Mandalay does not make a great first impression. Stepping out from the train station, it didn’t have the charm of Yangon. The buildings are newer and unattractive. There are a lot of wide, busy roads. The traffic is orderly, but motorcycles are allowed here (unlike Yangon) so it is busier. It just didn’t have charm that I saw.
I decided to walk from the train station to my hotel. Maybe 25 blocks, but it felt longer as the walk was just not that scenic and the blocks were long. I did see the moat and walls around the palace, but they were several lanes of traffic away.
As I got nearer to my hotel, I did pass a street that had a lively market and street side food vendors started appearing, but I still wasn’t that taken with it.
My hotel was decent though. The Hotel Aurora. I picked it because it had a good location and a rooftop restaurant. My room was so nice, with a fluffy bed, excellent shower and loads of free toiletries (all of which are now in my bag). I know those things may seem commonplace, but I usually slum it a bit more, so I was happy. I checked in early and took a moto taxi to the palace.
The Mandaly Palace is a big central palace complex dating to the mid 1800s. It is a fine place to visit, but many of the buildings are identical, so I didn’t feel the need to stay long.
I took a tuk tuk to the base of Mandalay Hill, which is a long climb up 700+ stairs, past and through temples, stupas, etc. It is am exhausting but picturesque journey. Annoyingly you have to take shoes and socks off a lot on the climb as you pass through sacred sites (that’s what i get for wearing boots), but it is all quite pleasant aside from my boot unlacing and scrambling over sun-scorched tiles.
The top gives views out over the city.
When finished, I took an outdoor elevator down about four floors to a parking lot where my tuk tuk was waiting.
I had him drop me off back at the palace and I walked from there.
Here is what I realized about Mandalay on the first day: 1) things are really spread out, so walking, while possible, is a long and hot business; 2) moto, tuk tuk, bicycle, and car taxis are everywhere but you have to haggle to get good price; 3) there are an ASTONISHING about of pagodas, temples, and stupas here. They are everywhere. Imagine that every cafe in Seattle or Vancouver was replaced with a gilded, ornate temple. It’s a little overwhelming.
From the palace i walked down a quieter street and happened upon a cafe by a marionette theatre, where I bought a ticket for the evening performance. I also met the puppet master, a thin and old-looking 89 year old man. Any references to the 1980s horror classic were lost in translation.
I had lunch at a sidewalk stand (another glorious bowl of noodle soup for less than $1), walked some more, and spent the evening prior to the puppets on the rooftop of my hotel chatting with a Dutch couple traveling south east Asia for six months.
I took a tuk tuk to the theatre. The show was good. It had a band playing traditional music and they did various marionette scenes of dance and animal antics.
After the show I did not want to walk the ~20 blocks back to the hotel so I took a “taxi”. Most of the other audience members had pre-arranged their transport so the cars and tuk tuks out front were taken. But there was another option: A man with a rickety bicycle to which was attached a side car. He said he would charge 2000 kyat. (That’s a little less than $2 cdn.) Done. I hopped into side car and off we went. Slowly. The man riding the bike was old. He may have been as young as mid-60s, but he looked about 80. But he peddled me all the way to my hotel through traffic. I must admit to feeling a little uncomfortable having not only a human being, but a senior citizen, cycle me home. The longer we rode, the higher grew the tip I felt obliged to pay, until, when he dropped me off, it had reached 5000 kyat. I felt he deserved it and it absolved me of my awkwardness.
And that was day one in Mandalay. I went to bed with no idea of my plans for the next day.