Myanmar Trip: Wonder of Mandalay

The journey from Bagan to Mandalay was smoother than I thought as the bus started to cruise along concrete Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, which apparently doesn't meet international standards. We were asked to switch to other bus at one of the stops before entering the city. The attendant asked for the location of our hotel and fortunately it was within walking distance from the bus route. We got off nearby the south gate of palace wall and walked towards our last stay of the trip. Have to say, we kinda got the hang of crossing busy roads in Myanmar. Comparing to Yangon, the roads and city of Mandalay were much well planned with the grid network, something that I only discovered when I studied the map for our itinerary. It seemed relatively cleaner too and I already started to like it at the first sight.

Enjoying the view of our last intercity travel. For some reason this image reminded of jade crystal ball

Moonlight Hotel was the cheapest stay in this trip but definitely not the least value. There was welcoming signage with my friend's name on it as the entrance door was opened. The receptionist can speak minimal English and can respond to most of queries. Our backpacks were brought up to our room by bell boy, who didn't appear to be like a local with his complexion. The stay included buffet style which was sufficient enough to fill up our mornings even though the choices were almost the same every day. We experienced a number of blackouts during our stay in Mandalay though it was brief. We clarified with the receptionist that it happened across the city, not just our hotel.

Settling in with our room, we walked for 20 minutes to Shan Ma Ma for our first dinner in Mandalay, as per my friend's research and also as per recommended by the hotel. The first location of our map was showing the old location and the new shop was just along the same road.  This eatery offered food like the Chinese "chap fan" style, the economy rice. With 3000 kyat, you can pick any of three dishes which came with rice. My friend picked chicken whereas I picked pork. Satisfied, we returned to our hotel to rest. The TV had "A Dog's Purpose" played on repeat on one of its channel before putting "Forbidden Kingdom" in the same loop as well after we informed the receptionist.

The bed was decorated with towel folded into petals of flower with a fake rose in the middle. Mine was rather scented

Me picking up my three dishes at Shan Ma Ma

It was the sixth day of our adventure in this country and we finally came to the last pitstop. Initially we thought we could walk to the Grand Palace of Mandalay but our research showed the only entrance for the visitors was the East Gate which were further away. We used GrabThoneBan in Mandalay quite frequently, like the usual Grab but with three-wheeled motor transport. It was cheap and ideal to commute around for the two of us, skipped the unnecessary walk under the sun. As we arrived at the gate, we were required to pay 10000 kyat for Mandalay Pass that gave access to points of interests around. The place seemed to be heavily guarded by armies, not the usual security guards. One of us was asked to leave our passport behind before we started to enter the area. We were approached by drivers who offered to give us a ride in. We decided to walk, for 10-15 minutes. The walkway was somewhat shaded and we were passing by some neighbourhood in which I read was occupied by the family of servicemen of the palace. No photo was allowed along the walkway. The original palace was already destroyed during World War 2 and only royal mint and watch tower survived. The rest was rebuilt.

View of Grand Palace from the watch tower. Much smaller scale of Forbidden City in Beijing, China

Posing right in front of the Fountain Department, whatever that means

This place can potentially be converted to resorts or some kind. Most of the structures here were almost empty

Seven-tier roof of Great Audience Hall

Royal Mint. One of the survived original structure of the grand palace

The wall that guarded the Grand Palace and surrounded by moat

I have seen a number of pagodas at this point and I wonder how much further impressed I can get for the next one. Containing world's largest book, I think both of us were expecting a book literally as we arrived at Kuthodaw Pagoda, all we saw was the little white huts (they are called as caves) and they were aligned and surrounded the central golden pagoda. It came to our realisation that these caves came with stone tablets with Buddhist text inscriptions, which actually made the book. We truly found ourselves admiring the place. Not far from there, there was another pagoda with similar designs, Sanda Muni Pagoda. Instead of white coloured caves, it was minty blue. There was a guy at the site repainting the palace with the new colour. I could only imagine how can he bear the heat. Shwenandaw Monastery was our next stop which was inclusive in the Mandalay Pass. It was covered with detailed carvings of Buddhist myths. We got our postcards right outside the monastery and the lady claimed we were her first customers. We concluded our day activity by having our lunch at Pan Tha Din.

