November 10 Mandalay

Temple Arches

Some of the 729 little Temples

Adding Gold Leaf to Buddha

Mandalay has an area of temples on a hill called Mandalay Hill. Caroline had arranged a driver to take us around all day and drop us at the airport for our 4 PM flight. Our driver drove us up to the top of the hill and we started with temple no. 1. The architecture was different, in that shiny glass was prevalent on the walls and the temple used arches instead of posts. It was reminiscent of a mosque rather than a temple. The temples we saw today were built 1500 years ago, but have been redone several times due to fire and wars. Even though today is Tuesday and not a holiday, the temples were packed with local families going about their business. The temples were also packed with vendors selling flowers and souvenirs. I was particularly pleased, in temple no 1, to see the flower sellers and souvenir sellers going after the locals and ignoring the tourists. I wanted to see how the locals handle the hawkers. The locals seemed to completely ignore the vendors and the vendors stop yelling as soon as they passed. When the vendors approach a tourist they always start with a question “Where are you from?”. We always respond politely and then the vendors lock in and walk beside you until either you buy or ignore them long enough. We need to learn not to be so polite. The second temple we visited was called the largest book ever. 729 Marble slabs containing ancient script are housed in 729 little Stupas surrounding the temple. Here there were fewer locals and more tourists. The hawkers included several young girls who use the line “you buy, I go to school”. Unfortunately, the more they sell the less likely they are to go to school. The third temple we visited was packed with locals. It contains the most revered image of Buddha in Myanmar. The worshipers were applying Gold leaf to the statue of Buddha but only at the base. Women were not allowed past a certain point so they sat near by and watched the ceremony on closed circuit television. As a male I was allowed to walk right up to the Buddha and take pictures. After a quick lunch we were off to the airport and then flew back to Singapore.

We thank Caroline and Ali for having organized and accompanied us on our amazing trip to Myanmar!