Tonight we are in Mandalay.
And have found a nice place to stay. We had Indian food for dinner and are watching American movies on TV. They fuzz out any cleavage that we normally see.
January 20
We have moved on again .We left Mandalay at 7 am in the sunrise hour and zipped along for the first two hours. We saw a couple of karsts looming in the distance and knew a climb was coming.
We climbed steadily for the next 3 hours as the sun rose higher it got very hot while the large trucks passed us as we constantly continued to climb. There were many switch backs and we were glad that the road was a divided highway. 18 wheeled Chinese trucks labored up the road filled to the brim with watermelons. We were at the top and stopped for a drink when a man in a pick up stopped to talk to us to practice his English, and then offered us a ride for the last 10 miles to town so we accepted it and had a good conversation with him. He was a taxi driver and had gone to English school 20 years ago and was trying to remember his English. While we had coffee he spoke about healthy living and meditation and how these things are being lost on the teenagers today. Sound familiar?
He also was concerned with the kids talking on the phone while driving a motor bike. Chinese motor bikes are 400 to 600 dollars.
We are in Pyin Oo Lin which is growing into a mountain resort town. It has one of the country’s best golf courses and a botanical garden with butterfly and insect collection also an orchid display of rare flowers.
Here are a few more details we have learned along the way.
Getting a haircut and beard thinned cost 60 cents.
There are many bakeries and all the dough is a soft sweet dough, the birthday cakes are very decorated and have Happy Birthday in English on them
Most posters and signs have a few words in English, like there is no translation into the traditional language.
Spirolina Beer for longer life is brewed here
The dogs are very mellow and do not chase us or anything or they become stew. soup or stir-fry
Cages of birds are there to be sold so you can release them to freedom, the baby owls are the saddest
The male population is well educated and are sitting around reading the news paper at coffee and tea shops. The women are working carrying the cement and rocks on their head.
Tea shops serve a chai style tea with hot sweetened condensed milk and spices. You get a 4oz cup of tea and a plate of long donuts or a sweet rice and all the green tea you want to drink for about 500 k or 60 cents.
Most things are carried on the head which is harder to do when the ground is uneven and you are wearing high heels. There was a lady with a 3 foot table on the table was 3 stools and a small stove two tea pots and dessert, all on her head.
Moving kitchen with one side of the bar across your shoulders having a fire and pot of hot grease… the other side has a supply to cook and dishes. It brings new meaning to fast fried food delivery.
Potty training here is easy. You just put a tee shirt on the kid and nothing else.
Elephant, Cat, Rabbit and Dog Hats are every where, with fuzzy ears and scarf style ties, the sown on eyes goggle at you and the black nose bounces up and down as they wave. The hats are on every age from two to eighty.
Inland water ways have houses made of weaved bamboo about 12 by 12 on a platform over the water. Usually there is some small store out front selling fruit or liters of gas in recycled water bottles. The kids just about able to walk are wandering around between the busy road and the water way playing by themselves on the push bicycle that is covered in dust and seem totally happy.
Cell phone shops are everywhere, the government has recently made contracts with a Chinese company which has made the phones affordable to everyone. Calls are about 6 cents a minute but texts are unlimited. The calls to China are on the network and not extra.
Some locals feel that the Chinese businessmen are given special treatments and that those business men treat the Myanmar people like slaves because they are so poor. They also seem to believe that this will improve as we bring more money into the country and they do not have to depend on China so much.
TV has a station of the worst American movies ever made. They are all subtitled in Burmese. Most movies are very old.
We have left Saging and rode into Mandalay. The city made famous in Kipling’s poem. He never went into the city; only saw it from the British officers club on the hill where you see the river and the many Pagodas and temples on the top of the surrounding hills.
Today Mandalay is a busy city doing most of the business of trade for the northern region with China. We found a business hotel that like most places had started to fix up parts but the work was not progressing.
Our ride in was on the busy streets that brought us first to the stone carvers area. Thousands of Budha’s are still being carved from 2 feet to 10 feet tall and in various stages of the project sitting on the grounds near the shops .All have the same seated position and same hands
The next section was the mechanic area and shop after shop of motor bikes in various states of being taken apart with a couple of guys looking at them squatting while thy work.
The gold pounders came next with large and small jewelry stores and the workshops. I did not go in the large stores (too dangerous to my wallet) In the past people did not trust banks and put the money that saved into gold jewelry. We also went later to see how they make the gold leaf on sheets of bamboo paper that only men can rub onto the Budha statues
On one of our day ride we went to an all teak Monastery. The carvings were amazing on the out side trim and it was still lit by candles near the Budas. There were old hand painted books and great wood cases just stuck in the corner.
Monks are walking around everywhere and I have not seen any of them doing any work. So many of these wonderful temples and their grounds are a mess and could use some cleaning up. There are always big glass boxes with a slit in it for money, and they all are part filled.
Dogs are laying around near the temple grounds and laying around everywhere. We have not been chased by any of them. They do not come up an expect to be petted, many do not look to good.
The side walks are not very safe for walking. They are the tops of the sewer line. The sewer is a u shaped trough, one on each side of the road with 2 x3 foot pieces of concrete layed side by side over the water and waste below. So if you have a problem you lift the slab and rake out the muck and plastic bags and leave it on the side of the street. Often they are not replaced correctly or have broken . There are large areas that they have put wood slats over the hole, and some where there is nothing, so walking is often done in the street.
From here we moved north again to Hsipaw
