We first saw Mandalay in the morning when it was still dark so we could not make much out of it. We noticed some eateries in front of our hotel and a muddy road with puddles of water left after the rain. Again, it looks more like India than Thailand… After a short nap, we went for a walk and it turned out that the rest of the city is not exactly more interesting.<\/p>\n
Wide streets, narrow streets, some shops, not too many pavements which makes us struggle between cars and scooters. It gets even worse when we arrive at the restaurant recommended on Trip Advisor which turns out to be a shady eatery with everybody smoking inside. But I still try to believe in the amazing powers of delicious food. Unfortunately the duck looks so bad that we send it back to the kitchen. There’s pretty much no meat on it! Don’t waste your time for Super 81!<\/p>\n
We fight the hunger with fried noodles with chicken<\/em> the best thing you can eat in Burma;) So far at least<\/strong><\/p>\n Mandalay itself does not look particularly interesting, but there’s a bunch of places that are worth seeing. Plenty of temples – if you’re not tired of watching golden stupas and giant Buddhas yet, visit the Mandalay Palace or take a ride around the surroundings of Mandalay. It’s hard to walk around the city itself, especially with a little child, it’s also hard to find some place you’d like to seat in and enjoy the vibe. You can find some eateries around the palace, but the area looks a bit deserted, too quiet and too tidy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We arrived at Kuthodaw Pagoda<\/strong> after a day in Mandalay full of sightseeing, when we thought that we’re already really tired of all these pagodas, stupas and Buddha statues. When it comes to Buddhist temples, yes – they are amazing, but after a while, all sorts of churches become tiring and you no longer can tell the difference between stupa no. 1 and stupa no. 54 and remember where did which Buddha sit. Only Maks was still hungry for more and as ‘Buddha Detective’, he hunted for all figures in Burma and what’s even worse – he wanted pictures next to each of them! While he’s not looking for a new Buddha, he comes up with new tricks and ideas that he wants on pictures. You’ll see it for yourself in a minute \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Even though we were already a bit tired and bored, Kuthodaw<\/strong> was quite amazing, thanks to long rows of little white ‘houses’ each containing a marble slab with inscriptions. There’s 729 of them!!! That’s why this pagoda is also called ‘The World’s Largest Book’.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The most important place in Mandalay, where it’s really hard to spot or photograph Maha Muni Buddha since the statue is constantly surrounded by a crowd of believers. The whole complex is quite big and full of fascinating details such as tiny, colourful figures over the entrances to some of the rooms. In one room, you will find a huge scale model of South-East Asia. The model is quite schlocky but if you’re there with a child, it’s a great way to teach him some geography. In front of the entrance to Maha Muni, you will find long corridors full of shops with souvenirs where you can buy your own Buddha. They looked a bit like colourful bazaars in Istanbul to us and like there, you HAVE to haggle!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shwe In Bin<\/strong> was built in 1895 and we instantly liked it. Dark teakwood, sculpted figures and quiet around. It’s one of the old wooden monasteries in Mandalay that survived World War II. The peace you’ll find in the monastery makes it so much different from the crowded temples. This time, Maks decided to sing songs he learned in the kindergarten and dance. In the monastery \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Shwe Kyuang<\/strong> looks beautiful as well. You can see that it didn’t only serve as a monastery, king Mindon used it as well – there’s a throne and some additional ornaments in it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mandalay Palace<\/strong> is quite a peculiar place. Firstly, it’s not the actual thing – it was reconstructed. It’s absolutely huge! You can even see it on the map of Mandalay – initially I thought that it was a close-up of some city.. The terrains is the home for the palace, numerous buildings and lots of grass. Maks liked it since he could ran around on the grass and pick some flowers. Mandalay Palace was the seat of last Burmese monarch, but it was destroyed during World War II. In 1995, the palace was reconstructed along with all other palaces of former kings by the order of the government. This was probably supposed to bring back memories of the former glory. In Mandalay Palace, everything is a copy of the original but it still looks kind of weird. Huge grounds, empty, like a deserted city. Even though our Mandalay map says that it’s a must see, we didn’t find it particularly interesting… maybe apart from the couples posing for pictures \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the end of the day, we decided to have a look at Mandalay hill. There’s one more temple to see there (obviously!) and the city view. Worth considering, nothing special though. Maks continued to play Buddha and weird creatures detective \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While we were in Mandalay, we found a nice place to eat twice. We found the first one accidentally, and the second one was a recommendation from a person who often visits Burma. First one is a tiny Chinese restaurant called Singapura Restaurant<\/a><\/strong>. It’s a bar but it’s decent. Close to the hotel we stayed in (Tiger One) and Diamond Plaza shopping centre. Tasty noodles, great tofu and soups.<\/p>\nHere’s what we liked in Mandalay the most:<\/h3>\n
KUTHODAW PAGODA<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0142-2-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0094-2-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0096-640x959.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0120-2-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0117-3-640x959.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMAHA MUNI BUDDA<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0018-640x958.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMONASTERIES<\/h3>\n
SHWE IN BIN<\/h3>\n
![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0029-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0032-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0035-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMANDALAY PALACE ? A WEIRD PLACE!
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0047-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0059-640x959.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0069-2-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0060-640x959.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0067-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0163-3-640x959.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWHAT TO EAT IN MANDALAY?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0175-2-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Burma,](\"https:\/\/www.tasteaway.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0182-640x427.jpg\")
<\/p>\n