Tag Archives: Myanmar

Inle Lake

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I’ve been in fear of this moment, and perhaps that’s why I’m a little late with this post.

The fact is that Inle Lake was so enchanting that Dan and I, wanting to capture everything, took maybe a thousand photographs in one day. And now I have to sort through this incredible flood of images–and memories–and figure out how to organize it in portions small enough for you to swallow in one session.

It’s a daunting task.

But to give you just the smallest glimpse of what’s coming, here are a few images of, well, nothing in particular. Just landscape. Just glorious, beautiful, exotic, enchanting landscape.

    

 

This last image, by the way, is the driveway to our hotel. There is no land access.

I hope I’ve whetted your appetite with this little sampler. There is so much more to see.

 

Mandalay – Shwe Inbin Monastery (or: an orphan makes good)

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Shwe Inbin is a remarkably well preserved teak monastery structure. It was built in 1895 by a Chinese orphan who worked himself up from an poverty to become a rich and powerful merchant, married to one of the king’s daughters, if I recall the tale correctly. Long used as a monastery, it is now being preserved as an historically significant structure; monks from the still-active monastery buildings that surround Shwe Inbin still act as caretakers.

And perhaps the mango trees on the grounds, dropping their near-ripe fruit like cannonballs on the unwary visitor, are also doing their part as caretakers.

The carvings that adorn the teak building, in the traditional Burmese style, are gorgeous. So is the building as a whole.

    

Inside, the teak carvings are also lovely, and the sanctuary contains two gold Buddhas. I don’t know why, but I find these Buddhas tasteful and restrained, despite their being gold. Maybe I am developing gold-tolerance, needing higher and higher doses before it sets off my “excessive!” button.

As we were leaving, we came across the guardian monks, hard at work in their caretaking duties.

After seeing this monastery (and surviving the attack of the guardian mango trees once again), we had yet another delicious Burmese dinner and got ready for our early morning flight the next day to Inle Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

Mandalay – a visit to Mingun

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Yesterday, as you may recall, a river boat brought our intrepid travelers up the Irrawaddy River to Mingun. As we approached the ancient royal capital, we could see one of the reasons we are here looming above the riverside.

Begun in 1790 by King Bodawpaya, the Mingun Pahtodawgyi was intended to become the world’s largest stupa. But when a prophesy foretold that the king would die upon completion of the stupa, construction was slowed down to prevent this unfortunate event. However, nature will have its way, and the king died anyway; and construction on the pagoda was halted. An earthquake in 1839 damaged the foundations. And so here we were visiting what is now archly called the world’s largest pile of bricks.

This pile of bricks, however, comes with the world’s largest ringing (that is, not cracked) bell. And it does actually ring. I know. I rang it.

You see the characters carved into the bell? Just so you know, these are the Burmese characters for “55555,” a very lucky number (hey, five times luckier than just 5) that also happens to be the weight of the bell in Burmese viss (1 viss = 3.5 pounds, so the bell is just shy of 100 tons).

But I have gotten ahead of myself. As we approached Mingun, the first thing we saw, of course, was the unfinished pagoda. The next was groups of people washing clothing. Wednesdays must be Wash Day in Mingun.

 

 

We also had a welcoming committee.

 

 

One of the children approached me, and I got over the instinctive fear of tourists everywhere that she was hustling something. Or worse yet, begging. (We saw no beggars in Myanmar.) She spoke a little English and asked my name, and I asked hers. And it turned out that what she wanted was to exchange a handful of American coins (quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies) for American bills. The coins are worthless in Myanmar, but the bills, even small ones, have some value. And I can use the coins as well as the bills. It’s a win-win proposition. We did the deal and solemnly thanked one another. And I raced to catch up with Dan and Zaw.

The guy with the oxcart taxicab followed us everywhere, hoping to give us a ride. But everything was close, and we relished the chance to stretch our legs, even in the heat and humidity. Later, I learned that our itinerary had promised us transportation via oxcart in Mingun. Poor guy. I hope they paid him anyway.

After the unfinished pagoda, we proceeded to the shining white Hsinbyume Pagoda, built by King Bagyidaw for his wife. It is modeled on the idea of the mythical but holy Mt. Meru, surrounded by seven mountain ranges (represented by the seven wavy terraces).

We climbed to the top platform, which opened to stunning views all around. And provided a few sheltered surprises.

    

 

Inside the temple on the top were two lovely Buddhas, one in front of the other. We heard a story somewhere along the way about a “decoy Buddha,” but I can’t verify whether this is that one or not.

 

 

Mandalay – Cruising the Irrawady River

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Our second day in Mandalay began with a cruise eleven kilometers up the Irrawady River (or perhaps more properly the Ayeyarwadi River) to Mingun. More about Mingun in tomorrow’s post; this post is about the river.

Over two thousand kilometers long, the Irrawady bisects Myanmar from north to south; its basin of over 400,000 square kilometers represents more than half the country’s area. And it is, according to the Burma Rivers Network, the fifth most silted river in the world.

Our journey starts with the perilous crossing of several boats across a narrow wooden plank that seems insecurely attached. Okay, well, that’s how it seemed to me. To Dan it was probably a safe crossing across a secure wooden plank that was easily wide enough.

