We had nothing booked for today originally but having seen Mandalay on our first day we realised that self-guiding would be a complete waste of time. The city is large and has a population of 2 million. It is very dusty and walking anywhere would be pointless. We decided to engage our guide and driver for an additional day but it is a real stretch to fill a second day around Mandalay touristing as there is just not that much to see. Nevertheless, we did trave...

We had nothing booked for today originally but having seen Mandalay on our first day we realised that self-guiding would be a complete waste of time. The city is large and has a population of 2 million. It is very dusty and walking anywhere would be pointless. We decided to engage our guide and driver for an additional day but it is a real stretch to fill a second day around Mandalay touristing as there is just not that much to see. Nevertheless, we did travel up...

A full-on sightseeing day today. Gold leaf beating workshop, pagoda with the 4 tonne gilded Buddha, stone carving street. The latter was quite interesting as they leave the faces uncarved until last and carve to suit customer requirements (Chinese, Thai, Indian etc features as appropriate). Next was the Buddhist teaching monastery to watch the monks receive their main meal (doesn't seem like a suitable tourist activity to me and I wouldn't want tourists taking...

A full-on sightseeing day today. Gold leaf beating workshop, pagoda with the 4 tonne gilded Buddha, stone carving street. The latter was quite interesting as they leave the faces uncarved until last and carve to suit customer requirements (Chinese, Thai, Indian etc features as appropriate). Next was the Buddhist teaching monastery to watch the monks receive their main meal (doesn't seem like a suitable tourist activity to me and I wouldn't want tourists taking pi...

Yet another early start to catch the flight to Mandalay at 8:00 am. The flight was barely up before coming down again. Mandalay airport (international no less) seems a bit of an overkill with air bridges etc. but not for our little Fokker. It is a long drive into the city. The driver wasn't bad until he got into the urban area then he changed from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde (or is it the other way around) and commenced to overtake into oncoming traffic and push motor b...