A Quick Visit to Mandalay to Explore the Top Sights of the City
My original plan included staying in Mandalay two days, one to explore Mandalay and one to explore the towns around it, but after talking to other travellers and doing additional research, I changed this plan to be an afternoon arrival from Bagan with a late evening departure to Kalaw meaning I had 1:30pm to 9:00pm to explore.
Getting from Bagan to Mandalay
As it turns out, the distance is not so great going from Bagan to Mandalay so rather than the plush overnight bus services there are minibuses that run all day. I chose the 7:30am pickup with 8:30am departure so that I would arrive around 1:30pm with enough time to explore but not too early to where I missed breakfast. Cost: 9,000 kyat. I was of course the first picked up and we just kept picking up more and more people until we were beyond capacity. A couple of people were sitting in the “aisle” of the minibus pushing us to about twenty people with me being the token foreigner.
The roads were bumpy and we made two pit stops, the first at a small town and the second at a roadside station. The first one was admittedly a bit terrifying. They opened the doors so people could choose to get out or not and the van door was swarmed with beggars and ladies selling snacks. The beggars were extremely aggressive smacking the guy in front of me with their collection container and consistently poking him and talking in Burmese.
One of the bus drivers asked me “toilet?” To which I was like um no thanks… And then he closed our van door leaving the rest of us in somewhat peace for the ten minute stop. Immediately the beggars started prying open the couple of sliding windows on the bus and continued thrusting their hands into the van and asking for money as others pressed their faces up against the windows. I was immediately grateful I was not near the windows and equally glad I did not need the toilet urgently.
The second stop was just a few street stalls and some quite old, broken, and dirty toilets, but at least it was easy to get in and out of the van! It was also at this stop I realized someone had their rooster strapped to the roof without luggage… Anything goes! A couple of hours later we arrived in Mandalay. After dropping a few people off, I was still debating on my destination as the tourist sites in the city are fairly spread out and I had to carry my backpack.
Eventually we pulled into the bus station where we were swarmed again, this time my taxi and motorbike taxi drivers. At this point I was asked where I’d like to be dropped off. I pointed to one of the main tourist destinations and received a confused look and then asked where I was staying in Mandalay to which I explained I was leaving by bus later that evening.
Then a different man came into the van and proposed being my motorbike driver for the day. He would take me to all of the sites including the famous U-Bein Bridge in a neighboring town for sunset and bring me back in time for my bus. My backpack could come with us or we could drop it at my evening bus’ office. I asked his price, 15,000 kyat, which is just under $12 and decided it was well worth it as I’d need a taxi to get to the U-Bein Bridge and bus station anyway later and this solved all of my other concerns. Sure, I probably could have gotten a lower price, but it seemed reasonable enough to me already and he spoke English and had a beaming smile in a completely non-intimidating way.
Seeing the Main Sights of Mandalay by Motorbike
Having secured my plan for the day, we set off to drop off my backpack at the bus office which went very smoothly. From there we made a number of stops at the top sights in Mandalay.
Mahamuni Pagoda
The second holiest spot in Myanmar, this pagoda features a four meter high Buddha covered in gold leaf. Apparently if you put gold on it you get a wish. It’s nowhere near as large as the most important site Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, but it’s beautiful and a sight to see. They actually have cameras set up so you can watch closely as people apply gold leaf to the Buddha. It’s also fascinating as they have a series of photos of the Buddha over the years from before it was covered in gold to the now bumpy exterior from all of the layers. There’s no entrance fee but a 1,000 kyat camera fee.
Shwenandew Monastery
This monastery is an open to the public monastery made completely out of teak wood which was part of the original Royal Palace. It was not on my radar for my limited visit but was glad my driver thought to add it as it is covered in beautiful ornate carvings including the sun and moon gods represented by a peacock and rabbit respectively. It’s an active monastery so a number of monks were around. Apparently all young men have to be a monk for a minimum of one week.
Royal Palace
Admittedly I did not go in the Royal Palace. I had read it’s a controversial place to visit and apparently it costs $10 for a five-day ticket so I decided against it, but we did drive up to the entrance. It is located in a GIANT square fortress in the middle of the city complete with walls protecting it and a moat. I think each side is about a kilometer long!
Kuthodaw Paya
Home of the World’s Largest Book, Kuthodaw has 729 white pagodas each featuring a giant stone tablet with text on both sides making up the complete text of one of the Buddhists most sacred texts, but it is written in a language that no one today can read. In any case, the vast number of pagodas makes it a pretty neat place to visit and also, my aunt had sent me an article of “Can’t miss” in Myanmar and this was one of them!
Sandamuni Paya
Similar and adjacent to Kuthodaw Pata, this one holds more white pagodas featuring stone tablets with text to other Buddhist texts and is almost equally impressive.
Bien Bridge
The World’s Longest Teak Bridge at 1.2km is located just outside of Mandalay in Amarapura and is a highly popular sunset spot (and for good reason!). We arrived about an hour prior to sunset and I was happy to find food stalls and shops around the entrance to the bridge as I had not eaten since breakfast. I grabbed a snack and started walking out on the bridge. It is set a few meters above a large shallow lake with many fisherman wading in the water.
As sunset got closer about 25 boats holding 1 – 5 tourists each pulled out onto the water for the perfect sunset photo. I opted however to continue my walk and take pictures along the way as it was quite picturesque including brilliant reflections of the setting sun and a dying tree. In the middle you can descend to some land to see the bridge from below. It’s a peaceful place with minimal touts and beggars but lots of tourists. There was even a couple taking wedding photos with the setting sun. I believe it might have been the highlight of my time in Mandalay, so don’t miss it!
I paid my driver and bid him farewell, what a lovely man! I hope it means he was done for the day and able to return home to his family.
Having seen what I wanted to see in the city and not finding the city itself to have much charm or be too walker friendly, I was happy with my decision to switch up my travel plans and returned to the bus station to await my 10pm overnight bus to Kalaw.