It was such a big book that my extended hands can't hold them. This photo was not easy to come by, due to the hot cement floor. As mentioned previously, no footwear in all temples

The stupa was modelled after Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan, the one that we missed

This candid photo taken by my friend is among my favourite now

The gaps between these caves at Sanda Muni Pagoda were much closer than the ones at Kuthodaw Pagoda

This little stupa felt minty with this whitish blue colour

The guy was repainting the place under the hot season. May be he was used to the heat

Me peeking out the door of monastery, admiring the carvings on the wall

Look at the detailed work on the building, very intricate

Mingalabar Restaurant, rated as number one restaurant in Mandalay on Trip Advisor, definitely the fanciest dinner experience by far but surprisingly not the most expensive. There was outdoor and air-conditioned seating. Obviously we went for the latter. We were pre-warned by the online reviews to only order a single dish as there would be a lot of complementary side dishes. We planned the dinner in time to catch 8.30pm show at Myanmar Marionette. It was my very first puppet show and I wasn't sure what to expect actually. The setting was rather warm despite the fans were on. From time to time, we needed to fan ourselves manually to cool off. It was an hour show which started with a lady playing swan-shaped harp and a traditional Burmese dance. I didn't really comprehend the tales much due to language used but some never failed to entertain. At some point, I was struggling to keep my eyes open and I noticed there was one foreigner in the audience seemed to be dozed off for a while.

Generous serving of the side dishes. The tea was fragrant

The dessert. Not something that you may expect

The setting of the puppet show. Occasionally they would reveal the marionettist as the show went on

I think I watched too much Anabelle for these puppets to creep me out a little

On the first night we arrived, the receptionist told that we could hire a taxi to get to Mingun & U-Bein Bridge, the plan for our last day. Grab may not be available in that region since it was out of town. When we looked at the map, it was actually just across the river but going there by road meant need go further south, along the river which made it 90km away. I thought they should just build a bridge across. When we decided to book the car, the receptionist mentioned an alternative to get there by boat, which was apparently missed previously. A cheaper option, we booked the car only for the sunset instead. We Grabbed to the jetty and passed by a theme park. There was only one boat service per day going to Mingun which departed at 9am and returned from the other side at 1pm (or when the boat was full). It took an hour to cross the river upstream.

Mingun was basically in another state in Myanmar which is separated by the river,  the Sagaing Region. We purchased Mingun Pass for 5000 kyat. We only planned for two temples to visit in the span of two hours there. First one was the striking white pagoda of Hsinbyume. The halo on top of the temple made an almost perfect photo. As we went on top of the pagoda, there was a cool breeze and we found ourselves stayed there for a while before heading down to another site, Mingun Pahtodawgyi. It was an unfinished structure with a small prayer site built within large stack of bricks. This reminded me of archaeological site in Jordan. We headed back to Mandalay for lunch at Pan Cherry Noodle House and Cafe. The electricity was out and the girl needed to make our orange juice manually.

We flew in. We rode the train. We travelled on bus. We were on the boat, crossing the Irrawaddy River. The ferris wheel can be seen in the distance. That was the theme park we passed by

Exploring the little township of Mingun on foot. 

The majestic Hsinbyume Pagoda. So white. So pure

View from top of the pagoda. It was breezy at this spot

Saying "halo" to the grand pagoda

Temple within stacked of bricks

Saw the tree of this flower while on Yangon-Bagan train

Fulfilling noodle soup at Pan Cherry. 

We rested at the hotel first before going for our last point of interest using booked car at 4pm. We arrived at U-Bein rather early considering we were there for the sunset. We chilled at one of the shops sipping pineapple juice, which I was skeptical at first looking at the condition but it turned out alright. There were lots of souvenirs shops along the street too. Seem to be a good place to conclude your trip in Mandalay (perhaps Myanmar) for last minute shopping of memorabilia. There were a lot of tourists with the buses around, familiar scene when we were in Bagan for sunrise. The bridge  was claimed to be the oldest teak wood bridge in the world which connected two sides of the lake.

