Last Day in Mandalay

Thursday, Sept. 8, Mandalay

I've always thought of Mandalay as an exotic place womewhat like Kathmandu. It's really not, though. The streets are wide, and there is a lot of new construction and very little that is old. In fact, the city has new buildings everywhere--the result, I understand, of trade (both legitimate and illegal) with China. This, for instance, is the unofficial headquarters for lots of heroin/opium trade.

I left at 10:30 and spent over three hours walking. I went through the market for flowers, fruits, spices, etc. I returned to the neighborhood where I had been the first day determined to see the Shwe in Bin Monastery which is why I had gone there before being pulled into the language class. Again, I had trouble finding it. I stopped at the Water Transportation Department, and an official left his desk and took me there on my motorcycle!

The monastery was another old carved wooden structure. It is a delightful structure with trim consisting of small carved figurines and multiple rooflines. The floors are wide, smooth teak planks. The structure is like a fairytale castle, is playful, unique and exciting to see. I was the only tourist there.

I walked along a waterway from there to the Irrawaddy (various spellings) River. I stopped once along the way to buy a bottle of water which was half frozen and ho so cold and refreshing! I drank all that wasn't frozen, and an hour later had another half bottle from the melted ice.

The riverfront was interest. Lots of boats were clustered together--old, large, creaky boats with lots of character. One reminded me of a smaller version of one of the boats that plies the Amazon with multiple decks and open sides. Women were pounding their laundry on large planks in one area. People were clustered at tented snack bars all along the bank. I left sooner than I would have liked because of the beggar children there. I wanted to relax and watch the river traffic, but it wasn't possible with the children bothering me. The sad thing is that they really were dirty and poorly clothed and in need of assistance. If I had tried to help one, I would have had a huge cluster around me immediately. Instead, I just walked back into town to my hotel for a mid-afternoon rest.
_____
I've just returned from dinner. It is unbelievably hot and humid tonight, and mosquitoes are out in force. Typically, the evenings have been comfortable, but my shirt was wet with sweat after walking about 10-12 blocks.

The electricity goes off regularly here. The lights flashed off briefly while I was at the restaurant, but they completely went off as I was walking back to the hotel. That meant I had to cross two major intersections with no lighting. It was scary.

I ate at the Too Too Restaurant, a simple place with Bamar food in pots. I ordered the mutton curry as my main dish and got three (it's usually three pieces when ordering something cubed or balled) pieces of mutton with sauce and all the extras that come with it--a bowl of soup (this time something like split pea with rice noodes), a hot pickle paste, a dried shrimp and pepper paste, seasoned broccoli, cooked bamboo, rice, and two plates of raw vegetables and herbs (cagbbage, carrots, green beans, etc.). I also got a plate of small green bananas like the ones I loved in the Philippines 40 years ago--simply delicious in texture and flavor!

I've taken photos of some of my meals. It will be impossible to tell exactly what each item is. Mainly, I jsut want to be able to show people how much is served with an order. Usually, htere is the main dish, a plate of rice, a bowl of soup and 3-8 small side dishes.

On the way back, I stopped to talk twice. Some young men were studying. Thyey are in their last year of a physics program at the university. And half a block from my hotel a trishaw driver wanted to give me a ride. We had a couple of laughs--first, when I told him the name of my hotel and he realized I was almost there; and second, when he wanted to pick me up tomorrow to drive me to the bus stop to go to Maymyo and I told him I knew it was just one block away from my hotel and that he was trying to take advantage of me!

Water 150 kyat
Dinner 1200
Total = $1.30