November 15, 2014

Road to Mandalay – in reverse

Today we head towards Bagan on the Ayarwaddy (Irrawaddy) River on the famous Road to Mandalay - made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Frank Sinatra and the Orient Express (now Belmond) cruise ship and is one of world's most iconic journeys. However we are doing the trip in reverse.

This morning started with a half hour complimentary foot massage - my birthday present from the hotel - followed by an hour by the pool reading our books. We were then collected and taken to the river where we boarded the Sanctuary Amanda cruise boat that will take us from Mandalay to Bagan and will be our home for the next four nights. The boat is brand new and we and our 29 fellow passengers are the first paying passenger on its maiden voyage.

We set sail about 1pm and headed down the Ayarwaddy River to Sagaing, which after Bagan is the second largest religious area in the country with 554 monasteries. The view from the restaurant’s windows as we were having lunch was quite breathtaking as the green hillside was covered in stupas of all different shapes and sizes.

We got off the boat and were split into three small groups, each with our own guide, and headed up to the Soon U Ponya Shin temple on top of Sagaing Hill with its amazing views down to the river and across the flat plains below. There were stupas and monasteries everywhere and we past several schools for monks and nuns on the way.

Afterwards we visited a silversmith’s workshop who specialised in large ornate bowls that are indented by hand and look a bit like large jelly moulds - the detail and skill was quite amazing. From there we visited a silk weaving factory and as in Inle lake saw women working ancient looms making beautiful silk fabric using hundreds of tiny wooden shuttles.

We then headed to U-Beins bridge where we boarded small rowing boats and headed out into the shallow lake to watch the sun set - narrowly avoiding the fishermen who were waist deep in water and people swimming. The bridge is really a very long narrow walkway made of rickety looking planks of wood that crosses the lake and runs for 1300 yards. It is about 15ft high and the many locals and tourists walking across it were silhouetted against the sky creating a very dramatic scene. It is not surprising that this is one of Myanmar’s most photographed sites.

Back on shore we were greeted by members of the cruise boat with purple plastic picnic glasses of cold Taittinger champagne - in matching purple bottles. A very nice touch.

We then got back on our bus and 30 minutes later surprisingly ended back in Mandalay where the boat was berthed beside the river in the exact same spot that we got on. We were to berth here overnight and had about 30 mins to shower before more champagne was being served in the bar before dinner.

And from David : This was the first place we noticed the locals trying to sell tourist products...as with many places everyone is trying to sell the same stuff. What was noticeable was they were asking why tourists didn't want to buy it.