Mandalay & The Muddy Irrawaddy

Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, is home to over 1.6 million people and was a complete 180 from the serene Inle Lake. Seated on the Irrawaddy river, Mandalay is a hub of commerce & religion and is the last royal capital of Burma. Our bike tours around the city, in the two days we visited, really showed many sides of the current Myanmar culture. The stark differences between the wealthy modern city, and the abject poverty of those on the outskirts was difficult to stomach. Old and new ways sat side by side where in one field a farmer was sitting atop a huge diesel tractor, tilling his land, while his neighbor walked alongside an ox cart, slowly achieving the same results. 

In Mandalay, we visited the largest Monastery in the country, where over 1,000 monks live, practice and learn about Buddhism. Monks in this Myanmar are treated like royalty, the whole country pitches in with donations of all kinds to keep the monasteries up-kept and the monks fed. It is an understatement to say 'it takes a village.' 

Following a sunrise cycle among the fields that boarder the Glass Palace, we loaded onto an overnight boat to head 115 miles down the huge Irrawaddy River to Bagan. We took in the desert scenery, read books and relaxed before anchoring up for the evening to sleep along the banks of the Irrawaddy. We visited the remote village of Yandabo, known for their clay pots. During the rainy season, most of the village floods to waist level when the river swells past its banks.

In Mandalay we enjoyed a few bike tours through the magnificent and plentiful pagodas

Kristin pitched in with the local ladies cutting cigar filters made from corn husk

Here, fellow B&R rider, Dennis shares their pic with the local rug rats 

Kristin passing Pagoda after Pagoda

After our ride up river on the East bank of teh Irrawaddy, we take a lazy cruise back to the city of Mandalay

And kick off our shoes and enjoy local beer and cigars

And look back at all the pointy pagodas we passed

Nice group shot on the back of the boat

Refreshed and out for another day of riding, we stop in at a huge monastery and all have to cover our legs with the traditional longyi

Monks of all ages live at the monastery and study Buddhism

In the area we find some ornate woodwork

And more silk weaving

Here soma very ornate and decorative silk on the loom

On our final morning we went for this sunrise bike ride among the heavy fog and mist

The photography was dramatic but tough

As the sun came up and the milky mist hung around

Long light in the fields offered some unique shooting subjects

Here a local man builds shrimp nets

In one of the villages we rode through, monks collect food door to door on their daily call for alms

And the village wakes up as people head out

On various means of transport

Oxcarts were not uncommon among the moto scooters

Kristin made friends all along the way

Aboard the Irrawaddy Princess II we settle in with cold drinks for the lazy boat down river

Dad reads, or maybe is just resting his eyes

While Kristin watches the dramatic scenery

Some impressive pagodas as we work our way South

For lunch, our main local guide, Cho Cho, shows us how to make  Burmese Tea Leaf Salad

The boat pulls ashore for us to visit the village of Yandabo – nice hand rail, no?

Children run the streets and adults make clay pots

And of course there's no shortage of very wise Buddhist monks

Kids of all ages play in the school yard

And of course there are more beautiful faces among the crowd

Clay pots dry before they get fired

After the 'kiln,' pots turn red

Here a villager demonstrates her wheel skills

Chickens and roosters run all around the dirt streets

And ingredients for tasty Burmese food dry in the sun

I think this was the favorite face of the trip, sporting some uber hip ray bans 

Sun starts to get low behind the local pagoda

Back on the Irrawaddy we enjoy some dramatic light on the tranquil river

And the sun sets for our cocktail hour

Buddhist flag flies from the bow of the boat

Last light on the ship as we anchor on shore for the night

Idealic Inle Lake

After meeting up with the group we boarded a domestic puddle-jumper North to the Shan State, specifically the beautiful Inle Lake. Following a wonderful lunch we hopped on bikes and cranked out a few miles through the heavily tended agricultural land down to the lake. Leaving the bikes we boarded long boats and motored for a gorgeous sunset to the Aurem Palace, our hotel for three nights while we explored the lake culture. During the few packed days we had in the area we enjoyed a very nice bike around the north half of the lake, got to visit one of the larger buddhist monasteries and nunneries in the area, enjoyed seeing the local artistries including silk & lotus weaving, boat making, paper & umbrella production; we visited a schoolhouse, viewed the art of leg rowing, joined in  for a housewarming for two homes B&R have donated to a local village, and even partook in a longboat race. Traveling by boat from place to place was a wonderful calming way-of-travel over what was a definitely action packed few days.

