Our first contact with Myanmar happened to be in Mandalay, the second largest city of the country. Located in central Burma, it is surrounded by very dry and desert-like landscape. Many people had given us negative feedback, advising to run by Mandalay, even not to stop there. As always, we take opinions as they are, and wanted to experience it on our own. And here, we were very surprised of how wrong they were: it was a very special place.

Mandalay was a vivacious city filled with colorful temples where we were greeted by many friendly smiles, devoted craftsmen, and people who are proud of their identity and traditions. Despite the 40 degrees highs and 30 degrees lows, which can easily exhaust you, we loved Mandalay. It was so authentic and pure we were gazing and admiring at the magic this city emitted. Seriously, for us it had something truly special.

The market was next to our guesthouse and its surrounding streets were adorned with color. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, insects, animals, fish, and anything you could imagine to eat were everywhere. It wasn’t only the appealing way in which the food was presented, always in large quantities laying inside woven bamboo baskets and ancient looking carts. It was the vendor’s posture squatting or peacefully sitting around their treasure like on a throne, yet really on a dirt road. It was the way they looked about often with an innocent gaze, smiling when you made eye contact. It was the traditional clothing, and their yellow cheeks painted with a paste called Tanaka, to protect themselves against the sun. What a nice experience…

The first day we took a motorbike tour around the city. The chaotic driving style reminded us of Vietnam, with no rules, no traffic lights, and the general norm being to go slow, steady, and keep your eyes open, ready for someone to come at you from any angle… Good thing we were just passengers having fun and we trusted our guides would bring us around safely :).

We were brought to see 3 temples made of different materials, including teakwood, marble, and gold. All were very beautiful, however the last temple, the Mahamuni Pagoda, was very special. It is one of the most important temples in the country, and was filled with locals as well as Burmese visiting from all parts of the country to pay their respects. We entered the main pagoda through a walkway whose seashell green paint was chipping off the walls, where locals had set up little shops that also seemed to be their homes. The children running around, the expression on peoples’ faces, the women sitting on the floor deep in their prayers, the colorful clothing… There was such a mystical atmosphere.

Next we visited a small road with one artisan workshop after another. We saw wood carving, stone carving, bronze figure making, puppet making, weaving…. It was all very impressive. The stone carving was probably the most spectacular. They carve these buddha figures from sandstone using electric carvers (quite dangerous if a finger slips!). The men carving were covered in white powder from the stone which contrasted quite strongly with their darker skin, and the bright red color of the betel nut melting out of their lips. So yes, in Myanmar, as recently explained in the Philippines, people chew betel nut as well… but here we found out the true reason behind this habit. Betel nut is highly addictive, it gives them a sort of high feeling like a drug would, that mainly prevents them from being tired. In addition, it is extremely destructive to teeth and gums… as we had imagined!! Nice fantasy the Filipinos had…

The day ended at the U-Bein bridge, a wooden bridge crossing a lake at the southern point of Mandalay surrounded by marshland, where we were brought specifically for the infamous… sunset! Sunrise and sunset has been the number one tourist attraction sold everywhere we have been; “a must do!” And what can we say…, yes, it is sometimes wonderful and other times not that much. Speaking of Mandalay, we can say that for the first time in this trip the sunset was truly spectacular. The color that it emitted had a golden glow to it, dying everything in its path the same color. We also enjoyed observing the fishermen becoming dark silhouettes in a golden lake, as well as the monks, local couples and children taking an afternoon stroll.

The following day we visited Mandalay Hill, which had many temples leading up to the principle temple on top, as well as a very nice view over the city. The walk up was special as we encountered not only some of the most beautifully colored temples yet seen, but also very friendly local people. We had not been asked to take so many pictures with strangers as here… it seemed as if the photo shoot took at least 30 minutes with retakes, individual shots and group shots. After you could see people walking away looking at the picture and sharing it with their friends with smiles and giggles. It almost felt as if we were famous! Leading up to the top of the hill we went through walkways from temple to temple crossing paths with endless photo moments… The decadent color of the walls and the floor, the detailed work on the ceilings, the flowers, the plants, and, again, the people. Their faces just speak for themselves.

After two great days in Mandalay we were excited for what we would still encounter in this magical country. Our next destination was a long awaited location, one of the top places we had been looking forward to in this trip… the temples of Bagan.