Mandalay Jan 18th

Well we made it to Mandalay on the train a couple of days ago. I wrote a huge e-mail yesterday with all the info and when I hit send the computer crashed. I hope to have better luck today. This will be the last update until next Friday. E-mail in Bagan and Inle Lake are not so good. By the way, thanks to everyone who wrote. It is great to hear from people back home. Sorry I will not reply until Thailand, internet is too slow here. The train ride to Mandalay was 15 hours with the locals. It was great but long. We were in first class which means reclining chairs and lots of leg room. Regular class had hard benches and people are packed in there. The train was not the cleanest and the fans on the ceiling are full of cobwebs and do not work. The windows were so dirty you could not see out of them. We tried to clean ours but it was no use. We even had mice as visitors along the way:) We bought a mickey of rum and gin for the ride (at a whopping $0.70 a bottle). That helped pass the last few hours. The people were amazing and the scenery was great. I was surpised the time actually flew by. When we got to Mandalay we checked into the hotel and went to Chipoti corner to eat. The Chipoti (Indian Flatbread) was served with vegetable and potato curries. 4 of us ate with water to drink for 1500 kyats ($1.35). Amazing food. Too bad that night Addi and I got some bad stomachs (probably was something we ate from one of the locals on the train). At each section of the train locals jump on the moving train and sell what they have made and then jump off when they are ready. Quite something to see. Yesterday we toured the ancient capitals of Myanmar. We started the day in Anapura by walking the worlds longest Teak bridge (1.4kms). It was beautiful. Then stopped at the largest monestary in Mandalay. Home to 1400 monks. We saw them have their morning meal. So 1400 monks line up for rice and food. Amazing to see. Then we drove to Saiging where we went up Saiging hill for a great view of the Irawati river and Mandalay. We visited an amazing temple where all the buddhas are carved right out of the side of the mountain. They say we are in a cave but it did not look like a cave to me. Behind the Buddhas were beautiful glass mosaics. Then we went to another temple with great views of the river. Then to a nunery to see how the female version of the monks live. Very amazing and peaceful people. After a lunch of rice and veggies (still trying to settle our stomachs) we took a boat ride down the Irawati river to Mingun. This is where one of the earlier kings tried to build the worlds largest stupa. After the base was built there was a huge earthquake in Myanmar and the people thought this was a sign that the stupa should not be built. It isnow the worlds largest pile of bricks with huge cracks from the earthquake. In Mingun we also saw the world's second largest bell. It was huge. I had more fun playing with the kids behind the bell. They loved my tattoos and came to hang out. They were so sweet. There were about 6 of them from 1-7 years old. The oldest spoke a bit of English. I stayed until my group said we had to go. Then one last temple in Mingun. It is on the cover of the Lonely Planet Myanmar. It is an all white temple. Very different style then most. Amazing. The kids in Mingun spoke good English but really followed trying to sell stuff. I guess there have not been any tourists lately so they are pretty desparate. Too bad they are all so beautiful and helpful. Last night we went for a fancy dinner that cost 7500 kyats ($7). It was an upscale restaurant to be good to our bellies. They even had diet coke (which you do not find here). No McDonalds (but they have MacBurger), or other chains either. I am going to hit send and finish this in a minute since I keep getting a virus warning.... Today we got up and we had a free day. So Addi and I got up around 6am (feeling much better) and went and toured the morning produce market. What insanity! There were huge piles of fruit, vegetables, chili powder, curry powder and other items as far as the eye could see. It was crazy. The locals still love us so we wandered around soaking in the surroundings. We stopped at a small noodle stand and ordered 2 coffee mix (an instant coffee with mild and sugar in it that taste like a cappacino, best coffee for this country). Too bad this stand served it with milk instead of water a bit too sweet and thick for me. We wandered some more and stopped at an Indian breakfast stand where we had 2 more coffee mixes (with water this time) and Addi had a flatbread and Dahl. Then headed for breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast we hired a taxi to take us to some temples and hanicraft shops. We had the taxi for 3hours for $3 each. It was great. We started at an amazing teak temple. One of the only original pieces of the Mandalay palace. The king moved the monestary outside the palace walls before the palace was bombed in WWII. Very cool! It was beautiful and a very moving and scerene experience. No one was at the temple except for us and a couple monks (who again loved my tattoos and talked with us a bit). We sat in the temple and had a fabuloud moment of peace. The next stop was another temple where the buddha has had so much gold leaf put on it that it looks all globular and fat and crazy. They say it has 15cm thick of gold leaf everywhere but the face. Crazy looking. We could not get a good look since there were many locals praying there and we did not want to be rude. We did tour the shopping stands there and found some beautiful embroydered Longi (the traditional Myanmar skirts, like a sarong without the opening). We also saw how people made Tenaka there. Tenaka is the white face paint they wear that come from a certain wood ground up. It opens the pours and protects from the sun. We then stopped at wood carving shops, gold leaf buddha making shops and shops where they make gold leaf. It was amazing to see how much work goes into these items for the price. It really give you respect. Then back to the hotel. We are going to eat after this and meet our group at 4pm in the lobby to go and climb Mandalay hill for sunset. I am debating if I will do the climb. 900 stairs does not bother me but in my bare feet? All of the temples here are starting to pay a toll on my flat feet. In Thailand and other countries you only remove your shoes to go into the main temple hall where the buddha is but can wear them for the other parts of the temple. In Myanmar there are no shoes allowed in any part of the temple complex. So I have been walking up all kinds of stairs, on rocks, dirt, bad ground and for long period of time. I really want to climb Mandalay hill so I might climb up and take the elevator down (I feel too much like a whimp taking the elevator all the way). However, we still have a ton more temples in Bagan (the main reason I took this trip) so my tour leader says to save my feet we will see. After that we go and see the Moustache Brothers (a local comedy troupe). I guess they have been in trouble in the past for political humour so now they only "reherse" out of their home. Should be interesting. Tomorrow we catch the boat to Bagan. We cruise the Irawati all day and then we are in the land of a thousand temples. I can't wait! This country just gets better all the time. Oh yeah, I got an e-mail today saying I won the GAP photo contest I entered and won a trip to Greece that has to be used in 2008 and a bunch of camera gear. I hope it is not a hoax. Too bad I have no more vacation. I guess I will have to think about a leave of absence or see if I can give it to someone. Take care and lots of love, Sonya:)