Me with U-Bein bridge in the background

Kids were enjoying their time in the green lake

Sunset view of U Bein Bridge

As the sun started to set, it was about time to head home too.
I bought my fair share of longyi here before heading back to Mandalay

The taxi dropped us at Super 81 for our last dinner, which actually served Asian cuisines, not just Burmese dishes. We underestimated the portion and we struggled to finish the large size serving of the duck dish. We actually planned to watch show at Moustache Brothers right after, a comedic duo (started as a trio and one of the members passed away)  performance. We had brief chat with the family who run the show before the show was cancelled as the other three guests failed to show up. The show would only go on with minimum four pax in the audience. I guess it wasn't our luck. We returned to hotel and spent our last night in Myanmar.

Last dinner in Myanmar. We weren't able to finish

A can of Myanmar beer to conclude this wonderful trip

We exchanged our remaining kyat in which I get back 100 dollars in return before heading to Mandalay International Airport. There weren't many people at the airport and we were the first one to check in at the counter before other people joining in. We strolled around the airport and most of the shops weren't that familiar to me. We have our lunch at Taste of Asia before having our coffee at Blue Pumpkin, which was just right in front of our gate. My friend recalled he went to the same shop when he was in Cambodia.

Chilling at Blue Pumpkin, waiting to board our flight home

The flight took off around noon and we transited at Bangkok Don Mueang Airport for 5 hours. We finally made it back safe and sound in Kuala Lumpur around midnight. Bade our farewell and we were on our own journey home.

This trip reminded me a lot of my time when I was in Cambodia, exploring the ancient temples. Will always admire the remnants of the culturally-rich early civilisations and in awe that they managed to survive through test of time for us to witness them today. The food scene, on the other hand, was a surprise treat to me. The heat, however, was on another level during the time of our visit but it wasn't peak season and hence, we can pace ourselves throughout this journey. We didn't rush through our itinerary and have sufficient time to cover each place, that was even with time allocated to escape the heat in our room to chill out. Myanmar is a country that may only suit those who can appreciate history and culture, or perhaps can admire the beauty of ancient temples, in the heat.

This Myanmar chapter is the highlight to celebrate our ten long years of friendship.
I'm grateful to have a buddy who share the same passion as me.

The culture exploration shall continue.

Our journey:
Mingalaba: Yangon - Bagan - Mandalay

Myanmar Trip: Three-Point Bagan

When my friend first mentioned about Myanmar to me a while back, all I knew was Yangon. The word Bagan didn't ring as much bell as Angkor, need not to mention about Mandalay. As I went along in this trip with him, it was a journey of discovery on the places that were foreign to me. There were a number of experiences that I didn't foresee.

We were approached by taxi drivers the moment we got off the train at Bagan Railway Station in which we didn't even get to walk pass it. We actually attempted booking for Grab at first but unfortunately it wasn't available in the region. One of the drivers claimed that he knew where our hostel was. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we agreed to go with him with reasonable fare. It was all sandy around us as we cruised along the road. We needed to pay 25000 kyat for entering Bagan Archaeological Zone and the ticket was valid for five days. We were only asked for it once for the entire trip.

View of Bagan Railway Station from our taxi

Entrance ticket to Bagan Archaeological Park. Only one ticket issued for both of us.

As shops started to appear as we looked out through the car window, we knew we were close to New Bagan. The traffic was rather minimal or I daresay, there was almost no car on the road as we arrived at Ostello Bello Bagan. We were asked to fill up some sort of welcoming form while waiting for the room to be ready. 48 dollars for 2 nights, it was one of the nicest hostels that I ever stayed, if not in Myanmar perhaps among all the trips that I had previously. Cozy room and clean toilet, the hostel also hosted nightly game activities in which we joined for both nights. We went on to refresh ourselves after long journey since the day before (Remembered the twenty hours train ride?)

Our hostel was strategically located in the heart of New Bagan whereby the little town can be covered on foot. The air was rather sandy/dusty and hence I would recommend a face mask. We noticed there was plenty of scooter (or locally called it as e-bike) rentals around. Every time we passed by those little tents we would hear "e-bike?" which would follow up by question of asking for where we were from and ringgit notes as souvenirs. There was one particular boy called us "Malaysia" wherever he saw us while we were temples hopping.  Too bad we didn't get a picture of him as there was no sign of him upon our return.