There are houseboats and commercial activities along the river’s edge near Mandalay.

 

    

People also live in small communities built at the river’s edge. Here’s one…
  

And here’s another.

  

Of course, in the dry season, these houses are all probably high and dry. And when the monsoon season advances further, they might all be in the river. The height of those stilts is probably no accident.

Here’s some of the river and agrarian life of the people in these communities.

   

 

Of course, at the end of our visit to Mingun, the whole process was reversed, with a safe return to Mandalay.

  

 

 

 

Mandalay – the market

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It’s hard to pass by a good market, and Mandalay has the best one so far. It has a main market building, where floor space is at a premium, and merchants stack their wares up high. And ancillary market buildings with narrow aisles. And neighboring market streets. And places that are wide enough that an ad-hoc sort of flea market might spring up.

 

The main building

You can buy pretty much anything here, from traditional herbal remedies to cowbells to clothing, even a hardware store for Dan. The patterns of the intensively arrayed merchandise were dizzying. I liked to photograph them.

             

The ancillary markets

The ancillary markets range in formality but are shopped just as intensively as the main market.

     

    

The flea market

Well, maybe it’s a flea market, and maybe it’s just the low-rent low-overhead section.

 

Mandalay – Breakfast in Myanmar

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I suppose we have come to the moment when I have to admit that Dan and I have been staying in something resembling luxury hotels. In our own eyes, this is not “us.” But through an accident of a chain of travel agents, this is how we have ended up.

And okay, it’s fun. Especially the welcoming cold face towels in this hot, humid weather.

So we are staying in the Sedona Hotel in Mandalay, a fine old British Raj type of building just across from the old palace of the king, which now houses government buildings we would prefer not to think about. Around this complex there is a moat. Around the moat there is a park with a walking path with exercise stations that people actually use.

And, on the cross street, just across from a busy local restaurant with a name written in an alphabet that we cannot decipher. And whose popularity we can observe from our hotel window and ultimately we can’t resist. And that serves delicious food with attentive service, which if we could only cross the street without dying of a heart attack (see: Motorbikes in Mandalay) we might patronize all the time.

But I am here to talk about breakfast. Breakfast is included in the hotel bill and is offered as an extensive buffet of all the things you might hope to choose from at breakfast, and more besides.

It’s the “more besides” that gets my interest this morning. There seems to be a whole sub-buffet devoted to an interesting… can it really be *soup*? For breakfast?

Yes!

It’s Burmese fish soup, the national breakfast dish.

Well, how long can a person stay in Myanmar without at least trying the national dish? Especially if that person has come to believe that Burmese cuisine just might be the most delicious on the planet?

But this is complicated. I have to engage one of the servers to explain it to me. He tells me the name is Moht Hin Khar (later found on the Internet as “mohingar”, and this is how it’s laid out. Behold:

I put together a bowl of this heavenly scented breakfast, adding the condiments that appeal to me. And scrape the bowl clean. And wish I had room for a second whole identical breakfast right on top of the first.

This is the best breakfast I’ve ever had. How have they kept this a secret in Myanmar for so long? Why has it not yet taken over the planet?

Here is an idea of what’s in the soup:

  • fish
  • lemongrass
  • turmeric
  • onion
  • garlic
  • ginger
  • chilies
  • shrimp paste
  • fish sauce

This is in the soup itself. There are also, don’t forget, all those condiments. Add what you like.

Here are a few links to recipes:

I’m going to try to make this sometime. But given my difficulty in getting even the coffee right in the morning, maybe not for breakfast.

 

 

Mandalay – On the trail of King Mindon Min

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King Mindon Min (1808 – 1878), the penultimate ruler of an independent Myanmar kingdom, was a popular ruler who, together with his capable younger brother, managed to successfully defend his territory against British encroachment. They also modernized much of the kingdom and were feared–or at least respected–by the British, who did their best to be rid of both of them.

But King Mindon’s heart was with the Buddha.

Instead of living in the royal palace with his many wives and children, King Mindon lived in a monastery he constructed nearby. It was built entirely of teak, beautifully carved inside and out, and covered in gold leaf. Although much of the exterior carvings have weathered, the beauty of the structure is still evident today.

Have I said that the wood-carving is exquisite? Take a look at a few close-ups.

    

Inside, the ornate carving is better preserved, and the gold leaf that gave the monastery its name (Shwenadaw = Golden Palace) is still evident. Slender teak columns support a stunningly high ceiling.

  

 

King Mindon is also famous for convening a council of Buddhist leaders from all over the world to review and agree upon the Buddhist canon of laws (the Tripitaka). To commemorate this accomplishment, the King built a temple–the Kuthodaw Pagoda–where each of the 729 pages of the final version of the book is inscribed in marble and enshrined separately, each in its own small stupa surrounding a central pagoda. (I don’t think the electric halo was an original from King Mindon’s time.)

 

Alas, the ending of this story is a sad one. Although King Mindon survived a coup attempt by the British, his younger brother and heir Kanaung did not. Two of his own sons conspired against him in this attempt, resenting that Kanaung had been named heir and not them. And so the King was reluctant to name another heir after Kanaung’s death.

