A long travel to Mandalay
Myanmar has always been a
dream destination. One day we finally stopped dreaming and booked
Quatar airline flights to Bangkok and from Bangkok we continued the
trip to Mandalay. It was the first time we travelled with this
airline. First part was absolutely fine. I enjoyed the vegetarian
curry and 'The Hundred-Foot journey' (movie about Indian and French
food... mmm). The first flight of nearly 6 hours passed quickly. We
arrived in Doha for the transfer to Bangkok.
Doha airport was
ridiculously big, too big for the number of flight and couple of lost
travelers who were wandering through the endless halls on the way to
their gate. Despite the size of the building, the airport itself was
not much of a big deal. Couple of expensive shops here and there and
a tiny food court was pretty much the only 'attraction'. There were
plenty of free sits and fast wifi connection, so we could easily keep
ourself busy for the next four hours.
Our energy level was not
the same anymore when we entered the next airplane. We couldn't sleep
and therefore this trip seemed endless. I was disappointed there was
no vegetarian food on board and we had already enough of traveling.
It's been only six years
ago when I was in Bangkok and boy it has changed! Thailand is clearly
the most popular country among tourists. I don't know why, but I was
absolutely surprised by the crowds and huge queues for the passport
check. We thought we had plenty of time but we nearly missed our
third flight to Mandalay. As we landed at Suvarnhabhumi and our
Mandalay flight departed from Don Muang. By showing our e-tickets for
departure on the same day from the other airport we could take a free
shuttle bus which (due to heavy traffic) took about 1,5 hour to the
other airport. 10 minutes before the check in counter closed we were
dropped off, asked 3 officials where to check in and got three
different answers. Tired, unable to think anymore, confused after no
idea how many hours of traveling, we made it just on time. We flew to
Mandalay with Air Asia. It was a short flight, nothing special, I
even slept a bit. Everything went smooth: we received our visa,
collected luggage, were welcomed by friendly locals dressed in
longyis and with applied thanaka on their faces, arranged a shared
taxi to the city and get our first package of kiats which is the
local currency.
The way from mandalay
airport to Mandalay is a long one and the roads aren't good. At this
point I was totally fed up with traveling and couldn't wait any much
longer to get in the hotel. We shared our taxi with couple of Swedes
and two locals. One of the poor locals became suddenly carsick and
puked inside a car. Welcome to Myanmar! Luckily we were already down
town at this very moment and could leave the stinky car fairly soon
after the incident.
After arriving into hotel,
I immediately took a needed sleep and after this power nap we took a
funny tuk tuk, burmese style, to a restaurant. The driver took us to
the 'Too Too restaurant' which was also mentioned by Lonely Planet.
At this moment they were already out of food and we checked at
Vegetarian restaurant 'Marie Min'. Touristic place, too expensive for
Myanmar, but the food was actually very tasty and we discovered our
first favorite dish of Myanmar: Lahped Thoke! It was a strange
looking salad, but oh so good! Chopped cabbage with tomatoes, crispy
nuts, fermented tea leaves and couple of ingredients extra created a
surprisingly fresh and unique dish.
Surprisingly also in the
big cities the streets turned out to dark, the area had nothing more
to offer, so we took the same ride to the hotel. At this very first
evening we noticed how curious the locals were, as if they never have
seen 'caucasian people' before. The country is ofcourse at its very
early stages of development. It doesn't see that much tourists like
their neighbours Thailand and Cambodia. Yes, Myanmar is developing
and therefore maybe comes across a bit primitive, but also pure and
very authentic. That has it's benefits and ofcource some downsides.
The first impressions are positive. Everybody is friendly and we feel
very welcome and comfortable.
Mandalay
Fully
rested we were ready to explore Mandalay on bikes.
Riding
a bike in Mandalay is a challenge, but overly exciting and simply a
perfect way to get to know the city and it's vibe. The crossings were
the scariest at the start. With time I got more certain, but at the
end this adventure totally exhausted me.
Our
only destination on this trip was Mahamuni Paya – an important
buddhist temple with it's famous Buddha image. To reach that we took
a very busy 84th street with tons of crazy crossings. It
was basically a straight road to the temple, though we get lost a
bit. There were couple of different religious shines in that
neighborhood with Burmese writings at the entrances only, which
confused us. We were only a couple of blocks off the downtown and
suddenly no one was able to speak any English. A lady on the street
showed us the way, we were actually very close.
Right
before the temple we walked in the colorful arts and crafts market
first. Souvenirs in Myanmar are very special, I immediately have a
feeling I can score some good presents. The temple itself didn't
really wowed us. The atmosphere and people were much more
interesting. The main attraction is the Buddha image, only men are
allowed to come near and stick golden leaves on it. This was the
first time I have experienced discrimination within a buddhist
temple. I've been to Asia a lot and never have I seen a limited
access for women before. I didn’t really care as I am not a
religious person, but I found it really strange and disappointingly.
We would run into this odd rule more often in Myanmar. 'Fortunately'
there were couple of TV screens on which this gold sticking process
can be seen. We strolled a bit more around complex and watched people
and their habits. Burmese culture is so pure, traditional and one of
a kind, I cant get enough of watching at longyis and thanakas.
We
took another crazy bike ride back to downtown to grab some food.
Dusty roads, crazy traffic and impressions are tiring. We had some
Thai food, relaxed a bit, but were not ready with Mandalay yet.
Another destination on our list was the Mandalay hill. Only we
decided to leave the bikes at the hotel and take a cab to the top.
Earlier
that day at the Mahamuni Paya we were pretty much the only tourists
and because of that we thought the hill would be just as authentic
and maybe even quite. We were wrong, the Mandalay Hill was in
contrast full of tourists, especially at this time of the day when
everybody waited to see the sunset. There were many young monks
hanging around, they didn't mind to pose for the photo's, in exchange
they used the tourists presence to practice their English skills. The
whole area was way to crowded, but the sunset was worth it.
Mandalay
left a good impression on us. We were even more eager now to travel
to Bagan, which is for some a reason to visit Myanmar.
No comments:
Post a Comment