The hotel is on southeast corner of the Mandalay Fort Moat. Yes, there is a real moat around the fort. And it is a big one. Each side of the fort is 2 km long. King Mindon Min ordered the construction of the fort in 1857. The complex is huge and included many buildings and palaces. It was a city within the city. Our guide told us that the not-so-secret secret that everyone knew in 1857 had to do with human sacrifices. Astrologers picked out the best candidates based on birth dates, names, and physical features. The lesson here, of course, is don't piss off your local astrologer, you never know when they might pick you out for a human sacrifice. The superstitious king thought that sacrificing a person and burying the body on the grounds would protect the fort from invasion and destruction. Turns out he was totally wrong.
Mindon was succeeded by Thibaw in 1878. Thibaw flirted with dealing with the French, which caused the British to fear that their timber interests were in jeopardy. So in 1885, they invaded, using Maxim guns (the world's first machine gun) for the first time. After the British took over, they exiled Thibaw and his wife to India and that was the end of Burma's monarchy. The fort complex was charmingly renamed Fort Dufferin and became to the seat of the new British government.
In the book, "River of Lost Footsteps" by Thant Myint-U, he writes that a British official lamented that "neither their religion nor their temperament permit them to suspect their inferiority."
Burma was taken by the Japanese in 1942 and held for about three years. An occupied country got occupied yet again. The whole complex was burned to the ground during intense fighting between the British / Indian forces and the Japanese in 1945. Everything on display now is a replica of what once was. One guidebook says that the restoration was carried out with prison labor, and that every male in Mandalay had to contribute one day's forced labor to the project.
The complex is a dreary, sad place. Restoration with concrete, and empty, cobweb filled rooms don't conjure up the glory of a royal palace. The grounds are bare with weeds poking out everywhere. Thankfully, the museum was closed so we didn't have to trudge through that.
One confusing thing about Myanmar driving was solved today. It is very disconcerting when you first arrive here and jump into a car. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car (like you would find in the UK), but they also drive on the right (like we do in the U.S.). In 1962, the government decided that they wanted to break free from British influence by changing which side of the street they drove on. Imagine waking up one morning and having to drive on the opposite side of the street. Our guide busted up laughing when I asked how many accidents there were on that day. Also, everywhere there are soda bottles and water bottles full of what looks like water or kool aid. It isn't. Don't drink it. It is petrol for all the motorbikes. There are little stands of them all along the side of the road.
It was on to Shwenandaw Kyaung (Golden Palace Monastery). This original stucture is the only thing to have survived the fire in the fort - simply because it had been taken down and put back together outside the fort walls. King Mindon died in this building, and his son, Thibaw, donated it and reconstructed it on the current site in 1880. It is a splendid wooden monastery, with intricate carvings all over it (a "no scratching" sign caused confusion until we interpreted it to mean "no carving". Don't deface the monastery).
We had a very loud demonstration about how to make gold leaf. It is labor intensive and involves a lot of pounding. They make all the gold leaf here in Mandalay. They also have to specially make the paper that goes on the back of the gold leaf, so that it will come off easily. It is a lot of work, and apparently they have tried making machine-made gold leaf, and it just doesn't come out thin enough. A human thump thump thump is required.
We got to see the Jade market in downtown Mandalay. Chaos. Men huddled in groups with flashlights, shining light onto stones, bargaining, eating, getting high on betel nut. You can tell a user by their red and brown and missing teeth. It is an intoxicant that is sold and passed around wrapped in little green leaf packets. There were spittoons in the middle of the walkways - all red and brown. It was pretty fantastic. I was also able to get a picture of two Myanmar hipsters. Instead of the traditional longyi (a unisex long cotton skirt worn here), they were wearing skinny jeans and had man purses.
After lunch, it was on to Inwa. Now an island, it was the capital of a Burmese kingdom for nearly 400 years, also known as Ava. After the terrible earthquake of 1838, the city was finally abandoned.
We took a small boat across a channel and boarded some horse drawn carts for our dusty trek around Inwa.
The Bagaya Kyaung is a monastery made entirely of teak, supported by 267 pillars. It was built in 1834. It is a teaching monastery, the monks here teach the Pali language to the children in the area, along with other things, of course. Pali is the language in which original Buddhist texts were written. Kind of the Latin of Theravada Buddhism. We also saw a chart about what foods don't mix well with one another. The categories went from "upset stomach" to "death" and included things like parrot meat and gourds (who knew?!).
Nanmyin, the leaning watchtower, is the only remaining part of the palace built by Bagyidaw before the earthquake. It now tilts precariously.
The impressive Maha Aungmye Bonzan brick monastery was built by Bagyidaw's chief queen for her favorite abbot. The unique brick and stucco construction has kept it free from fire and the elements...except earthquakes. It too, was badly damaged in the 1838 earthquake, but restored in 1873. It was here that we got to the see the tourist police in action. Two tiny Myanmar female guards had to take on an irate Frenchman with an iPad. Apparently, he had bought a ticket yesterday, and just waltzed right in to take pictures today. They wanted him to show them the ticket, and he didn't have it. They kept quietly asking him to leave and trying to guide him out, and he just got louder and louder. He looked silly arguing with the two ladies, especially since he was doing it while holding up his iPad and taking pictures. Tres gauche!
Our last stop for the day was U Bein's bridge. It is a famous icon, seen on book covers and probably anything Myanmar-related. It is teak and curves three-quarters of a mile over shallow Taungthaman Lake. If you are lucky, you can watch the monks walk the bridge, which is truly something to see. I was witnessing something that had been going on for two centuries. Speaking of luck, there was a man with small cage of owls (yes, I looked twice to make sure) all crammed together. It is considered good luck to "release" the owls. I'm sure they are trained to come right back, and it broke my heart to see them all huddled against one another, peering out at the noise and confusion around them.
The bridge's simple beauty stands out especially against the setting sun. We went out on small boats to watch the sky turn a brilliant orange, and the people on the bridge turn into silhouettes.
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