Pagoda, Pagoda, Pagoda ...

And so we had our first full nights sleep in Bagan, but also our last as we were up and out to catch a short flight to Mandalay.

It's funny how whenever I mention to anyone that I'm going to Mandalay, they either ask if I know Rudyard Kipling's famous poem or they try to hum that 'well known' song "On the road to Mandalay"; which incidentally no one actually seems to know except for: "mmmmm, mmmmm, mmm - road to Mandalay" . Meanwhile, when I think of Mandalay I think of "Nellie the elephant". (I bet you're all humming that particular song now, trying to work out why and as you get to that particular part, I guarantee you, you'll nod to yourself, smile and say "Oh yeah". )

Another former capital of Myanmar, (there have been a total of four!), Mandalay is The second largest city in this country. It is here that Buddha is supposed to have climbed Mandalay Hill and foretold that a grand city would be founded at the foot of the hill 2400 years later. 

And sure enough, in 1857, the Kingdom was founded by King Mindon, of whom a strange story has been told; many believe he was the reincarnation of the Ogress  San Da Mukhi who lopped off her breasts and offered them to Buddha. As depicted in her statue at Sutaungpyi Paya.

The British occupied The city In 1885 until the Japanese occupation during World War Two, when sadly many of the buildings were destroyed from bombings. But today the people generally live in peace and harmony, apart from the odd small 'flare up' between the different religions.

And so we landed at Mandalay International airport and with a short enough break to grab a cake and a drink, we were on the coach and heading straight to the huge market, where Kay pointed out all the local fruit, veg, spices and general Myanamese delicacies on sale. This included fried rats, which surprisingly even TC said she wouldn't eat!

There were obviously more pagodas to visit, the first one being the Mahamuni Paya. Where right in the centre there is a statue of Buddha that is apparently 3.8 metres high! It is here that devotees stick very fine squares of gold leaf by way of an offering. I say apparently because low and behold, it is only MALE devotees that are allowed to go up while the women have to hand their tiny tissue thin square of gold leaf to male assistants! This decision isn't even a religious one, apparently it stems back some years ago when some chauvinistic man decided to clear all the women out and no one seems to know why (apart from the fact he was a mysoginistic chauvinist - but then again that's my opinion and what would I know, I mean I'm only a woman!)

The Buddha statue itself is said to weigh 6 tonnes with the gold leaf now adding another 2 tonnes to it. The extra layers are so thick and lumpy, that from the pictures, it now looks as though they are actually paying homage to Joseph Merrick (the elephant man!). 

We gathered back onto the coach and travelled a short distance before stopping off down a road that was filled with stone carvers workshops. There were Buddha images of all sizes being made in workshop after workshop after workshop. The dust and fumes filled the air that in some places made it quite unbearable and yet the stone carvers themselves used no protective eye of mouth shields. But I guess that was no surprise as there doesn't seem to be any rules with regard to health and safety in this country. Which was shown yet again when we stopped off at one of the gold leaf workshops later on.

Here we were shown how the tiny, thin squares of gold leaf were made: pounded down for about twenty minutes by young men who stand leaning against a tiny bench swinging their mallets downwards onto tiny shreds of gold lying between thin bamboo paper. Each piece is then cut into four and the same process done again and again and again.

TC stood their and tutted, concerned about the varicose veins that one of the men had.

Later on we went to see The Schweindaw Kyuang. (A former Pagoda!) This one was different as it was built completely in teak, originally within the walls of King Mindon's palace. After Mindon died,  it was converted into to a monastery and moved, piece by piece, to the east of the royal home, which ended up being quite fortuitous as the other buildings in the palace were eventually destroyed by a fire.

In the main hall, there are beautiful carvings on the walls depicting the Jataka stories of Buddha. And just outside, Nicole came across an elderly man, sat crossed legged on the floor, bent over a sketch book as he copied one of the images perfectly. She admired his work and he asked for her name. After which he signed the picture over to her with a little note.

It was truly touching, so much so that I found myself welling up as he refused the money Nicole offered in return for the honour of being given his art work. She insisted and he gratefully took it.  

In the afternoon we went to visit Kuthodaw Pagoda where 'The worlds biggest book' is housed. Commissioned by King Mindon (yes him again) in 1857, it is not actually a book but 730 marble slabs engraved on both sides with the teachings of Buddha also known as The Triptikaka. I asked Kay if that was the equivalent of The Koran or The Torah, she told me it was similar, but was quite explicit when she added " but not equivalent because it was much more superior!" I bit my tongue and decided it was not worth me discussing the meaning of the well known saying "one mans junk is another mans treasure".)

Finally we checked into The Mandalay City Hotel and it was wonderful. A swimming pool and huge rooms, hot showers; very comfortable and a definite improvement on the previous hotel. So much so that I was tempted not to go out that evening for our view of the sunset from the tops steps of The Sutaungpyei Pagoda (the last one of the day) found at the top of Mandalay Hill.

But I went, for fear of missing out. And with my feet still swollen from our flight out, I managed to climb the numerous steps to the top - just.

We saw the statue of San Da Mukhi holding out her severed beasts (see earlier pic) and some of the local novice monks, merrily hanging out chatting to the tourists - apparently it helps them learn English. (One thing to note throughout this trip, was how many of the Monks - who are supposed to give up materialistic earthly possessions - would be 'hanging out' chatting on mobile phones; Samsungs, iPhones and the like, or even in once case as with Nicole and Myself, we found a group of them filming us on their mobile and live streaming it onto the Internet?!)

At the end of a very busy day full of Pagodas, (and steps), we were absolutely shattered and so TC and I scurried back to our huge room where we ordered room service for and had an early night I preparation for our early start the following day.