Mandalay

 Mandalay is a place that is referenced a lot in popular culture; literature, music and there's even a casino in Las Vegas with the name. Before I came to Burma I had in my head this notion that Mandalay would be a beautiful old city with lots of interesting buildings and remnants from a bygone era. I thought Yangon would be huge and more of a busy, bustling overcrowded port city. I really liked Yangon and whilst traveling I had heard more and more negative things about Mandalay such as; it was dirty, crowded, smelly and there wasn't much to see as well as guest houses being way overpriced. So I wasn't expecting much when I finally made it here, and in fact most of the things I had been warned about were true. It is crowded, dirty etc,. but the thing I disliked the most was that it was not pedestrian friendly like Yangon. In Mandalay the roads are busy and very difficult to cross, not to mention that they are so dusty - it's just not fun walking about. Most people either rent bikes or get a motorbike taxi, in Yangon there are no motorbikes, they were banned a few years back.

Despite this I had a great time in Mandalay and saw a lot when I was there. It was great to see the moustache brothers (BBC News article), I visited quite a few temples and other places after hiring a bike for the day. I also enjoyed some of my best meals here, there was an amazing street curry near the E.T. hotel where they made delicious fresh roti's. Also stopped at one shack where we read they sold donuts,. great tip and a great way to break up an intense day. The locals I met in Mandalay were really nice, I chatted to one monk for ages - it was a really cool experience.

Really nice monk who had pretty good English, he was living in the monastery just behind our hotel.

me!

This is just one of the many temples you find there.

Another monastery,. a monk in training maybe.

Old building.

Doing the washing.

B

Prayer beads.

Incense sticks.

Cats are the same all over the world, they take the best spot and sit there all day.