Burma: Mandalay Part 2.

Day 3 and 4!

My last few days in Mandalay.

Waterfall off to the left there. You only see a tiny bit.

It is vacation, so I slept in.  I decided to have an adventure once I woke up, so I booked a car taxi at the front desk and told them I wanted to go to the Ancient Cities.  Now, keep in mind that I know very little about these places, and that I haven’t read anything in a guide book.  The taxi shows up, and a lovely man called Ko Aung Ko is my driver.  We run an errand at the ticket agency to get some plane tickets while I look at the pictures of these ancient cities and places we can attend by car.  

The ticket agency had its own entertainment.  All the agents are sitting on the same side of the table, and the place is the busiest I’ve seen.  At one point as I purchased my tickets, an elderly man came in wearing his warm jacket and longyi, wandering up to one of the agents and asking for something.  Of course, my Burmese is understandably limited, but he was perhaps confused, certainly hard of hearing, and his words made all the women lined up laugh and giggle.

Waterfall 2 with Ko Aung Ko.

I get back in the car and make a quick decision to not go to the Ancient cities, and to go to a place called Pyin Oo Lwin instead.  This town is a few hours out of Mandalay and was once a refuge for the British colonists in the old days, because the mountains made the town about 15 degrees cooler.  I had a feeling that I would enjoy the trip with Ko Aung Ko (the first Ko means “brother” like in Cambodia).

And so, we begin our journey.

We set off, and I request some music for the journey.  Aung Ko says he only has Burmese music (which of course what I wanted), and ends up putting a cassette tape into his car stereo and regaling me with the lovely tunes of the country.  His dashboard was covered with a thick fur, with a little bottle of perfume right in the middle. The first few songs were typical traditional sounding tunes, love songs with an old 80s vibe to them.  Then, a tune I recognized came into my ears.  “I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you….” was playing with some delightful Burmese lyrics.  I’m humming along while Aung Ko translates the lyrics for me.  They are similar to the original.  I hear “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” which is apparently also a love song here.  I don’t recall the original version themed as mainly a love song.  

But, my favorite, hands down… “Eye of the Tiger.”  By now, Aung Ko has realized how excited I am about Burmese music, and is translating the lyrics to all the songs for me.  They are mostly about love, but this one was special.  It was about the eye of the tiger being a symbol of love for the woman.  He translated something for me about “the tigre,” so there is similarities to the original.  Although, I don’t recall this being a song about love in the original.  

He also translated for me an original song, the lyrics of which I found very lovely.  It was a song about the seasons in Burma, of which there are three: rainy, cool, and hot.  The singer noted that he would be the umbrella in the rainy season, the blanket in the cool season, and the fan in the hot season for his love.  

Ko Aung Ko was very forthcoming with me about his life and his country while we were in the car.  He’s 30, married for two years, with a young son.  Driving is quite good work, it seems, though most of the money doesn’t go to him.  In Cambodia, owning a car means taking all the profits on your own, and making money day to day.  Aung Ko is salaried, making $300 a month to drive, while the rest of the money goes to his company and the owner of the car.  This is very little money, in my opinion, given that the cost of my journey to this small town was $65, a single day’s work.  He seems content with his salary, though, probably because his wife also works and may make about as much in her hotel.  

Alien on merry-go-deathtrap.

While we were on the road, we drove past a town with not one, not two, but three different military universities, a center of the military in Myanmar.  We even drove behind a few trucks filled to the brim with soldiers and their giant guns.  I saw at least 6 trucks full of soldiers, which Aung Ko believed were headed to the north.  There is some unrest in the north, with people fighting, perhaps against the government.  Or perhaps the government is fighting them first, it’s difficult to say.  

But back to the travels.  Aung Ko and I went to two waterfalls.  Well, a waterfall view from afar, and a small “resort” waterfall.  The waterfall view was incredible.  I wish I had time to hike down the mountain to see the view from the bottom, but my sleep-in made it impossible to fit everything in.  The second fall was much less impressive, though the atmosphere was very entertaining.  My favorite aspect of this place was the merry-go-round.  

Water powered system.

This merry-go-round was powered with the flow of the waterfall, so each of the small chairs was attached to a shovel that was stuck into the circular current.  The chairs were decorated with the most thrilling photos: an odd pink alien, a curious . The current never stopped, which means the chairs never stopped.  I’m quite sure that any attempt to put a child into the chairs would be fraught with danger, and I wasn’t around long enough to see my theory disproved.  I did see a young mother with a toddler who was very interested in riding in the chairs.  She gently steered him away from the idea.

