Hey ... I wish I could say a huge amount of stuff about Mandalay, but I can only do half the job. The stomach-intestinal somersaults are back, so today was a bit of a downer. Fingers crossed I'll bounce back again.
Yesterday was very good, despite the early morning start. The flights over the country were amazing, especially seeing all the pagodas and stumpas dotted around the hills of Bagan and coming into Mandalay. The airport was a solid 50km out of town, the only problem is, the brand new road which looks immaculate is still bumpy here, there and everywhere, so it still takes an hour or more to get into town. But the nice thing is, we stopped at a bunch of places of interest, so the commute in was good. We saw just not any old Buddha, but the biggest jade Buddha of them all, and a couple of other temples. Then some woodcarvers & tapestry workers at the their store/shop, and then poor old guys who pound gold-leaf into micro-centimetre thickness. There was also the wooden king's palace that had been moved (yes, literally moved block by block) during WWII. Not to be outdone, we visited the so called "Biggest book in the World", the sacred Buddhist scriptures all encapsulated, page by page, into hundreds of small white stumpas. Something like 720 ... but then another complex has a copy of this original into more than a thousand stumpas .... so which is really larger; the original or the copy. I don't care anymore .... but I was nice enough to help a poor lady who was given four twenty Canadian dollar bills, which were completely useless to her, as we really don't exist on the world stage, despite the fact our dollar and the US dollar is pretty on par. I almost gave her the equivalent of 20 dollars in local currency, so she'll have to find some other CDN shmuck to help her with the other three. (who goes around handing out $20 CDN bills? ... I didn't ask).
We finished off the evening by taking our bus up to Mandalay Hill, which overlooks the entire region. We almost saw our first sunset of the trip, but the cool breeze was worth it's weight in gold. Beautiful view of course, overlooking the expansive plain. Lots to look at, people to watch, and local young kids who want to talk and practice their English. A good end to the night, before our two hour wait for our food at dinner. Less said the better ...
So, this morning, before the day started, I realized Mr. Stomach was going to be playing games. I wanted to do the touring so much, but realized it was best to stay back and rest, which I did. Just had dinner, which was my only real meal of the day, so I hope tomorrow promises to be better. The plan is to take a motorcycle tour of the places my group went to today, so the fear of "missing out" is lessen by a bit. But I won't have the chance properly wonder around the city on our "free" day. Like a little kid missing out on Christmas Day morning with the presents and stockings ... it's not the same on Boxing Day.
Wish me luck ... another guy on the trip is dropping out due to health problems. I hope he's the only one, it's too amazing around here to come all this way, just to bow out. Worse case is I have another day of rest, and continue onto Bagan.
Don't worry ... I'll be fine. I think ... :o)
Yesterday was very good, despite the early morning start. The flights over the country were amazing, especially seeing all the pagodas and stumpas dotted around the hills of Bagan and coming into Mandalay. The airport was a solid 50km out of town, the only problem is, the brand new road which looks immaculate is still bumpy here, there and everywhere, so it still takes an hour or more to get into town. But the nice thing is, we stopped at a bunch of places of interest, so the commute in was good. We saw just not any old Buddha, but the biggest jade Buddha of them all, and a couple of other temples. Then some woodcarvers & tapestry workers at the their store/shop, and then poor old guys who pound gold-leaf into micro-centimetre thickness. There was also the wooden king's palace that had been moved (yes, literally moved block by block) during WWII. Not to be outdone, we visited the so called "Biggest book in the World", the sacred Buddhist scriptures all encapsulated, page by page, into hundreds of small white stumpas. Something like 720 ... but then another complex has a copy of this original into more than a thousand stumpas .... so which is really larger; the original or the copy. I don't care anymore .... but I was nice enough to help a poor lady who was given four twenty Canadian dollar bills, which were completely useless to her, as we really don't exist on the world stage, despite the fact our dollar and the US dollar is pretty on par. I almost gave her the equivalent of 20 dollars in local currency, so she'll have to find some other CDN shmuck to help her with the other three. (who goes around handing out $20 CDN bills? ... I didn't ask).
We finished off the evening by taking our bus up to Mandalay Hill, which overlooks the entire region. We almost saw our first sunset of the trip, but the cool breeze was worth it's weight in gold. Beautiful view of course, overlooking the expansive plain. Lots to look at, people to watch, and local young kids who want to talk and practice their English. A good end to the night, before our two hour wait for our food at dinner. Less said the better ...
So, this morning, before the day started, I realized Mr. Stomach was going to be playing games. I wanted to do the touring so much, but realized it was best to stay back and rest, which I did. Just had dinner, which was my only real meal of the day, so I hope tomorrow promises to be better. The plan is to take a motorcycle tour of the places my group went to today, so the fear of "missing out" is lessen by a bit. But I won't have the chance properly wonder around the city on our "free" day. Like a little kid missing out on Christmas Day morning with the presents and stockings ... it's not the same on Boxing Day.
Wish me luck ... another guy on the trip is dropping out due to health problems. I hope he's the only one, it's too amazing around here to come all this way, just to bow out. Worse case is I have another day of rest, and continue onto Bagan.
Don't worry ... I'll be fine. I think ... :o)
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