I’m glad I gave Mandalay another chance. Like many tourists that do whirlwind tours of the city, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by my first exposure to Mandalay. The city is dusty, noisy, congested with traffic (a wild stew of cars, bikes, motorcycles, trishaws and carts), very hot (for most of the year, anyway), and not very attractive. If you have the visual image of an exotic, tropical Mandalay, you’d best forget it. But I’ve found that when you get off the busy main roads, and away from the crowded sightseeing spots, the city offers many interesting, attractive, and pleasant spots. Riding my bicycle east on 28th Street was particularly pleasant: I found myself under a canopy of trees as I passed pagodas, churches, soccer fields, and schools. Children would yell greetings such as “Hello”, “Goodbye”, and “Ta Ta.” One kid even threw in a “Cheerio,” which made me laugh out loud.
One of my favorite areas is the “Monk District” in the southwest part of the city. Here you will find dozens of active monasteries and old pagodas. One of the most eye-catching of the bunch is Shwe Bin In Kyaung, an old monastery made entirely of teak. Except for a few cobweb-encrusted carvings, the place is well-maintained and clean. Just down the road, over a small bridge, is the city’s largest monastery, Ma Soe Yein Nu Kyaung, home to over 2,700 monks and novices. I stopped by that monastery my first day in town and met several friendly monks, one of whom invited me to see the mammoth breakfast ritual the next morning. Near the small lake that borders the monastery I could see several men already preparing the next day’s meal. They were chopping, cutting, and slicing a variety of vegetables and meat, then stirring each batch and cooking it all in huge pots or woks.
The only problem with seeing the next morning’s extravaganza – and watching 2,734 monks getting served breakfast certainly qualifies as such – was getting up early enough in the morning to see it begin. But I managed to crawl out of bed at about five in the morning, take a quick shower, and – armed with a flashlight – cycle in darkness over to the monastery in time to see long lines of monks being served their meal. While taking photos of the spectacle I met one of the volunteers distributing food, a kind man named U Myint Swe. We talked for a few minutes and he invited me upstairs to meet the senior monks and to eat breakfast. Once again, I was lucky enough to experience the incredible hospitality and generosity of the Myanmar people. You just can’t plan moments like this.
I couldn’t find Hashim, the trishaw driver I used previously in Mandalay, but I lucked out and met another dependable driver named Myint Shin. The first time I used his services was when I needed transportation back to my hotel after dining at the always incredible Aye Myit Tar restaurant (talk about getting stuffed: they never let up with the extra portions). We struck up a conversation and Myint Shin proved to be a delightful and knowledgeable driver. When I wasn’t cycling or walking around town I used him for night outings (with no light on my bike and very little in the way of streetlights, I didn’t dare cycle much at night in Mandalay) and to the boat jetty. On my last night in town Myint Shin invited me to his home, where he and wife cooked up a delicious spread of food. Nothing like home cooking!
Riding my bicycle around town I noticed many children out on the streets and playing games such as marbles, badminton, chinlon (pretty much the same as the sport of Takraw), and of course football (soccer). It’s refreshing to see so many kids out in the great outdoors, having fun and playing healthy games, as opposed to sitting inside an Internet shop and playing violent computer games for hours on end. But I suppose that will spread around Myanmar soon enough; I already see such shops in Yangon.
Another of my favorite Mandalay activities is visiting teashops. They are sort of like 7-Eleven stores in Bangkok: you find one or two on almost every block. There are many inexpensive little shops with tasty tea and snacks such as samosa, paratha, and several varieties of sweet cakes and sticky pastries. The teashops are great people watching spots too. Pull up a chair, sit down, and watch the colorful Myanmar street scenes unfold. Many teashops open early in the morning and serve very tasty noodle and rice dishes. The famous Mandalay noodles called Mondhi are very addictive. Myint Shin turned me on to one excellent place for Mondhi and I took Ma Thanegi’s advice and found another good spot, too.
While I was in Mandalay I met up with an e-friend, Klaus Schroeder, for a meal at the Golden Duck Restaurant. For several years Klaus has been coming to Myanmar for annual visits, during which time he has set up an organization to help two orphanages in Mandalay. Besides helping to build new dormitories and classroom facilities, his group has helped several of the older orphans to open their own businesses. But due to sanctions imposed by foreign governments, most notably the United States, getting funds to the orphanages has proved to be problematic. Once again, politics rears its ugly head and prevents people from getting the help they need.
