Any country or city with a great river demands that at least some of your travel be accomplished by boat. This is certainly true of Myanmar.
Mandalay is surrounded by former great capitals that are now considered "must-see" ancient cities. Some more spectacular than others. Today we visit Mingun, 11 km up the Ayeyarwaddy River from Mandalay. The first step to going down the river, is getting onto the boat. They are packed four deep, so planks are set up across each boat, and we quickly and nimbly make our way onto the outer-most boat. They have the comfy, neck and head massaging bamboo chairs for lounging on the deck. Most of us have on our 1,000 kyats (pronounced 'chats,' about $1.00) hats. These clever woven hats fold flat and come in a few colors. They aren't exactly fashionable, but they keep the sun at bay, and since it is blazing, they are much appreciated and much used. However, they do make for awkward picture taking. The phrase "I'm getting mostly hat!" is appropriate.
We tootle down up the river, watching other tourists and locals transporting motorcycles and pigs on their long boats. There are huge swaths of cut bamboo being pushed down the river to sell at market. Women washing clothes and dishes along the river.
We arrive to see the remains of Mingun Paya. The glorious ruin of what could have been the world's largest stupa. King Bodawpaya started building it in 1790, with thousands of slave and prisoner of war labor, but the building stopped in 1819 when he died. If finished, it would be three times the size of the existing base, which is 50 meters high. It was badly damaged a short time later, in the 1838 earthquake, leaving giant cracks in the bricks and destroying the lions that were standing guard.
King Bodawpaya also had a giant bell made for his his projected stupa, too. The bell was cast in 1808 and weighes a staggering 90 tons. It is said to be the largest uncracked bell in the world. Yes, I crawled inside it, and yes, some helpful person came along and gonged it repeatedly. Yes, it was loud, but not unbearable.
The lovely white Myatheindan Pagoda was constructed in 1816 by King Bagyidaw three years before he succeeded Bodawpaya. It was built in memory of his senior wife. The seven wavy terraces around the pagoda represent the seven mountain ranges around Mt. Meru (another holy mountain in Myanmar). This elegant pagoda was also damaged in the 1838 earthquake, but restored in 1874. There are two Buddhas sitting one in front of the other at the top of the pagoda. The original was said to be leaning at a displeasing angle, so they just put another one right in front of the old one. I bought a packet of incense from a boy at the top of the pagoda. I had to find someone to light it for me, so a friend of his ran back and got the seller, and he took care of my incense needs. It is full service here in Myanmar. I took the smoking bunch back from him and thought of all of the influential people in my life who have passed (my grandmothers, my uncle, Steve, Abdi) and another person who changed my life forever, and my current, supportive friends, who look after me and send me love when I go to places to like Myanmar. I gave thanks for all of them in this beautiful white pagoda with the two Buddhas.
Myanmar practices a conservative Theravada school of Buddhism. More than 80% of the people here are Buddhists, with Muslims and Christians making up most of the rest of the religious. Nat or animist worship kind of gets thrown in with Buddhism, it seems that everyone is hedging their bets with this ancient religion. Keep practicing it, just in case.
Burmese Buddhism focuses on Buddha's ideas about people's dissatisfaction with their lives, where this dissatisfaction comes from, and how to get out of this dissatisfied state by living a good life and being highly accepting of change.
Buddha's four noble truths:
1. Life is dukkha (unsatisfactoriness),
2. Dukkha comes from selfish desire,
3. When you stop the selfish desire, suffering is extinguished,
4. The 'eightfold' path is the way to eliminate selfish desire.
The eightfold path requires the following:
Right thought
Right understanding
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right exertion
Right attentiveness
Right concentration.
So I'm going to get right on that.
Just as in other parts of the world, the hawkers follow you everywhere here, and make helpful suggestions about your wardrobe and how you could improve it through your purchase of a longyi. The ladies have baskets and baskets of material and they spot what color you are wearing and match your new skirt perfectly to your shirt. Which kind of implies that you should just strip right there and change. But they also take "no" for an answer. They say "lucky money, one for 2,000...ok, three for 5,000, lucky money." But when you say no, they stop. Unless you look mildly interested, then you are done for.
As we wandered around Mingun, we bumped into another set of tourists. Two Buddhist nuns were posing in front of the pagodas and taking each other's picture. They saw us before we saw them and they were taking our pictures, too. Nuns here shave their heads, wear pink robes and take vows, just as monks do.
We also saw two novice monks, just little boys, walking in their red robes with red umbrellas. So. Everyone wants a great monk picture. They are everywhere here, and a classic icon of Buddhism. In my community, we don't have small boys taking up monastic life and walking around the grocery store in robes asking for alms. That being said, it is just wrong to stick a camera in their faces when they are simply walking down the street. There was a man with a giant lens on his camera jogging backwards with his camera maybe two feet from the little monk's face. He was being ignored, but he was disturbingly akin to a paparazzo stalker.
That night for dinner, we walked to Unique Myanmar Restaurant (corner 27 & 65, Mandalay) for a traditional Myanmar dish, ohn no khauk swe - coconut curry soup with noodles. It was extremely delicious. Mild, with a creamy sauce and long noodles. The restaurant manager kept checking in with us. Her name was Oma ("just like a grandmother!" laughed the tiny, energetic young woman). I promised to tell all my friends to come to her restaurant, and I am highly recommending it to anyone who happens to be in Mandalay.
Overall, our food has been extremely good. Last night, at the Green Elephant Restaurant, we had another traditional dish, laphet thoke (pickled tea leaf salad), which was exceptional. Tart, crispy and salty. We've enjoyed many different kinds of curries, and Myanmar seems to absorb Thai and Chinese dishes right into the mix. Even when I asked for things to be spicy, they weren't overwhelming. Just a pleasant heat, mixed with new flavors and combinations of food - but no parrot meat with gourd, we know what happens if you mix that.
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