Mingun

We ate breakfast at the hotel, but could have skipped it. Our guide met us at 8:30 a.m. and walked us around the corner to a local noodle restaurant. The place was packed with people grabbing breakfast on the way to work or school, but we were the only tourists present, and drew some stares. Mary and I split a bowl of noodles with pork and a side bowl of soup and a cup of green tea. They were excellent, and the price was equivalent to about 80 cents U.S.

The coach met us in front of the noodle spot and took us to the river landing for a boat ride to the village of Mingun, which is up river and across from Mandalay. There are no bridges here, so the only way to get there is by boat. The ride was very pleasant in the morning sun, even with the boat's crew trying to sell us souvenirs. At Mingun we saw the ruins of what would have been the world's largest pagoda. It's still an impressively large structure, however, construction was abandoned when it was less than half finished, and earthquakes and weather have brought it to ruin. The entrance is guarded by two gigantic lions who have both lost their heads.

Mingun is something of an artist's community, and we bought a few paintings at one shop, and some small ornaments at another, on our way see one of the world's largest bells -- a 90 ton monster used in religious observances. We walked the streets of the village a bit, fending off overly friendly peddlers, and observed a family distributing quilts to elderly residents of one of Myanmar's few rest homes. It is considered a family obligation to care for the elderly, but if one grows old and happens to have not living relatives, care facilities exist. The conditions here did not make us envious.

On the boat ride back we stopped mid-river because a school of fresh water porpoises was breaching right in front of us. We were told that its rare to see one, but we saw dozens. Unfortunately, they surface and dive again much too quickly to photograph. The boat ride back across the river in the midday sun was even more glorious than the morning crossing had been.

Our lunch was at a Chinese roast duck restaurant. We ate everything except duck, and it was all excellent. We had only and hour or so of rest at the hotel after the meal before we were off again, this time to the Royal Palace of Myanmar, which is just across from our hotel. However, because it is surrounded with a wide moat, we had to drive some distance to one of the few gates to gain admission. What used to be the Mandalay equivalent to Beijing's "Forbidden City" is now the property of the military government of Myanmar, and remains an active military base (though the primary function is housing for military retirees and their families. Nevertheless, we had to gain "clearance" with the MPs to enter. The palace itself is well-preserved and has been used as a set in a number of movies. It is actually a compound of structures rather than a single palace -- again, similar to the "Forbidden City" in Beijing. We climbed a watch tower, which was clearly the inspiration for the design of the modern observation tower in Bagan, for a nice arial view of the whole place.

We next made a quick visit to a wood carving shop. They did great work, producing art much like that of the monastery we saw yesterday, but the working conditions seemed brutal. Men did the carving, but women were employed in the back of the shop doing very fine embroidery stitching -- also in conditions of which OSHA in the U.S. would not approve.

On next to a silks weaving factory, and of course, adjacent shop. The noise of the looms and the intricate work causing eye strain for the young women also did not cause us to envy the working conditions.

Finally, we spent the late afternoon until sunset at the U Bein bridge -- a long, teak wood foot bridge over a shallow lake that is nearly 200 years old (and in some places, showing its age). Although crowded with hundreds of tourist and locals alike, there are no railings. Like the factories, health and safety is your own concern. The bridge made great people-watching, as well as sunset watching, and was clearly seen by the locals as a romantic spot. We even had to stay out of the way of one couple getting their wedding photos taken in full white gown and tux. It was also a good place to celebrate for one of our group members having a birthday today.