After Cari Banana’s sad departure I was on my own. Well, almost. I had met Bridget along the way, so rather than travel solo we decided to travel together. She was heading north past Mandalay, so I chose to double back and go on an adventure with her.
We needed to stop 24 hours in Mandalay first, so we took the VIP overnight bus. Fancy! For the extra $6 our bus had 3 rows of seats with 2 isles dividing them. Seats basically fully reclined making it easier to sleep, we got neck pillows, water and pepsi (the first real western drink I’ve seen here) and the volume of the soap operas was kept to a minimum.
With the day to spare we decided to explore some of the old capitals of Burma. Four were situated just outside Mandalay so we choose two (Inwa & Amarapura) and jumped in a cab.
Inwa was accessible by boat making it feel like an island even though it wasn’t. Transport is by horse cart to the few remains left there.
(In our buggy chased by the local kids)
First was Bagaya Kyaung an old monastery built in 1834 from massive teak wood trees giving the building an almost black look against the contrasting green surrounds. The posts were so big I couldn’t get my arms around them (up to 9ft in circumference) and 60ft high.
It was still a working monastery so in addition to the gorgeous wooden carvings, there was a little school inside. Desks all numbered, and there was a blackboard and world globes. The teacher was an old monk who sat in the corner presumably passing his weekends by reading & being amused by the tourists.
(The little school!)
Other stops included a crumbling pagoda, complete with the usual ‘temple kids’ who showed us around and tried to get us to buy their wares, and another monastery, this one from 1822 and made of brick, surrounded by banana trees.
We also stopped in at the leaning Watch Tower. Not much too it but it had stunning views.
We then moved to our next old city, Amarapura, where then main attraction was U Bein, an old (teak) bridge spanning more than 1km across. Famous for viewing the monks walk across at sunset, it was packed with locals (and a few tourists) hoping for the perfect photo. But there were monks. Lazily crossing the bridge, talking, smoking (scandalous!) and posing for photos. Very picturesque.
