17 Jan 2016
Today, I write the 3rd out of 4 installments of our
Adventure Christmas trip to Thailand/Myanmar. It has been only 3 weeks and it seems so long ago that we've
seen the blue skies, felt warm breezes and breathed the fresh air...and as I
look out our window, I see a skiff of snow and see the powerplants
belching who knows what out of the stacks and the skies are just
white...if we look up high enough, we see a hint of blue...but only
that... a hint. Winters are always long here in Shenyang and as friends continue to
depart, and more and more departure dinners take place, it seems even
longer. We're fine, we are more and more involved with our chinese
friends and indeed some of them are much like family (Lord knows over
the past 6 years we've spent more time with them than blood family). I continue to improve my Chinese and am learning (ever so slowly) how to read the characters...it's not easy being a 1st grader at 55! But I digress...
The
last part of our journey, I left off as we were headed to Mandalay. In Los Vegas there
is a hotel called Mandalay Bay (never stayed there) and actually Mandalay is not on the ocean (as you might think hearing the name Mandalay Bay!) It does have the river and some lakes and its the subject of
the Rudyard Kipling poem named "Mandalay":
1st stanza of the peom "Mandalay "(By Rudyard Kipling)
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!"
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!
I
found out that the lines in the poem "Road to Mandalay" and the "old
flotilla lay" is actually talking about the Ayeyarwaddy River that we sailed on during this trip. (it flows the complete length North/South of the
country) I have to admit I was not up on my Kipling literature (other
than the Jungle Book...and that was even further back than my high
school literature and poetry classes!). Funny how the poem is so much
more meaningful now!
Mandalay
Mandalay
was where the last reigning king of Myanmar resided and had his palace
before he was exiled to India in the late 1800's. The Palace grounds,
walls and functioning mote are still there. All of the rest of the
original gold leaf-teak buildings were destroyed during the war and what
stands now are replica buildings. One of the original buildings was
moved to another location in the city and is still in the original state
(minus the gold leaf). Here are some photos around Mandalay.
 |
| Where we were docked for the night around Mandalay..one of the many gold plated stupas on the riverbank |
 |
| One of the plates from "the biggest book in the world" recording the teachings of budda on a set of >700 stone tablets |
 |
| The houses where each individual pages of stone tablets are housed in for the biggest book in the world. |
 |
| Carving in the gold leaf covered teak wood of a "guardian" in the original Royal Palace building |
 |
| Sarah standing on the mote around the Palace in Mandalay |
 |
| One of the architectural drawings for the palace |
 |
| The Palace at Mandalay |
In
addition to the Palace grounds and Pagodas, Mandalay is known for is gold leaf making (with the heritage of
the palace, I'm sure it was a necessary profession to keep going! It was amazing to see the artisans at work.
 |
| Making Gold leaf..first they run the pure gold nugget through a machine to flatten it out, then the separate it into smaller pieces, these individually in between the leaves of a leather bound type of book with wax paper pages, and these young men pound the leather book with sledge hammers until it gets to the right thickness...no gym workout requried for these guys! |
 |
| The gold leaf inside the wax paper book |
 |
| The ladies applying the gold leaf to various articles...laqueur ware and other items. |
Marinettes for puppet shows are also made in Mandalay. In earlier times (and still today) puppets are used to entertain people and teach the story of
Buddah at the same time. From what I could understand there are 29
characters in the typical puppet show. They are still made today and I
just loved the craftsmanship and detail work that went into each one.
(Yes, I bought a small one to bring home!) Here are some photos of the
craftsmen's workshops. I did not get the feeling these were for
tourists only...they are really producing their crafts for sale locally
as well as for tourists.
 |
| Puppet making in Mandalay |
 |
| Sarah with the puppet maker..very ornate |
 |
| Watching the master puppeteers with the curtain up |
 |
| Sarah trying her hand at making the horse walk...it's harder than it looks! |
 |
| Rod having fun with the puppets |
One of the iconic photographs of the Mandalay area is and old teak bridge over the river. It is used even today, and I did walk on it...very rickety and you really have to watch your step. We took a small boat on the water and was there just before sunset...it was beautiful!
 |
| Fishing in the river at Mandalay |
 |
| The teak bridge at Mandalay |
 |
| Sunset on the water at Mandalay |
 |
| Another sunset on the water at Mandalay |
The river is so shallow, the cruise boat only sailed during the day and picked up a new local pilot every 4 hours so that the river conditions would be known. All along the trip, we stopped at various villages along the river..so many things to see and such a different life than the one I have today. It's almost surreal looking at the pictures again. These are not all taken at the same place...you get the idea of life by the river.
 |
| Local people bathing in the river, playing on the shore, watching the tourists on the boat |
 |
| The human conveyor...ladies taking gravel from the boat, putting in on their heads and carrying it off to shore to unload..and back they go empty for another load...this was happening all day! |
 |
| Getting some river water (they get their drinking water from wells) |
 |
| Making clay pots out of river clay |
 |
| Carrying the pots to the river where they will be loaded on a boat to take to market |
 |
| Making mattresses...looks like dryer lent..but of course they have no dryers! I think this is shredded fabric from old clothes, but not sure. |
Bagan
This is the
place where the postcard pictures are taken about Myanmar because it's a
very old city and there are thousands of pagodas. There are hot air balloon tours over the area, but as we were with the boat, we didn't have time. We saw the balloons in the air at a distance...I'm sure that would be fabulous...maybe another time. It's hard to choose photos about this place...so many options and my memory fades with time...so I've just taken a few as examples. They really are the splendours of Myanmar.
 |
| Rod and Sarah on top of one of the temples in Bagan |
 |
| One of the many temples in Bagan |
 |
| Rod and Sarah in front of another temple in Bagan |
 |
| More temples in Bagan |
 |
| Rod Climbing to the top of one of the temples to get a sunset view (they are sacred, so that's why no shoes allowed) |
 |
| Early view of Sunset over Bagan |
 |
| A little later Sunset over Bagan |
 |
| Final Sunset over Bagan |
On the river, there were so many beautiful sunsets..I'll close with just a few more dusk/sunset photos.
 |
| Dusk on the Ayeyarwaddy in Myanmar |
 |
| Sunset on the Ayeyarwaddy River in Myanmar |
 |
| Sunset over pagodas in Myanmar |
I have one more installment of the Myanmar trip and that focuses on the "Faces of Myanmar"..a country's landscape and architecture are certainly beautiful...but a country is nothing without it's people..so next time, not much text, but several photos of the faces of Myanmar.
By the way, all of these photos are taken with either Rod's or Sarah's iphone...we didn't carry a "real" camera with us.
Thanks for tagging along on our journey, and until next time with the "Faces of Myanmar", may God bless you all.
Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment