Events of Tuesday 19th February, 2013
The tour company had proposed a full-day trip to Maymyo. That was agreed, with one change. I wanted to travel from Mandalay to Maymyo by train, returning by car. One problem was that the train was scheduled to leave at 4.00 a.m. Adding the 30 minutes 'reporting time', transfer by taxi to the station and getting ready, I set my alarm for 2.40 a.m. I was on the platform at Mandalay Central, under the bleak fluorescent lighting, about 3.20 a.m. There was plenty of freight piled on the platform, together with a number of porters who tried to sleep whilst waiting. There were about a dozen Europeans waiting and a number of Burmese. There was even a locomotive, sitting at the south end of the platform. All that was missing was coaches to form the train. It was about 6.00 a.m. when the station 'pilot' passed through the station heading north on another line hauling some coaches, returning a few minutes later propelling the coaches into our platform and onto the waiting locomotive. By the time the porters had dragged the freight into the two boxcars at the rear it was 6.17 a.m. when we departed.
The particular reason I had for wanting to make this journey is that the line beyond Sedaw uses a zig-zag arrangement where the train shuffles backwards and forwards between four 'Reversing Stations' in order to gain height before completing its journey to Maymyo.
The Zig-Zag railway in the line to Maymyo.
I arrived at Maymyo station tired but happy and over two hours late. Unfortunately, my guide and driver had also had a long wait before my train appeared.
I had decided to visit the two nuns who run the Shwe Sin Minn girls' orphanage. I'd first visited the orphanage in November 2011 and that visit is described here. Largely because of the continuing unrest in Kachin State, the number of orphans they look after had increased from 300 to 500. More building work was in progress to accommodate the extra girls. The nuns made me welcome and said I should return each year. I took a few pictures during the visit and I've added them to the original collection here.
The two nuns who founded and run the girls' orphanage.
After visiting the girls'orphanage, we drove to Pwe Kauk Waterfalls, about 5 miles northest of the town, off the road to Hsipaw. The falls aren't that spectacular but, by the addition of paths and bridges, the wooded location has been turned into water gardens to appeal to the Burmese and I found it rather charming. There was a long row of stalls selling food and souvenirs but it was all so laid-back I wasn't offended at all. My driver and guide had lunch at one of the tea shops and I joined them for a Coca-Cola 'lookalike'. To my surprise, it tasted very good.
Close by, we went to the Aung Htu Kan Tha shrine. Although modern, it has an interesting story. In April 1997, a truck was carrying a consignment of large Buddhas to China. One of the Buddhas fell off the truck nearby and attempts to re-load it on the vehicle failed. The truck driver then recalled a dream from the previous night concerning a Buddha image which did not want to leave Myanmar! So the Buddha remained and a temple was erected to house it. The design of the building is reputedly based on that of the revered Ananda Temple in Bagan. At the time of my visit, the outside of the temple was being re-gilded, involving elaborate bamboo scaffolding and woven mats covering most of the exterior.
The Buddha which did not want to leave Myanmar at Aung Htu Kan Tha.
Returning to the town, my guide showed me Maymyo's Christian Cemetery, which looked rather neglected, I'm afraid. There was once a large English population in Maymyo since its elevation kept temperatures more comfortable for Europeans in Summer.
It took around two hours to return by car to my hotel in Mandalay, twice as fast as the train was supposed to be and three times as fast as the train that morning but I was still pleased that I'd made the uphill journey by train.
My pictures
By Train to Maymyo.
Shwe Sin Minn Girl's Orphanage, Maymyo.
Pwe Kauk Waterfalls.
Aung Htu Kan Tha Shrine.
Maymyo Christian Cemetery.
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Maymyo
Myin Mu and Mon Ywa
Events of Monday 18th February, 2013
With a car, driver and guide at my disposal, I'd decided to try to meet up with the 'Road to Mandalay' ship at its temporary upstream limit of Myin Mu. The plan was then to go on from Myin Mu to the fairly large town of Mon Ywa before returning to my hotel in Mandalay.
Myin Mu is a fairly typical small town where a flattish stretch of riverbank behind a group of houses is used as a 'dock' where passengers can board the various river services and massive amounts of freight are interchanged between river craft and large lorries drawn up on the shore. We'd arrived before the 'Road to Mandalay' but the logistics manager, Mr. Soe Soe, and his team of ground staff were already hard at work making the site ready for the landing of the Guests. Because of the low water level, the 'Road to Mandalay' would moor mid-stream and a couple of ferry boats were on hand to bring people ashore to join the six or seven buses already lined-up which would be used for the Guests' activities that day.
Mr. Soe Soe invited me to join him for a drink in a typical tea shop, just across the road from the dock.
Whilst we were sitting and chatting, I was amazed when the Head Monk from the Bagan Monastery came in. Apparently, he had business to conduct in one of the Monasteries in Mandalay but it was a very unexpected reunion.
Soon, the 'Road to Mandalay' ship was sighted and she anchored midstream. The first of the two ferry boats moved out to pick up Guests and, in a short while, all the guests for the road trip had come ashore and been seated in the appropriate coach.
I was able to greet a number of old friends from the ship's hotel staff and the team of guides. Doctor Hla Tun came ashore for a while and we went to (another) tea shop for a drink and a chat.
However, there were guests still on the ship whom the Doctor needed to look after, so the Doctor and I said "goodbye". He returned to the ship using one of the ferry boats and I continued on to Mon Ywa with my driver and guide.
In the Po Khaung Hills, east of Mon Ywa, is the sprawling site of Bodhi Tataung, home to around 10,000 Buddha images. I wandered amongst the statues whilst my driver and guide took lunch.
Then, we drove the short distance to the 90 metre reclining Buddha and 167 metre standing Buddha. You can climb up inside the standing Buddha - each floor forms an elaborately-decorated temple. I was a little disappointed that we could only get to the 10th floor as the higher floors had been temporarily closed for some reason.
The reclining and standing Buddhas.
If 10,000 Buddha images of Bodhi Tataung seems a lot, try half a million. We drove to the Thanboddhay Temple which was started in 1939 by a monk called Mo Hnyin Sayadaw. There are now well over 500,000 Buddhas decorating the building - mostly small, unpainted clay figures. My guide said that the Monk's aim was to allow even poor people to be able to donate a Buddha image to the temple.
Every surface within the temple is crammed with small Buddha images.
We then moved onto the town of Mon Ywa which my 'Lonely Planet' guide characterises as "a scrappy trade town of some 300,000 people". I didn't see anything to warrant disputing that opinion. Whilst photographing a lattice post semaphore signal on the railway, I saw a passenger train heading for Mandalay, having passed another passenger train heading in the opposite direction at the nearby station.
In the town centre, there's a suitably triumphant statue of General Aung San on horseback. He is considered the 'Father of Modern Burma' (see Wikipedia article). With nothing further to detain us, we started back towards Mandalay ourselves. We stopped for a few minutes at one village where I took some pictures and, by arrangement, paused at Myin Mu where I briefly saw Doctor Hla Tun. Then it was on to Mandalay, pausing only at the road toll stations. I needed to get to bed early as I had an early start the following day in order to catch the train to Maymyo.
My Pictures
Myin Mu, Burma.
Mon Ywa Buddhas.
Thanboddhay Paya, Mon Ywa.
Mon Ywa Station, Burma.
By road from Mon Ywa to Mandalay.
Mandalay
Events of Sunday 17th February, 2013
My guide and driver took me to Nyaung Oo airport for the short flight to Mandalay International Airport.
My guide checked in for me and said I should go through security to the Departure Hall. We said goodbye and, by that time, the door he'd indicated had been closed. Further down the building I found a similar door clearly marked 'Departures', so I went through into a crowded waiting area. It slowly dawned on me that the people around me were arriving and not departing. The lack of movement was because their bags had not been made available. Eventually, I made it to the aircraft and flew to Mandalay Airport safely.
I was met by a new guide, Ko Aung Khaing (the 'Ko' is an honorific) and a new driver. We drove to the city which sprawls in the unattractive way of most large cities. The population is thought to be around 1.2 million. Mandalay is redeemed by also having some fine historical sites, such as the moated Royal Palace.
I checked into the Sedona Hotel, where I'd stayed before as described here. This earlier visit was part of a Far East trip with posts given the label 'FE2'. As on my previous visit, the accommodation was spacious, the service excellent. Just as well, as I was booked in for four days, allowing some scope for various trips around the area.
More later ...
My pictures
Nyaung Oo Airport.
Mandalay International Airport.
Sedona Hotel, Mandalay.
[Revised 6-Mar-2013]
