So our two days in Mandalay come to an end early tomorrow morning with our 5:30am wake up call to get up and to the airport for our 40 minute flight north to Heho and Kalaw.
A week into this trip, Myanmar and it's people are really growing on me. Wherever we go, we are greeted with warm sincere smiles. Even the young girls and women trying to sell us their wares on the streets are very gracious and for the most part walk away with a smile when we rebuff their efforts to buy something from them. This was true at the sites we visited in Mandalay as well as the town of Mingun we traveled to this morning, which was an hour's boat ride down the Irawaddy River from Mandalay.
As the once royal city where the king resided surrounded by a very large moat, there are gold domed pagodas throughout, a few of which we visited. We also toured the shops of the trades that once served the king. Yesterday it was the metal smiths and sculptors and today we saw the wood sculpture, tapestry and puppetry and gold leaf workshops. The wood carvings were beautiful and the intricacy of all of the work was impressive. I kept trying to find a reason to buy one of the puppets, but reason finally prevailed since I really could not figure out what I would do with it once we got home.
Both days ended with photo ops of beautiful sunsets. Yesterday we went to the highest point in the city, and since we went by bus rather than climbing, I was able to join in. And today we watched the sunset over the U Bein bridge which is an old teak bridge which traverses the Irawaddy River.
Tonight we turned in early after a light dinner at the hotel--every once in a while you need a break from all of these big meals. Steve is already sound asleep beside me and it is not yet 9:00pm, which probably means he will be up sometime during the night.
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