February 2016
We enjoyed our brief stay in lovely leafy Mandalay, once the royal capital of Burma, and still one of its main economic and cultural centres. It's situated on the east side of the Irrawaddy River. We took several long walks along the river.
Doug sitting in the gnarls of an old ?madrona tree
Mandalay is a vibrant, colourful city with a great market. As usual, we spent a lot of time wandering around the market, gawking at the wares - and the people.
We love these little stools - perfect for a quick bite
One unusual sighting in Mandalay, which we again saw in a few other places in Burma, were nuns in pink habits. We haven't seen this anywhere else in Southeast Asia. According to a website about monks (with a little bit about nuns) in Burma, the pink colour of the nun's robes represents sunshine. Theravada Buddhism is widely practiced in Burma, and many if not most children between the ages of 10 and 16 go to live in a monastery for a period of time. We saw many 'monk houses' on our travels, and lots of little monks, in deep chocolate-red robes, walking on the street, doing chores or playing games.
For more information about the Buddhist monks in Burma go to: https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Myanmar/sub5_5c/entry-3035.html.
Mandalay may have the distinction of being the place where we had our most dangerous ride.... in the back of a truck carrying canisters of some sort of gas.... . Fortunately the road we were on was smooth, and the ride was short.
For more information about Mandalay go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay
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