And then, botanical gardens.

Giant flower cake?

Apparently, these botanical gardens were started in 1924 by some Brits, and their work rivals the national gardens in Singapore.  This is no small feat considering the state of the rest of this country.  It is the 10th anniversary of the Flower Festival as well, so there were large displays of (fake) flowers arranged in pleasing shapes.  There was a Myanmar flag, a horse cart, Big Ben?, and what appeared to be a giant cake.  And that was only the beginning.  

The botanical gardens are massive, acres and acres of green grass and local foliage.  There were pockets of bamboo, a swamp walk, a tree canopy, and a walk in aviary.  I saw a tree with its leaves falling down, something incredibly unusual for the tropics.  When Ko and I walked into the tree walk, there were deer lounging at the bottom.  Aung Ko seemed very surprised at these unusual animals, something he had never before seen.  He also hadn’t ever walked into the gardens with any of his customers, but since I was on my own, he was delighted to take photos of me as we walked around.  The deer were odd to him, though, and he was shocked to learn that my home has deer everywhere, and that I had hit them with my car on more than one occasion.  

Butterfly catcher at the museum.

There were some curious Asian things also.  The orchid garden has a small butterfly museum, well stocked with specimens from all of Asia.  They were arranged in very curious ways, though, in the shapes of hearts, upside down, and diagonals.  There was a statue of a man with a butterfly net with a lovely flowered background, and the fact that it looked like a store mannequin just made it that much better.  Very few tourists were there, just Burmese people relaxing and enjoying the cool mountain air.  Many families were wearing their traditional clothes and taking photos of themselves with the flowers and the garden, groups of young people were hanging out and playing games or music, and I even saw a few monks walking around.

Heart shaped butterflies!

It was a very pleasant afternoon.  Plus, Ko Aung Ko told me that my style and my sunglasses made me look like Michael Jackson.

That evening, I went back to Cafe Inle to get some quick food, and ended up getting a free calendar.  I’m still not sure why, but I treasure it.  Plus, the waitress at the restaurant was one of the most genuinely kind humans I’ve ever encountered.

The next morning, I wanted to head to the market to pick up some fabric, so I went to reception to ask for a moto driver to take me.  I wait a few moments for said driver to show up, and who comes to greet me but Joe again!  (Side note, I’ve since found out that he actually goes by John).  Now, this was surprising to me, but I went with it in order to keep the peace, and because it is easy to go around the city with someone who knows their way around.  I’m not sure how Joe felt, but given some of the things he said, I believe he believes that I’m incapable of getting around on my own.

Myanmar flag in fake flowers.

So, off to the market we go.  Zegyu is a large fabric market fairly far from my hotel, and it was massive.  I dragged him around to various stalls, looking for the right fit for my special skirt, and finally found one that I appreciated.  I then went to get it sewn with the seller.  And then I bought another one while I was waiting for the first one to be sewn. John doesn’t seem to know much about women’s clothing (I know, I was shocked, too).  I don’t know if he knew what he was signing up for when he agreed to reception’s request to take me around the town.  Either way, we acquired fabrics, then he took me (not really by my own choice) to the Royal Palace.  

Carriage make from fake flowers.

There’s not much to say about the Royal Palace.  It’s massive, sprawling, and full of the same style of architecture.  There was a large guard tower that gave a neat overview of the whole place, but it looks a bit ragged.  While the history of the royalty is there, it hasn’t been taken care of or curated in any logical way.  Seeing the fabrics and photos of the former Queen and King and their family, while interesting, just showed how derelict the place has become.

John and I on the tower at the Royal Palace. 

John and I stopped for lunch at Mandalay Donut, a chain restaurant serving (you guessed it) baked goods and a variety of foods.  My fried noodles were spicy and delicious, and I ordered some “fried potatoes” since John didn’t want to order anything.  I found out why, though, when I learned that he only makes $100 a month.  Now, John has tried to spend some cash on me, taking care of parking fees and food and tickets and petrol, and I’ve learned that his goal is to be a tour guide.  This helps explain some of the time he’s spent going around the town with me.  He’s improving his English, trying to get himself more lucrative work, and learning the ways of the tourists.  I’m trying to think of ways to thank him for his time.  I believe a bit of a tip and a nice card, perhaps a reference letter, may be in order.

In the evening, I made my way to the airport, which was nearly empty (and must be most of the time), and took the 25 minute trip to Bagan.  Several tourists were on the same plane, and their energy was odd and nervous and stressed.

And now, the next chapter, Bagan.