Finally on the ground and on the bike, rolling through beautiful countrysides in Burma

Neighborhood ladies help each other out and tend each others fields

Some beautiful faces in this beautiful place

Picturesque scenery around every bend

It is certainly the land of Buddhist monuments

We've arrived at the lake and are escorted by our B&R boats

Mom is very content to be on the water

Our means of transportation is the main means of transport on the lake

We cruised South down the lake as the sky changed colors

And arrived at our hotel under this gorgeous sky

Back out on the water, headed across lake to jump on the bikes

We were treated to this local fisherman setting his net with his hands, and rowing the boat in the traditional way with his leg

Back on the bikes for day two

On this ride we ran into a handful of schoolchildren on their way to school

One of the older boys in the village we stopped at checking out a communal shrine

In the village there were ladies making all types of soy 'crackers' & treats – mostly involving boiling oil

A view back at the lake out of the main monastery 

A serene scene outside the monastery

Heading back out of town after a nice lunch

Another beautiful sunset from our hotel on Inle Lake

At one of the many decadent dinners this elaborate & frozen display was Kristin's dessert

Back on the lake, the local men retrieve seaweed off the bottom to fertilize their floating gardens 

At only a few feet deep, they pole around and gather up the 'fertilizer'

A long boat well along in production at one of the few boat building operations – watch out for all that lacquer, it will get you worse than poison oak

Beams for the boats are cut by hand from teak tree

Pegging together a much smaller more traditional fishing boat

Buddhist monk prays at the house blessing ceremony for the B&R donated homes

All neighbors join in to celebrate the blessing of the house, and show respect to the monks

More chanting at the ceremony

And more amazing faces among the neighbors

Down lake we visit a silk and lotus weaving operation 

Lotus plant is pulled apart and joined to become thread

And eventually woven on hand looms

The children for all the ladies weaving is just across a gangplank next door

Starting at grade 1 kids are there throughout elementary school

Some more beautiful faces

And friendly ones too

Another picture perfect sun drops over the lake

Tomato,a main vegetable grown in the floating gardens around the lake, is brought to town to be sold

Fishing is another staple of the area – again, the traditional leg rowing shown here

Our final visit on the way out of town was to this nunnery – here nuns of various age chant for us

And show us around the nunnery

Mingalaba from Myanmar

Our Myanmar travel started with a blink of a stop in the bustling city of Yangoon. Kristin & I took advantage of the hours after sunset by visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda, a huge 100 meter pagoda that stands in the city, walking distance from our hotel. As the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in the country, the place was absolutely packed, though it was interesting to see how few tourists were there. Blinged to the nines, the Pagoda is used by all the locals to come worship. Buddhism is more than a religion in this country, it is an absolute way of life. We wandered around and witnessed many forms and styles of worship at the variety of 'stations' around the pagoda. 

The following morning we packed up and met up with the 11 others that were booked in to our Butterfield & Robinson bike focused trip. Group tour travel has never been something that I've partaken in, so it was an interesting adventure in itself to travel with guides, with such a large group of people. The benefits of the tour travel quickly became apparent to me when I almost immediately lost my sunnies, one flip flop, along with any semblance of the day of the week – since all details were managed by our wonderful B&R guides, Tim & Dane.

The vary tall, impressive & gold Shwedagon Pagoda

I thought this was such a sweet moment, capturing a monk resting in one of the corners of the stupa – turns out he was just texting on his cellie

The Pagoda is by so many people to worship in so many ways

And has many different images and statues of buddha for all types of worship

Blingged out buddah – LED brings adorning into the 21st century

Interesting contrast of the traditional monk robe under the LED decorated buddha