A very short airplane ride to Mandalay. We went to some factories to see how the bronze castings of statues are made. Interesting, but OSHA would not be happy here. Reminiscent of my daughter, Ellen's, old job In a metal fabrication factory. Then down the street to the Marble factory. Similar production stuff using hand labor to cut and polish the stones, one at a time. No one using masks and dust flying everywhere. Silicosis, anyone? Similar remembrances for Jill.
We next went to the Mahamuni Temple. This is a sacred temple to Buddha with a large gold Buddha in the center. Only men were allowed to approach closely (😩) and take pictures. The other men were applying gold leaf to the base of the statue in what appeared to be a religious/spiritual gesture. The women stayed behind, and the other women were fervently praying.
Mandalay has different kinds of pagodas. They are more round and almost all of them have a gold top.
After lunch and checking into the Mandalay Hill hotel, we went than orphanage to deliver the crayons and toothbrushes and paper good we had brought. These kids were so cute. We were each escorted from the bus by a kid who held our hand, and we got a short talk about their lives. The orphanage is run by the nuns to keep these kids out of slavery or trafficking, which is so prevalent in this part of the world. I wish we had brought a soccer ball in addition to the other supplies. Chang, our guide, said the boys could play soccer but not the girls, and I of course said why not? But, alas, I didn't have the ball, and the moment passed.
We went to the Golden Palace wooden pagoda. This dates to the 1880's and was built for the king. It is all wood, with intricate carvings inside and out. Much of the inside is gold leaf covered, but it is not being continually recovered as is the Buddha of Mahamuni. Outside, we were asked to be in pictures with some of the teenagers who were also visiting. This was a similar scene to the Baby Taj in Agra. It was if we were the exotic ones and they wanted a picture of us...
Next to the Kuthodaw pagoda, which is famous for its 729 tablets of the laws of Buddhism. Each is enclosed in a small marble pagoda, and they are all lined up in rows around this temple. Huge.
We took the bus and a truck ride to the top of the big Mandalay hill, for which our hotel wan named. This is the only hill in this valley, and there is a large pagoda on top. We were there mostly for the sunset. This was marred by the smoke from the burning trash fires. Since this was also a pagoda, were were again barefoot. It just made it interesting going up the escalators to reach the top without shoes. I could see a toe disappearing into the combs of the escalator.
Finally to Ko's Kitchen for a Thai dinner. Overall, the food is good but not spectacular. Lots of variations on the same theme. The only thing that was different was the home dinner we had in Bagan. That had a number of items we had never seen - star beans and other things I can't remember. The rest of the meals are mostly at tourist-style restaurants which seem to cater to the group tours.
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