Above: The countryside between Heho and Mandalay is very red.
Would you do this to a friend?
I’m leaving my hotel in Yangon today where I have been chatting to an Israeli guy there too. He seems to be in Yangon indefinitely, waiting for his friend to come from Bangkok at a date that hasn’t been confirmed.
He knows nothing about Myanmar or Yangon. He hasn’t even heard of Shwedagon Pagoda or the famous parts of the country. Apparently he just got a visa to come over to join his friend (who hasn’t turned up yet).
Could this be some cruel joke? Does he know that there are no international ATMs in the country? He could run out of money soon!
On the road to Mandalay
I haven’t read a book since school, so I don’t know what Rudyard Kipling was on about in his book “On the Road to Mandalay” (or “Kim” when I was recently in Lahore).
But I’m going any way. My flight had been rescheduled by a couple of hours (notified at ticketing) plus a stop in Heho introduced. This meant the early afternoon arrival into Mandalay became late afternoon. It rendered the day rather useless but on the plus side, I had an extremely relaxed morning.
I shared a car with an Aussie couple from Mandalay airport into the city which was a long ride. I had tried calling various hotels in the city but they were all full, so I went along with the Aussie’s choice. It was nice enough; I got a single room for USD20 with shared bathroom (cold water and squat toilet) plus excellent wifi; remember Myanmar is not a value destination.
It turned out to be 30 minutes walk from the centre and not backpacker friendly (eg. daytrips etc). I guess the alternative was to door-knock the various hotels in the centre … I think I got the lesser of the two evils.
I did a quick walkaround of the city centre after dropping my luggage. It was chaotic with traffic, especially motorcycles. The smog was terrible; the nearby Mandalay Hill wasn’t visible. I don’t think I like this place.
After a quick dinner of paratha, I retired for an early night. The tail end of this flu is making me feel very tired rather early despite such an easy day.
Mandalay Palace at dusk with the moat in the foreground.