1. Stop Mandalay

After spending the first night in Bangkok, we finally traveled to Mandalay in Myanmar. It was very hot and very stuffy in Mandalay. There was incredibly heavy traffic, especially with all the scooters and mopeds. Although there are a few traffic lights, there doesn't seem to be any real traffic rules. Everyone drives as they please. And it's always important to honk;-)

Mandalay Hill

After arriving at our hotel, we immediately took two bicycles and rode to Mandalay Hill. From there, the sunset was supposed to be very beautiful. But we had to climb over 1700 steps barefoot to get to the top. You see, you're not allowed to enter any pagodas or holy places with shoes. After the relatively strenuous climb, we had a very nice view of the city.

Amarapura, Inwa and Sagaing

The next morning, we rented a taxi for the whole day and visited the cities of Amarapura, Inwa, and Sagaing.

In Amarapura, we first saw the alms procession of the monks. Twice a day, the 1500 monks line up to each collect rice in their own pots and then eat together. It was swarming with tourists there. Not so nice was that some even continued to take photos of the monks while they were eating.

The next stop was Inwa. Here we took a round tour and visited various sights. The most interesting thing was the horse carriage ride over the very bumpy road.

After that, we visited two huge pagodas in Sagaing. In one of them, there was a room with 45 Buddha statues. It was really impressive.

The next day, we wanted to escape the heat of Mandalay and rented a scooter to go to the Dee Doke Waterfalls, which are about 1.5 km outside of Mandalay. It is a popular destination for the locals and still relatively unknown to other tourists. It was really beautiful there. There are 10 waterfalls at different heights where you can swim. We climbed all the way to the top. After more than half an hour of steep stairs, sometimes through the water, we reached the top and cooled off at the waterfall. The climb was definitely worth it. After us, a few local teenagers came with guitars and started playing music. We spent a few hours here before heading back to Mandalay in the afternoon.

Mingun, Gold Beaters, and the Palace of Mandalay

On our last day in Mandalay, we did some more sightseeing. In the morning, we took the ferry to Mingun. There, among other things, is the largest working bell in the world, and there was supposed to be the largest pagoda in the world as well. However, the king died during the construction phase, so the construction was not continued. Just the remaining part of the base gives an idea of how huge this pagoda was supposed to be.

In the afternoon, we rented bicycles again and first watched the gold beaters make gold leaf. It's really incredibly hard work.

On the other hand, we visited the former royal palace of Mandalay. It is an incredibly ostentatious complex. There is sparkling gold everywhere. The palace is surrounded by a kilometer-long park.

In the evening, we took the night bus to Inle Lake. The report on that will be coming in the next few days.