Mandalay

Moon lit Ayeyarwady

This city is awesome. We arrived by boat from Bagan along the River Ayeyarwady (irrawady) where we set off before sunrise meaning we were traveling by moonlight.

Sun rise over the river Ayeyarwady

The journey is around 6 hours but very calm. You don't get fed that well though so I would take extra food.

We seemed to meet travellers over 60 most of the times but I think this will change with time.

We experienced sunrise which is always special but a bit more so on a boat along the calm River Ayeyarwady in Myanmar.

I left my hoodie on the boat and when I went back for it the next day they still had it which is comforting when away from home. The locals seem friendly and out to help.

Highlights:

Meeting 'Joe' our friendly local driver. He had named himself Joe after American tourists found it hard to pronounce his name. Joe is a dad to 6 kids!

He was such a great driver, he took us to the important places, told us history and local stories about fat and thin hotel owning sisters from China, transvestites, The British and all sorts of other funny things.

This city was such a mix of nationalities and religions and had a really buzzing vibe. This might have been our favourite place. This used to be the capital city so explains why there is so much going on. It's isn't huge though so not over whelming.

You could sit in an outdoor street food place and get fresh chapatis and daal for 20p. The prices are still pretty low and local don't seem to want to add tourist tax too much yet but it may change in the coming years.  We felt very happy here and should have spent longer. We were only here 1-2 days and could have seen more if we'd had time.  You can catch Joe at the cafe where lonely plant tells you to go. The streets are on a grid systems so you can find him between 25th and 82nd street.

Joe of Mandalay

            

Joe took us all over to see all the different crafts including stone Buddha making. It's supposed to the biggest Buddha making area in the country. There was also a lot of weaving and we also went to visit a fully functioning monastery. 

Sabina chilling with 'Joe'

Legohead Bhudda 

Advertising is minimal so far in Myanmar, which was probably more refreshing than you know, but Dove does appear everywhere which made me laugh as I had just left a huge Dove advertising project before the trip. The brand had followed me!

Dove on banners but not digital

Nice designs in the Monastery 

These comedians were imprisioned for mocking the government, just shows how censored and tightly run the country was