Mandalay, Part1

Mandalay is a former royal capital and cultural center, and we spent three days exploring….

Mandalay Hill overlooks the city;  and we reach it via a shady walk along the east side of the ancient palace and its surrounding moat.  We find find a set of stairs and head up, shoes in hand, stones cool under our feet. Other than a few young couples climbing hand-in-hand,  we have the hill to ourselves. Benches with inscriptions line the covered stairway; at intervals we encounter mezzanines, empty but for buddhas and sparkling pillars covered in glass mosaics. A few sleepy shopkeepers sit behind mostly empty shelves, and a few homes set up – a square marked by cabinets of dishes and the low concrete walls. “Glamour Shot” locations, gaudy with hearts and bright colors, waterfalls, pools, swans, and benches – perfect for family portraits or a lovey-dovey picture with your significant other. Near the summit, a large Buddha statue points his golden arm towards the palace – legend has it he predicted the emergence of a great kingdom while looking down from this very hill.

Visible from the top of the hill is a sea of small white structures, which is Kuthodaw Pagoda. Each of the 729 structures houses a slab of marble with inscriptions of sacred text, and together they form the world’s largest book. Golden ornaments on the rooftops flutter in the breeze and fill the air with bursts of sweet sound, as I wander the rows of marble, flitting in and out of the shadows, watched over by carved figures. In the center is   large stupa, it’s gold catching the sun’s rays and reflecting its heat.

The U-Bein bridge is south in Amapura, and we head there for the recommended sunset viewing. And we are not the only ones. This 1.2-kilometer teak bridge spans across the still waters of a lake, and is traversed by tourists, locals, and monks.  It makes a brief stop on an island in the middle, where restaurants have plastic chairs positioned for sunset views, farmers plow with oxen in the field, and fisherman bring their catch ashore. Boys beat the water with long bamboo canes, while the others move the net closer; moving ashore with their longyis bulging with the catch. Boats with brightly-colored hulls ply the water, increasing exponentially as sunset nears. Our driver takes us around the bridge before jockeying for prime position to view the sun go down, casting the bridge and the people on it into silhouette.

In the gold-pounding district, heavy droplets  of gold are pounded multiple times into impossibly thin sheets, the heavy ‘thwack’ of hammers resounding through the workshop we visit. Each round is longer than before, and the time is measured using an old-fashioned method of a bobbing ladle with a hole in the bottom, which sinks slowly beneath the surface of the water. The finished leaf is sliced meticulously into squares. These are bought by the faithful to place upon a buddha statue (or have a monk place it on). Later we see a statue that has been so covered by these these offerings that it’s original shape is lost under golden knobs.

On the stone-carvers street, the air is full of white dust, and there are jumbles of Buddhas in all stages of creation. Many are faceless, as this is the last thing to be carved, and the finished versions are often painted white after being polished to a sheen.