Yangon to Mandalay

Mingalaba! Early this morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to Mandalay. Thank God our luggage is checked as a group, because I am already over the 20kg weight limit. Our guide, Mr. Thet leads us all to a bus and we depart for the tour of the city of Mandalay, the center of Burmese culture.

First we visit Mahamuni Pagoda considered to be the holiest of pagodas in Myanmar, and where thousands of people come on pilgrimages. Each presses gold leaf on the Buddha in homage.

Kuthodaw Pagoda, has the entire text of Buddha's scriptures enscribed on marble tablets. Shwenandaw Monastery is made of intricately carved teak with gold .
We then visit the marble carving area where for centuries these families have carved large marble figures. The people are all covered in the fine white marble powder and look like walking ghosts.

The next stop brings us to a place where they make gold leaf paper, which is used by everyone to press on to the Buddha statues. Four men stand with rubber mallets and pound the gold until it is paper thin. As we walk back to the bus we pass shops selling huge snake and tiger skins. Every where you look, you see monks with shaven heads in their robes.

We arrive at our ship, the Road to Mandaly that was caught in Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar in 2008. The crew tried to ride out the storm, but when the moorings snapped under the pressure of 200 kilometer winds the fate of the ship was sealed and many thought she would never sail again. After 16 months of extensive restoration she was back on the river by August 26, 2009. The ship has 42 cabins and our three groups total 15 people.