Mandalay

Anyone who has just spent two hours typing out a blog entry in an internet cafe in Thailand, listening to the drunks across the road getting increasingly drunker and louder in some lame excuse for a karaoke bar, to think that their entry had crashed and would need retyping......would appreciate the last thirty minutes that I have just had. So after a brief refreshment of beef noodles and some more cheap beer I am delighted to tell find that my entry didn't crash and,hopefully,you have just read my refugee camp installment.
For those who know not about Myanmar, please click onto the following link,
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/myanmar
This should give you a rough idea about Myanmar and its present political and social climate. Myanmar, by the way, is the country that used to be called Burma, and since we gave it that name in our colonnial period, they have , and quite rightly, changed back to their original name. My decision to go there was not a light one, as I'm sure is the case for any other visitor to their shores. Of course there will be those of you who will disagree, and I'm sure that these opinions will be voiced on my return.
I flew into Mandalay, eventually, having had a couple of entertaining evenings in Chang Mai, where I am now becoming very familiar with. On the flight out, there was one other western looking person, a man called Norman. Norman was well spoken, about fifty years of age and looked the academic type. On enquiring as to his profession, it turns out that he was an atomic nuclear physicist.......it was at this point that I stopped asking too many questions, on the basis that I wouldn't even comprehend the answers. I was right.
Mandalay airport wasn't the busiest, in fact our flight was the last one in, there was one taxi waiting and I'm fairly sure that they turned off the lights and locked the door after us as we left the building.
The drive into Mandalay was a pretty good indication of things to come. Switching from one side of the road to the other, to avoid the really big potholes and the bits of road that weren't road, passing the odd ox drawn cart, scooters and trucks, fifty percent of which didn't have lights, doors,bonnets and elements that we would take for granted. You can forget roadtax and indicators completely! The driving style makes the Thais look like saints. To make matters even trickier, the vehicles are right hand drive and they all drive on the right hand side of the road because.........an astrologer told them to?!? The astrologer thing is a big deal in Myanmar, don't ask, it just is.
On checking into the guest house,the first thing that I notice about Myanmar, is the intermittent power cuts. In fact the power is off more than it is on. So the fan in my room, which was the only thing preventing my body from reaching meltdown point, stopped as soon as i got into bed. Ok, calm relaxing thoughts time, and time for another cold shower. I say cold, however, the water is luke warm at its coolest.......wonderful. Another night of sweating myself to sleep, I mean it's only about 30 degrees at night. On the plus side, I'm looking decidedly trimmer. Eating rice all day and melting for a month has to have its benefits.
So after my first night in Myanmar, I start to explore the city. On foot........and do I attract some attention. I was told that there wouldn't be too many white people here, and I think that was somewhat of an understatement. If I felt like some prize zoo exhibit at the refugee camp, that feeling can be multiplied several times over here. I would liken myself to a large albino monkey, walking around in circles, with the obligatory confused grin on his face. However, despite how odd we, or should I say I, must look to them, the Burmese are by far the friendliest people I've ever met. Everyone wants to say hello, I smile and they all smile back with huge grins and I don't think that I have ever mentioned Manchester United and Wayne Rooney as many times in one week, let alone in one day.
The lack of power in Mandalay, tends to govern my timekeeping and,unlike Thailand, there are no bars or drinking holes to slope off to, so the nights are early and so are the mornings.

I find some suitably money orientated local to hire a bike from the next day, and extend my boundaries of exploration.Not that far though, as I still find myself riding around in circles. I'm not sure if this is down to the crooked bike, or my inability to navigate the streets properly. Either way, I still find more people to smile at and talk about Wayne Rooney. It amazes me, how a 19 year old from Liverpool has managed to infiltrate some cultures only recently opened to the western tourist.......although it has to be said that his vision and work rate on the football pitch is second to none in the premiership, at the moment..... I digress.

Mandalay is, as one seasonned traveller that I met put it, a mixture of Thailand 30years ago with a bit of India thrown in. I wasn't in Thailand 30 years ago and I've never been to India, so I'll have to take his word for it. It is however, a remarkable place, and one with areas of great beauty, such as Mandalay hill(which tales a deceptively long time to climb and you have to do in barefeet). Incredible views, and to cap it all off, I was accompanied by a group of nuns on the way up and down. They even wanted their photo taken with me(I'm the one in the middle with the blue vest on, hard to tell the difference I know).

The other highlight of my stay in Mandlay was the U Bein bridge, which is claimed to be the largest wooden bridge in the world. I'm not entirely sure about that although it did take me a long time to walk along it, and back. Probably a more realistic claim to fame is that the road to U bein bridge, 84th street to be precise, could lay claim to being the most dangerous road .....for western cyclists ........on very old bicycles...in the world! The sounding of horns is the chosen form of indication, and this is only done when the vehicle is right along side of you. I'm not entirely sure if this is done for humour or safety, however, the locals are used to it, but I certainly wasn't.

Mandalay also has an incredible amount of monks, and I , like every other westerner seem to have acquired a taste for photographing them. this will become apparent on the next update.

Well, the hour is drawing late, the internet cafe is closing and I'm out of cheap beer. So this chapter must come to a close for now, and you'll all have to wait a few days for me to get to Laos and find a suitable computer to unload my thoughts and experiences on you next time.