My Myanmar Trip - Day 3

Mandalay

We took the morning flight again from Nyaung U airport in Bagan to
Mandalay. It is the second largest city in Myanmar and the last royal
capital lying towards the north of Yangon.

With a different guide at Mandalay, we were promptly taken
immediately towards the city centre as it took about 1 hour from the
airport to the city.  It may be quite a distance for us but on the way
we were rewarded by pleasant rural scenery with fruits orchard and
farms. The most pleasant part was that we came upon a big sunflower
farm and we were practically delirious seeing sunflowers as big as our
face. Our guide was quite amused at us and was wondering what's  in

the sunflowers that make us so excited.

Mahagandayon Monastery

Situated in Amarapura, this monastery houses about a thousand monks
who live and study together. Founded by The Venerable Janakabivamsa
who wrote and published many Buddhist scriptures for both monks and
lay people. The monastery here relies on donations to feed the monks
on a daily basis. Feeding them is  mind boggling to us as we went
through their kitchen and all cooking utensils are giant-sized. There was
a corporate sponsor the day we visited and it really was amazing seeing
hundreds of monks in maroon robes lining up to take their only meal of
the day. In the dining room there was total silence as they eat and what
they could not finish some of them gave them to the poor waiting in the

compound of the monastery.

U Bein Wooden Bridge

Built in 1782 of teak wood, this bridge spanning across the
Taungthaman Lake, is about 1.2km long. Still intact after
so many years, this bridge is still important to the local
people who communicates from a village at the end of the
bridge to the other side. We walked across the bridge to
the village to visit a pagoda there and came back by boat
rowed by a man to give our legs a rest. Vendors along
the bridge sell souvenirs and sometimes they could be
quite persistent.

Taking off our shoes was what we had to do everyday as

our itinerary covered temples and pagodas.

The Mahamuni Temple

With a height of 3.82m, The Mahamuni image has lost its contours

with the frequent application of gold leaves by male devotees only.

So the task of applying gold leaves to the image was done by our

2 male members. Crowned and bejewelled with diamonds, rubies

and sapphires, the image is under constant guard.

Golden Palace Monastery

Built of teak wood, the Golden Palace Monastery is a fine 

example of Burmese architecture with Buddhist myths

adorning the walls and roof of the palace. The woodcarvers

expertise are shown all over the palace with fine carvings

and intricate patterns.

                         .

The interior of the monastery

The Kuthodaw Pagoda

Our guide was enticing us all day about seeing the world's largest
book and we were both curious and eager to see it.  Is it really
that big and how would you turn the pages?
But it turned out to be slabs of Buddhist scriptures inscribed on
marble slabs. There were 729 slabs housed in 729 shrines located
on one side of the compound of the pagoda.

The main entrance to the Kuthodaw Pagoda.  

         

The shrines each containing a slab of Buddhist scripture.

After a day of nearly over dosing on temples and pagodas, we
climbed up to the last temple of the day to have a panoramic
view of the city and to catch the sunset.
Retiring to our hotel, the Mya Mandalar , we found that it was
way below  the standard of Ayer River View Hotel the day
before.  But good or bad we were just too tired to bother as
we have a long day ahead the next day and needed to have a
good sleep to continue our trip.

.

Myanmar Trip - Day 2

BAGAN

The next morning we took an early flight to Bagan. In Myanmar, travels

between cities are usually by plane and we will find out later why this

is the preferred mode of travel. At the Yangon domestic airport things

were quite chaotic and before we even got out of our coach, porters

were loading our baggage out. So much for the idea of carrying things

ourselves and saving on tips. Inside the airport, the same porters would

carry your baggage direct to the loading bay after checking in so there's

no way that you could carry your own luggage in. Throughout our entire

trip it was tips, tips and more tips. To add to your tipping woes, the

local currency, kyat, are all in 1,000 denominations (about RM3) and

small change was virtually none existent except for the local people.

Also you would need to have a big bag to carry the kyat and each time

you pay in bundles for purchases, counting over and over again to make

sure you gave the correct amount.

To have a first-hand look of our how the local people live and work

we were taken to the Nyaung U local market in Bagan. A market is the

best place to see the local people and it was really an eye-opener

for us. We were not able to identify with most of the vegetables here

and most of them seems to be jungle produce rather than commercially

produced onces like those we have from Cameron Highlands. Besides

tomatoes and chillies

The long beans are really long.

Shwezigon Pagoda

Located in Nyaung U city , 4miles to the north-east of Bagan, the

Shwezigon Pagoda  was built by King Anawrahta to house the

tooth relic of Buddha. Being a solid stupa and plated with gold,

this structure looks somewhat similar to the Shwedagon Pagoda

in Yangon. The top most structure of the pagoda also has a hti

or umbrella, a symbol of sovereignty. The uppermost terrace

has 4 stupas at the 4 corners of the pagoda.

The Sulamini Temple

This temple has broad terraces resembling the pyramid
with Buddha images facing the 4 directions from the
ground floor. It has fine brickworks and the interior
paintings are believed to be the oldest but only dim
traces could be seen now.
One interesting souvenir worth buying from here is the
sand-art painting. With very fine sand painted on
cloth they are really works of art and we had a field
day bargaining with the vendors.

