Mandalay and Ava

Aung dropped us off in downtown Mandalay. We had a free evening to explore a bit of the city. We set out with the intent to do a good walk only to find negotiating the streets challenging between very limited sidewalks and a mix of fast moving motorcycles, cars, and bicycles. We ended up eating dinner at the hotel. We had an excellent meal as the only dinners at the rooftop restaurant.

 

Phoe greeted us at nine in the morning. Kat was delighted to find a female guide. They both agreed to the world would be a better place led by woman. Our first stop of the day was at a monastery where we watched preparations for the noon meal. Noon meal is the final meal for that day for the monks. The Monastery feeds over 1000 monks. It was odd to stand with a bunch of foreigners watching the monks lineup for their noon meal. Even stranger was the fact that the monk in charge of organizing crowd was using a book with Trumps picture on the cover to control the crowd. 

From the monastery we went over to walk a 1600 foot teak bridge. It was interesting to watch the fisherman fish. They took a bunch of branches and placed it in the center of the area that they were fishing. Around the branches they strung nets and after bit of time closed the nets and removed the branches. 

Ava was our next destination. This was outside of Mandalay in an area between two rivers. We took the ferry across a short distance to what was once a palace grounds. Here we hopped on a horse drawn cart to see the Bagaya monastery and the old Royal Palace.

Then we headed to town to a craft center and tapestry and weaving shops. One of the shops specialized in wedding dresses. Craft work was amazing throughout Myanmar.  

To finish off the day we headed to Mandalay Hill.  The 760 ft hill provides a commanding view over the city and is topped by an ornate stupa which attracts tourists and local alike to watch sunset.