Booking for next year
Having retired too early last night, I woke around 1am. I realised that this was also the first day of AirAsia’s latest zero-fare sale (shortest fights are zero-fare but longer flights are at tiny prices). I managed to buy HKG-KUL-KCH-KUL-HKG for next Christmas for about NZD200 (11 hours flying) uninterrupted by powercuts that has plagued us before and after; it was a miracle!
As I feel bad for missing out the current Kiwi summer, I didn’t want any bells, whistles, detours and sidetrips to next summer’s itinerary.
Having booked it, I had regrets. I felt that I hadn’t made the most of the sale … they had flights KCH-KUL-MEL for NZD250 inclusive of taxes [Edit: that’s not cheap as I realise in future years fares for KUL-MEL can be as low as around NZD110 inclusive of taxes]. Or I could have gone to Beijing to connect to Harbin for the Ice Festival.
I managed to fall asleep despite my discontent, then pulled myself out of bed at 7am. I got breakfast on the roadside and found the gold-pounding area where men pound tiny slivers of gold into larger bits of gold-leaf (after more than 6 hours). It is truly back-breaking work.
Unfinished beauty at Mingun
My heart was set on going to Mingun this morning. I know taxis are expensive in Mandalay, but I didn’t know they were like hens teeth. Just as I was going to say “I hate this place”, the motorcycle taxis found me. I’m too scared to cycle in Mandalay’s traffic conditions. Within minutes I pillion-bitch on my way to the jetty for the 0900 boat to Mingun (an hour away upriver).
Boarding was interesting. Makeshift planks were placed from the land to the first boat and in between each boat to get to our actual boat. For each plank, two men hold a bamboo to serve as a railing for us to hold on to 🙂
On the 1h boat ride to Mingun, my tummy rumbled and I suddenly needed to “go”. Fortunately there was a toilet of sorts on the boat which consisted of an open-top three-sided cubicle with a gunnysack curtain on the fourth side. The floor was plank with a large gap in the middle which allowed waste to drop into the river. Nice clean toilet actually!
Mingun’s centrepiece is a ginormous base for a stupa that was never completed (started in 1789). I can’t even imagine how big the completed stupa would have been (supposedly 150m). The site had other temples and the world’s second largest bell.
I returned to Mandalay about 1400 and organised my onward travel to Bagan for two days time.
Tomorrow should be a full day so I chose to do nothing else for the rest of today. I’m going to skip Mandalay Hill … I don’t believe in going up a hill that I can’t see due to the smog.
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- Gold pounding is back-breaking. Imagine doing this for over 6 hours for just a small piece of gold?
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- Gold pounding is back-breaking. Imagine doing this for over 6 hours for just a small piece of gold?
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- Boats on the Ayeyarwady River.
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- On the Ayeyarwady River.
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- On the Ayeyarwady River with Mingun in the background.
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- Man with thanaka on his face (ground bark). Face-painting for kids of all ages.
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- Mingun’s taxi service.
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- Base of unfinished stupa at Mingun. Can you see the person at the base (right)?
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- Base of unfinished stupa at Mingun. Can you see the person at the base (right)?
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- Base of unfinished stupa at Mingun. Can you see the person at the base (right)?
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- Mingun taxi with ruins in the background.
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- Giant bell at Mingun; world’s second largest.
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- Temple at Mingun.
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- At Mingun looking down on the Ayeyarwady.
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- At Mingun looking down on the Ayeyarwady.
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- Temple at Mingun.
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- Back at Mandalay.