When he was old, his principal wife had designs on the throne for herself and her daughter, but alas, a woman could not inherit. And so she (the Queen) married her daughter to one of the King’s sons by another wife and systematically set about to murder all of his other sons who might be possible heirs. King Mindon survived all of his sons but the one.

And so the son/son-in-law did inherit the throne, becoming the last king of independent Burma, King Thibaw Min. He was a weak king, much dominated by his wife and mother-in-law. It wasn’t long before the British defeated him (in the third Anglo-Burmese war, 1885), ending Burma’s independence.

Mandalay – Maha Muni Paya

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Maha Muni Paya (Great Sage Temple) is a particularly holy site among Myanmar Buddhists and others. It contains an ancient Buddha statue (the Maha Muni Buddha), which was transported to Mandalay from Mrauk U in the kingdom of Rakhine (which borders modern Bangladesh), when that kingdom was defeated by the Burmese in 1784. But the statue is much, much older. Some believe that the statue was cast in 554BC, one of only five statues of the Buddha made during his lifetime; that it was breathed upon by him; and that it therefore became an exact likeness.

But the statue has been much altered . More about this later.

The temple itself, reconstructed in the late 1800s after the original temple burned, is ornate and filled with worshippers. Women are not allowed to approach the Buddha beyond a certain point. (This does not sit well with me, but there you have it.)

 

 

Now, here’s the weird part. Men, who are allowed to touch the Buddha image, constantly apply gold leaf to it. This is considered an act of virtue. (They also brush the Buddha’s teeth in the morning, an interesting deed considering that Buddha’s mouth is closed.)

  

 

A pictorial chronography shows the changes to the Buddha over the years as men have continued to apply gold leaf to him.

Let’s look at these changes in a little more detail.

1901

1935

1984

2010

 

Mandalay – Making Buddhas of Bronze and Marble

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It’s time to talk about how they make the bronze and marble Buddhas that we find in all those temples and holy places and who knows where-all else. Because make them, the people of Myanmar certainly do. And in abundance.

Bronze Buddhas are still made (as they have been made here for millennia) using the lost-wax method. In this method, the finished statue is first carved in wax on top of a clay base mold. A second clay frame is then molded around the wax statue. Molten bronze is poured in between the two molds, melting the wax (which is therefore indeed lost) and filling the space that the wax had occupied. When the mold is cooled and broken open, the bronze statue inside is a perfect replica of the original wax statue. And every wax statue is indeed a unique original; each is hand-carved and then destroyed in the bronze casting process.

The workshop yard, filled with works in process

 

A finished wax image; behind to the left, a clay base on which a wax image will be carved

Behind the wax statue (upper right) is a finished mold ready for bronze pouring

And voila! A finished bronze statue!

You too can buy a bronze statue, either custom ordered or a standard design.

Pre-ordered and prepaid statues ready to ship to their purchasers

Statues offered for sale

 

Marble Buddhas are made in storefront workshops along a two- or three-block stretch of road in the outskirts of Mandalay. We chanced upon this area while driving…somewhere else…and our guide Zaw, knowing we like this sort of thing, stopped so that we could walk up and down the street and take pictures.

There was a kind of surreal weirdness seeing all these pristine white Buddhas and all manner of other beings just sitting or lying about, many without faces and yet facing in every direction. It’s the faceless ones that particularly enhance the surreal quality of the scene.

     

We particularly enjoyed watching the stone carvers at their work.

 

  

Mandalay – Lunch at the Mahagandhayan Monastery

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Lunch at the Mahagandhayan Monastery has definitely made it onto the tourist circuit. It’s tons of fun, but still, don’t you think it’s kind of odd that tourists gather every day to watch the monks eat lunch? I read that the monks do. I’m glad they find us amusing.

I think that part of the appeal for us tourists is just to watch the monks at all. There are so very many monks in Myanmar. They’re all around on the streets doing…er, whatever monks do when they’re out and about. And they’re very noticeable, with their bright garments and shaved heads. And so we learn that religious Burmese people, meaning… everyone… enters the monastery at least three times in their lives: once as a young child for a week or two; again as a young man setting out in life for a couple of weeks or a month, and a third time sometime in maturity, perhaps to stay. And women too may become nuns, though there are far fewer of them. And we tourists have little innate sense of what that life experience may be like. And so we gather to watch and learn.

Mahagandhayan Monastery is the first living monastery (that is, not in ruins) that we have seen. Since it is a popular destination, signs let us know what the monastic life is all about.

As we enter the monastery, the monks are starting to gather, and the crowd soon grows. Those wearing white are the very youngest monks, perhaps six years old. Many monks bring their towels along, and I am irreverently reminded of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

   

As if by magic, two neat lines form, and the monks enter the dining hall courtyard. Today we have benefactors, who have donated a sweet dessert.

    

The dining hall itself is large, and it appears that the monks sit, as they have entered, by rank and age. This is the last meal they will eat this day (and it’s still morning!) but they may save leftovers for later if they’re hungry.

 

 

Not everyone is as impressed with this lunchtime display as we tourists are.