In and Around Mandalay
After having spent 5 days in Mandalay, I have come to the conclusion that this city has what is undoubtably the worst air pollution I have encountered in memorable experience. It does seem that most tourists arrive, get swept around the main sights by taxi and flee for the next city within one or two days but spending longer walking and cycling around you really become affected by the air pollution. We’ll be glad to leave for somewhere where we can actually breathe! Although we’ve only been to the two main cities and admittedly have yet to visit the two largest drawcards in Myanmar (the ancient city of Bagan and Inle Lake), but at the moment I’m not sure whether I’m so fond of Myanmar. The people are friendly and have lovely smiles and knowing the impossible situation they live in certainly makes you want to support and help them, however I’m not entirely sure why previous visitors to Myanmar we met in other countries have gushed so much about how much they love the place and how amazing it is. After visiting the “big four” areas of Myanmar, we will be heading into more rural areas and perhaps my perception will change. I have a feeling that for some people the mystery and adventure associated with visiting a country like Myanmar weighs almost as heavily as what is actually inside the country. I’m sure many people will disagree however speaking to other travellers taking it slow through Myanmar, they feel the same way.
After spending some time reflecting on the differences between Tibet and Myanmar, I realised one glaring difference. Walking around Mandalay and its surrounds, you see a lot of monks going about their daily business, while in Tibet it was rather rare to see monks on the street, they all tended to stay within the monastaries and temples. Other than the presence of monks, it really does feel like an industrial city in rural China. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like outside of a major city once we reach Bagan.
Ben.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
When Orwell was working in Burma (he was 20 or so, in the 1920′s) he used to dislike the monks because they would come to the British vs locals soccer games and try to trip the British players from the sidelines! My only impression of Mandalay comes from Orwell’s first novel “Burmese Days” (which wasn’t actually set in Mandalay, I don’t think), which of course has a tropical, colonial, gin-and-tonic kind of atmosphere. There is also Kipling’s poem, of which the only line I can remember is “Come you back, you British soldier, come you back to Mandalay!”, which suggests that is must have been a nice place 100 years ago, notwithstanding again the colonial context.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I can imagine Mandalay would have been quite a nice place, and certainly would still be if not for the diesel fumes and the ugly concrete box buildings springing up everywhere with the influx of Chinese money. Any previous colonial charm has long faded away. I was also expecting more of the place and perhaps my expectations made my let down that much worse! I also did read somewhere though, that although when we read the literature we imagine Burma was quite a nice place for a colonial soldier to be positioned, it was actually considered the worst place due to the heat, insects and hard to manage locals! Perhaps what we read is not quite as true as we’d like to believe.