Hello from Mandalay! Its a rainy afternoon ergo time for me to send another update. Myanmar is definitely full of postcard worthy places, although Mandalay is rather ugly and one needs to dig a little bit to find peaceful monasteries and inspiring street scenes. I lucked out and am staying at a very friendly guesthouse (Dreamland...a very romantic name befitting a city that evokes romance in the collective imagination). Spend some time today at the Shwe in Bein monastery- absolutely lovely and old school- and meandered around the city, taking an hour to climb up Mandalay Hill for some interestig views of the city. Its the full moon today so unfortunately many things are closed, including the Jade Market which I did want to visit. Oh well, I will likely pop by Mandalay again on my way back from Hsipaw so no worries.
The Maha Muni Temple is definitely cool to visit- the brave souls willing to get up at 4am can be rewarded by seeing the monks polishing the face of the giant Buddha in this temple- Big Buddha is supposedly 2,000 years old and periodically gets repainted with gold leaf. Women are not allowed in the inner sanctum but we can still get a pretty good glimpse of the star attraction from a distance as they keep the doors to the buddha open.
The royal palace gates and fortress are also pretty neat to see (last pic).
xx
- Mia
(Français)
Bonjour de Mandalay! C est une ville qui a une reputation tres romantique même si en realité Mandalay est plutôt sale et peu adaptée aux pietons. Je suis allée visiter le monastère Shwe im Bein, le temple Mahamuni (buddha en or enorme) et la colline de Mandalay qui offre une belle vue de la ville et du fleuve Irrawady. Pour une fois il pleut et la temperature est assez tiède pour qu on puisse se balader. Plusieurs marchès et magasins sont fermés pour le jour de la Pleine Lune mais ce n est pas trop grave, je risque de repasser par Mandalay sur mon chemin de retour vers Yangon. Prochain arrêt: Hsipaw, la nature, les villages!
xx
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