Sand art painting

Dhamma ya zi ka Pagoda

This was the pagoda where we climbed up to the

top to have a panoramic view of the whole

heritage site and the views here was what I

find featured in websites and postcards of
Myanmar. It was really spectacular but marred
in part by the scorching sun at mid-day and
our equally hot feet. As I had said earlier,
shoes are not allowed once you enter the
compound of any temple here. So with the hot
sun heating up the brick pavements, our bare
feet has to bear the hot pavements and at the

end of the day our feet were really sore.

The Ananda Temple

An architectural masterpiece resembling a Greek
Cross, the Ananda temple is the finest and well
preserved of the temples. It has 4 images
representing the Buddhas of the present world.
One interesting features of one of the Buddhas
was that its face changed from stern when you
view it from near and changed to happy when
you view it from far. This temple was also a
honeycomb of wonders as you could see Buddha
statues in niches in the corridors in various
poses.

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Buddha with stern image when viewed from near and
smiling image when viewed from far.

The Bupaya Temple

A bulbous shaped pagoda situated near the banks of the
Ayer waddy River. It was completely rebuilt after being
destroyed in an earth-quake in 1975.

This was the condition of my feet after a whole day of bare-footed
walking on hot pavements in all the temples and pagodas.

But we  were rewarded at the end of the day with a nice and
beautiful room at the Ayeyar River View Hotel,very much
recommended if you were in Bagan.

My Myanmar Trip - Day 1

It was already evening when we touched down at Yangon International
Airport. So after much apprehension before our trip and not knowing
what to expect, we finally landed at Myanmar. Going through immigration

was not much of a hassle as we have everything in order including our

visa done in KL.

Our lady guide was waiting at the gates for us and soon we were whisked

off to our first stop of our tour, the Great Shwedagon Pagoda. Going

through the main street of Yangon as we made our way to the pagoda
gives you a sense of nostalgia. It seems we were transported back in time
40 years as Japanese cars of long ago are still being used here in large
numbers. There are no high-rises , lots of greenery and the air is clear
and unpolluted. Sadly this is only happening in an undeveloped city and
to be developed you will be bringing in jams, pollution and concrete

jungle just like what we have back home in KL.

Seeing the Golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the evening was a right
decision for us as its golden hues just shine in the lights. There are
several entrances and our guide took us to the entrance where our coach
could be parked easily. But one bane of entering all temples or places
of worship in Myanmar is that we have to remove our shoes. Not that

we are not aware  of this even in our temples at home but here shoes

are not allowed once you enter the compound of the temple. Back home
we remove our shoes if we enter the main prayer hall only. But here
we have to walk around bare footed even outside the temple no matter
that the compound is paved or not or its pebbles or sand outside. So
a good advise is to wear slippers or slip-ons so they can be taken off

easily as visits to temples and pagodas will be the order of the day and

there are no exceptions at all.

Taken in the evening the Golden Shwedagon Pagoda was just

majestic against the blue evening sky. Rebuilt to its present

height of 98 meters, the stupa is made of genuine gold plates

covering the brick structures. We were told to walk clock-

wise around the pagoda.

The Great Pagoda at night.

Burmese food to end our day.

Presentation of Gifts

The discussion with son's in-laws-to-be was finalised  and hopefully all the
nitty-gritty details ironed out. But somehow I felt all these to be a bit surreal.
Now I'm actually involved in the wedding preparation when each time I'm
just an on-looker and can just go back home and sleep when things got rough.
I know in the months and days to come things will certainly be chaotic when
the day finally draws near.

The first things to do will be the 'ko lai' ceremony or presentation of gifts and
dowry to the bride's family. This day is usually a week before the wedding.
Gifts will be like 2 bottles of liquor, a pair of dragon and phoenix candles,
and 'branded' seafood. Each item will be in pairs and half of each gifts will be
returned to the groom for good tidings. There's the roasted pig and the front
and back portion will also be returned to the groom signifying good luck.
Not forgetting the wedding cakes or small pastries where they will be
distributed to the bride's relatives to announce the wedding of the bride.

So in the coming weekends hubby and I will have to scout around for all
the mandatory items specified. They said you can find all these in Petaling
Street so Petaling Sreet it will be this weekend.

My Son's Wedding - The Announcement

I've attended numerous weddings and I know that its no small matter arranging a
wedding especially a Chinese wedding with all the mandatory rituals and 'pantang
larang' involved. Therefore I was quite taken aback recently when my son
announced out of the blue that he is getting married and in roughly 2 months time.
Though he is already of marriageable age and its either sooner or later but some-
how I needed to let the idea sink in first. Now its my turn to be involved head
first into all the nitty-gritty details of the wedding and to follow all the wedding
rituals required.

First will be the meeting of in-laws-to -be where all agreement will be make with
regards to dowry, presentation of gifts and the wedding dinner. The wedding
dinner venue has been booked and contrary to remarks by friends that people
need to book restaurant 1 year in advance in order to secure a place has been
thrown aside.

Secondly, will be the 'seong tau' ceremony on the night before the wedding day.
This is actually a simple ceremony performed individually by the bride and
bridegroom in their respective homes in front of an altar to mark the passing
over to adulthood and the start of a new phase of life as a married person.

Phew! this is just the begining and more to come in the coming days.