explored Mandalay.
Discovering Mandalay we stopped at the following places:
- Mandalay Palace and Fort. The palace had been reconstructed after WWII but sadly it appears to be deteriorating because the funds collected from visiting the palace are not used by the government to maintain the building.
- Shwenandaw Kyaung – This monastery is of great interest, not only as a fine example of a traditional Burmese wooden monastery, but also as a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. It was once part of the palace complex – King Mindon lived here, and in face died in the building. Afterwards, King Thibaw Min had the building dismantled and reassembled outside the walls; it became a monastery in 1880. It’s a good thing he did, as all the other royal buildings were lost to WWII bombs. The building is covered inside and out with carved panels.
- Kuthodaw Paya – Frequently dubbed ‘the world’s biggest book’ for its surrounding 729 marble slabs, the Kuthodaw Paya sees a lot of worship. The entire 15 books of the Triptaka are inscribed on the slabs, each of which is housed in its own small stupa. Building of the paya commenced in 1857, the same year work began on the royal palace. It took an editorial committee of over 200 to produce the original slabs. It has been estimated that, reading for eight hours a day, one person would take 450 days to read the complete ‘book’. King Mindon convened the 5th Buddhist Synod and used a team of 2400 monks to read the whole book in a nonstop relay lasting nearly six months.
- Mandalay Hill for sunset. On the way to the hill, we saw an enormous queue, by both cars and motorcycles for gas. It looked like the US during the oil crisis. Apparently, there are only 35 gas stations in the city of 1 million people, surrounding area of 5 million. A gallon of gas costs 2500 kyats (almost $3 at the current exchange rate) and it didn’t look like there was enough of it to go around. Amazing views at Mandalay Hill, as you could see the entire city, including the Royal Palace and the enormous prison.
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| Mandalay Palace |
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| Kuthodaw Paya |
J.P. was meeting a group going to the marionette show in the lobby at 8pm, so I had a bit of time to relax before joining him. It was just the two of us for dinner, and neither of us was very hungry, so we ended up having banana splits at an ice cream shop nearby. Ros went to the show tonight giving me a bit of quiet alone time. A nice break.
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| Mandalay Hill |
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| Dinner time |
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