The last 48 hours, I just had get used to running on fumes. Especially when the nice day out to Mandalay meant leaving the lovely Trader’s Hotel at 0530 and on a plane at 0645… why break the habits of a lifetime ???
And so we did. And it was good. But I was so knackered I hardly knew where I was. Ki Ki, my sweet and giggly minder, did everything. “Mr Tim, you wait here, I will come back”. And she did, every time. We flew on a new carrier for me, Yangon Air. As there are a whole slew of local flights leaving in the dawn, not only did we have boarding cards but colored stickers on our lapels so that we would not be carried off to the wrong place. Boardings were accomplished by a man with a flight numbered sign board wandering around yelling. Seemed to work. Everyone was boarded through one doorway, in the dimly lit dark and just to make it become more fun, the ‘bags’ went out that door too, so it was a rugger scrum plus many oddly shaped boxes and packages. Wonder of BA would like to try this in LHR ??
Plane was an ATR, which is v much the workhorse of the east. Two cute girls in silk outfits warmly welcomed us and off we went. We were given snack boxes containing two sweet buns for the 75 minute flight to Bagan (where I shall be off to with our punters later on) and I in turn presented the girls with some miniature wings from good old World Airways, which they thought better than rubies, esp as they did not sport wings themselves – they donned them immediately. The two flight deck guys were there too, so I gave them tie pins, which quite overwhelmed them so much that I was invited to sit on the flight desk for the 20 minute hop to Mandalay. Only one small technicality there was the fold down jumpseat had such a short seat belt that the ends would not meet across my thighs let along around my middle, which I thought, in my artless Japanese way, would mean that I couldn’t stay, but the guys just shrugged their shoulders and off we jolly well went, with me hanging on for dear life !!! I made sure I was braced for the landing as I am sure questions would have been asked had we arrived with a bump and I had been ejected through the flight deck window. Ah me, so nice to be back in this sort of place….
Mandalay Airport is all brand new .. just quite WHY they decided that they needed a vast establishment complete with double jetways, when all the local planes that arrive are small, is slightly beyond my ken .. they are def. thinking big, though I should think that when something does turn up which could use the said jetway, they will have lost the key at least. Acres of polished marble inside too. I suspect the Chinese are involved as this looks just like a new Chinese airport. Anyway, we flash the passport at immigration (yes Vera, I know we are still in Myanmar, but they are so paranoid that everyone goes through immigration all the time everywhere – fortunately no forms to be completed though) and there is a man and a car and driver and I discover that we are a whole HOUR away from Mandalay, rather than practically at the end of the main street where the old airport used to be – such is progress. And it is only 0830 and I feel shattered and would like nothing better than a cool dark room and a BED.
But instead we are off to do all Mandalay in one day and for good measure a couple of hotel inspections too, so nice cool rooms and beds are dangled in front of me on a so near yet so far basis. We examined all that Mandalay had to offer and were nicely lunched in an open air restau, sitting under vines which reminded me much of Uzbekistan and had some delish food with vast fresh-river prawns and other goodies. Myanmar cuisine is not something to get too excited about, with curries being much in evidence, but the trouble is that they seem to only waft a bit of the spices over the top, so could be fed to children and infants with no problem. Unlike Bangkok last night, where I had a wonderful chicken green curry that nearly removed my teeth fillings, as my mouth was smouldering…. Anyway we ran around in the heat and looked and were suitably impressed, but sadly there is not a lot of ‘there’, there. Mandalay is one of those places where its name is the best thing and the reality is a bit of a let down. Then back out to the airport and back on the same plane and route and having left in the cool of the dawn at 0530, I was home at 2130, feeling like I had been somewhat abused and there ortta be Geneva conventions about trying to impress people too much.
NOW days and days later as not a chance to put finger to keyboard while in Myanmar once the group showed up. We have the most wonderful agents there whom I wish could be everywhere, as their efficiency is staggering and they are all just so sweetly willing and would carry me and anyone else around on their backs if we gave the slightest hint of that being needed. They THINK. It is def. run by a guy with big connections (Ki Ki let slip that his father was a BIG General, which may account for his powers) but he is only in his early 30’s and is the entrepreneurial type, so has fingers everywhere. I had Ki Ki and a car and driver at all times and the nice thing was that they really knew what they were doing so it was almost a vacation for me.
I just love Yangon (or Rangoon as it was) even though it is one of the world’s most dilapidated cities. It has huge tacky charm no less and the old buildings are painted pretty pastels, in blue and yellow mainly. Everything is basically falling apart. ALL human life is there but not to a squalid degree or anything off-putting, but just a very reduced lifestyle compared to the west but the locals don’t look like they are suffering unduly. Though commuting to work on the back of a truck, with inward facing wooden plank seats, which would seat say 10 of each side but actually have 20 of them and then about another 25 crushed in standing and another 10 or so hanging on the back for dear life, now That’s a busload !
Best place to visit (and this is absolutely at the top of my list of “I don’t mind how many times I go there” is the Shwedagon Pagoda. An enormous (and I mean ENORMOUS) Buddhist shrine, it looks like the world’s largest golden handbell. You can see it from anywhere in town. It is set high on a solid platform, so having removed shoes and socks if worn (you can only visit barefoot), you can take an elevator or better, walk up one of the four broad staircases, which have masses of stalls either side to make sure you will both have offerings for above and also much to take home to show everyone. These will also be considered ‘auspicious’. We are greatly in to that, so astrological signs etc are factored in to daily life in a big way. Having arrived on the main floor, which runs all the way around the base of the stupa, there are hundreds of small Buddhist shrines in all directions. This is the WHQ of an eastern condition known as being ‘Buddhared out’. It would be impossible to count how many there are, but will certainly go in to the thousands. Everything from a few inches to the size of a house. The color is overwhelming. Between that and the heat, it is all coming at your. In the hot weather, there are mats to walk on as the marble becomes just burning hot. And you only walk around the whole site clockwise…. that’s auspicious. Families come to spend the day there and park themselves in the shade, bringing vegetarian food and water. And there are seven special shrines for the day of the week you were born on. I found Sunday and joined other Sunday-persons pouring water over a small Buddha. I am thinking that if it will help, then why not?
Over the years, I have spent a lot of time there, just sitting on the base of a Buddha statue and watching the world go by. Although I am not religious in any way, there is definitely a spiritual feeling that comes over me there, which is a wonderful sensation. If you can be there at full moon.. yes, you guessed it, this is the MOST AUSPICIOUS time and it is a lot more crowded, but never enough to become uncomfortable. And at night, the vast stupa is well lit and stretches up in to the black sky and the ‘flag’ on the top glitters with all the semi-precious stones fitted to it. I have to admit, it is borderline Disney, but that is insulting. This is for real.
timothyvalentinestravels 