After a long bus ride from Bagan, we visited Mandalay Hill, a Buddhist site overlooking the city. We relaxed and explored the city on foot the next day, tired from our full days in Bagan. On our second full day, we took a bike tour with a local to learn more about a city that, on the surface, is not the most tourist-friendly. Our guide was extremely friendly and hardworking – he started his business recently with an investment from his Belgian friend. Pedaling through dusty and bumpy rural terrain just outside the city, we saw people working hard in tough conditions - a brick factory with manual labor, fields harvested by sickle, and laundry washed in the river. We stopped by a fish market, flower market, and met many locals. Outside the city, many people clearly had not seen many Westerners or tourists in general. Children ran up constantly to greet us, so Robert bought a big bag of candy to hand out to them. In the afternoon, we visited the Bagaya Monastery, one of two remaining teakwood monasteries in Mandalay. We went to the jade market, where workers use foot pedals to spin stones on which they smooth gemstones by hand for use in jewelry. We continued to the Mahamuni Buddha Temple, where worshippers have applied so much gold leaf to the Buddha image that the gold is 6 inches deep. We enjoyed the sunset at the U Bein Bridge, the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world, built in 1850 and three-quarters of a mile long. We ended the day with a delicious dinner at our guide’s home cooked by his wife. He introduced us to his two daughters – an eight-year-old and a baby who he is hoping to teach English and send to school so they can get jobs in tourism, a growing industry. Food in MyanmarThe food in Myanmar was different than the rest in Southeast Asia, somewhat more similar to Indian food than Thai. We particularly enjoyed Shan noodles (tangy, chewy rice noodles with broth on the side, a specialty of the Shan state); tea leaf salad (an invigorating mix of fermented green tea leaves with crunchy fried beans, roasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, and fried garlic); nan pyar (bubbly flatbread with a side of curry peas); and Burmese milk tea (one part evaporated milk, one part condensed milk, and one part hot black tea). Our favorite restaurants were:
We were particularly touched by Kyaing Thin Tea Shop in Mandalay, known for its literary crowd, which gave us tea on the house and shared this note: Dear foreign guests, FriendlinessAll over Myanmar, many Burmese people wanted to take photos with us, presumably because of our good looks! Or possibly because only 80,000 American tourists visit Myanmar every year, so perhaps our looks were merely interesting or amusing. As you’ll see in the photo below, Burmese people wear thanaka, a powdery face cream made from ground bark mixed with a little water that helps smooth skin and protect against the sun. More than any country we’ve visited, people had big smiles and were eager to say hello. Bring some candy to give to kids and you will be extremely popular! Remember to say mingalabar (a greeting that means “hello” and also “auspiciousness to you” – good luck is a central component in Buddhist culture).
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September 2018
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