We had our first lunch in Bagan at Shwe Ou Food Garden. I have to say, most of the eateries were not air-conditioned despite of the hot weather. The ceiling fan didn't seem to help much either. We relieved ourself from the heat temporarily with home made ice cream as our dessert. We started exploring New Bagan on foot as we found our way to the riverside of Irrawaddy (or Ayeyarwaddy) River, the largest river in Myanmar, nicknamed "The Road to Mandalay". The intention was going to the lookout point but eventually decided to detour back to the hostel as the place seemed to be not really accessible. Along the way, we could see some of the temples, a prelude for what is going to happen on the next day. I could feel that my skin was almost burning walking under the hot sun and it was around 3pm. There was barely any shade and the distance towards our hostel seem to be extended due to the heat. We checked the temperature on that day was as high as 41 degree Celcius. That was a record for me. We chilled out in the room before visiting another spot of ruins in the late evening. Had our dinner at Black Rose which was just ordinary - hunger filler for the night.

First lunch in Bagan. Buttermilk Curry Chicken and Cowpea. Nyum.

Ice cream to cool ourselves. Mine was the strawberry oyster, no real oyster. Basically just strawberry ice cream served between the bread and jelly. Tasted a little too sweet.

We saw this signage while exploring Bagan. Apparently need to call for Grab around this area.

Remnants of ancient temple within New Bagan

First sunset in Bagan

Pork Curry. The curry in this country wasn't that spicy in my opinion.

Next day started as early as 4.00 am as we planned to catch the sunrise. The receptionist recommended a spot and at first we thought the place would be less touristy. We were joined by another traveller from India in which we met during "Stop!" game the night before. Initially we thought of renting two bikes but eventually we resorted to one big bike (luckily we did) for 9000 kyat. We had a test ride at the roundabout right in front of the hostel. I have fear of bikes and to ride one of these things was a step up for me. When my friend mentioned about renting one before our travel, I didn't really dwell that much and it was too late to turn back at that point of time. At first, I thought it was manageable, just need get used to the control; right hand to accelerate, left hand to brake. I told myself, "I can do this!" Or so I thought.

My friend was the first rider for the sunrise spot as I navigated the way. As we were off the main road, the pathway was not properly paved and not well illuminated. There was another sunrise spot that we missed in which we only noticed when we were on the way back in the evening. The receptionist told us it would be quite a hike to get to the sunrise spot which turned out to be just a little slope. I could have just worn my Birkenstock sandals instead of sport shoes. To my surprise, the place was already crowded with tourists, mostly coming from the mainland. There were lots of buses and horse carriages at the parking lot. I wasn't sure what to expect for the view but my friend didn't seem to be pleased as it didn't appear as what he hoped for I suppose. It was very cloudy and by the time the sun made its appearance, it already went beyond the horizon.

Look at the crowd. Look at that sun.

This is our version of Bagan sunrise.

Temples of Bagan. We were going to tick them off in a while.

We went off to our very first temple, Htilominlo Temple, a three-storey tall red brick temple. Be mindful that no footwear was allowed in all temples. Since we were early, we were the first to be there, I reckoned. Next pagoda in the plan was Shwezigon Pagoda which was quite a distant as we passed by some local neighbourhood and it appeared to be less touristy. We didn't get to go in as nature called for my friend. The mission soon became looking for water closet before we stopped by a random temple which was unplanned. That was the perk of exploring the place with scooter, can be more flexible in the itinerary. But, I won't be able to do it alone, not right here.

Side of Htilominlo Temple. There was some work ongoing at the top.

The still joyful me with bike in front of Ywa Haung Gyi Temple.

Ananda Temple by far was the prettiest temple I have seen in the zone with the golden dome and surrounded by white structure. Dhammayangyi Temple was claimed to be the largest temple in the area. Taking a brief break from the temples, we visited Bagan Golden Palace with additional fee. It was a small complex which can be easily covered in less than hour. Thatbinyinyu Temple was the tallest temple but it was under renovation work. One of the kids approached us selling postcards, saying she needed money for her to get into university.

Ananda Temple. I think this was the easiest name to remember among others.

Monks walking towards the pyramid style Dhammayangyi Temple.

Posing right in front of the archway

Thirizayabumi Golden Palace. The whole palace was rebuilt. 5000 kyat entrance fee.

Thatbnyinyu Temple. The peak was under with scaffolding so we settled with the side view.

Welcoming to Bagan sign. Didn't notice this the day before.

Completed the agenda in the morning, we were off for our breakfast at Kan Htoo Get to try the unofficial dish of Myanmar , Mohinga and the owner told us they only left one for us to try. I was expecting it to be good and turned out I kinda liked it, reminded me of Malaysian version of laksa.

Myanmar Style breakfast. A good feast to nourish ourselves after all the temples visit

We returned to the hostel as we planned the next activity in the evening to avoid the almost unbearable heat. Unexpected downpour happened afternoon which may have cooled off the surrounding a little as we chilled at the common area. Free pasta was served at 1pm.  We had our late lunch at The Moon, a vegetarian restaurant. I ordered noodle soup which was nyum. Free mango slices were served as our dessert. I have been craving for eating mango since I saw them in Yangon but dare not to try due to hygiene issue. From there we went to Shwesandow Temple for planned sunset view. Unfortunately, the staircase was closed and hence, no sunset view from there. As we rode around, we have been approached by the locals whether we were interested for temple climbing. It seemed to be a thing there, or it used to be. We were told that the temples climbing was no longer allowed due to earthquakes that hit the place few years back which may have compromised the integrity of the temples. We explored the temple before attempting another site for sunset view but it was in vain too. At last, we went back to the same spot we went for in the earlier day. There were two French girls who seemed to be looking for sunset vantage point and my friend invited them to follow us.

Satisfying late lunch at The Moon.

Tamarind Flakes which tasted similar to Hawthorn Flakes. Sweet mango cutlets.

Cute coconut monkey

Candid photo of me wearing longyi at Shwesandow Pagoda.

All those efforts looking for vantage points of sunset seemed to go to waste due to these clouds

We had a little incident with our scooter when it was out of battery while we were heading back to town. It was 5km away when our scooter decided to fail us. Luckily, a tourist police passed by and helped us to call our scooter provider before being joined by his friend. We waited in the drizzle for 20 minutes before our smaller scooter came for the rescue. I felt bad for my friend for having to ride in the rain as his sight was partially hindered by the droplets on his glasses. I had minor trauma myself earlier in which I twisted my right wrist. Most importantly, we made it back safe and sound. With all the ordeals, we decided to settle our dinner at the hostel.

As our bus would pick us around noon, we went to lacquerware workshop next door after having breakfast at the hostel. I booked our bus ticket online and selected the hostel as pick up point. However, you will still need to inform the receptionist to reconfirm with the bus company for the arrangement. Apparently lacquerware was Bagan's specialty which explained a number of lacquerware shops around. My friend bought one from the shop and we were brought around by the lady on the manufacturing process. I was amazed as all these products were hand-made and one needs to be very meticulous and patient to produce a fine piece of lacquerware and it involved more than one person. The effort may go as long as months or even years, depends on the material/quality. We returned to the same spot for our last lunch in Bagan.

Lacquerware on display. These were made from bamboo. Some they used horse hairs too.

Different stages of lacquerware making.

Last lunch in Bagan with noodles.

The bus brought us to the bus station together with other passengers. There weren't many passengers onboard. I remembered there was only a family of five, a solo traveller and us.  The bus departed earlier than scheduled and the 4 hours bus journey began. The online reviews mostly actually discourage to use bus. In those reviews most of them were referring to the minibus. On the contrary, we opted for bigger bus with JJ Express which was quite comfortable. I would recommend the same company for those who wish to use bus for intercity travel in Myanmar.

Our very last intercity travel in this trip. It was coming to a close.

One last pitstop to go.

Our journey:

Mingalaba: Yangon - Bagan - Mandalay

You may wonder what is it called "Three Point Bagan". My friend's post may explain.