Mandalay was our little bit of luxury... We couldn't find any 'ok' cheap places so decided to spend a little bit more than usual (£24) and ended up staying in what was a luxury hotel! Greeted by drinks and wet flannels on arrival, we were more than impressed.
We'd arrived early afternoon and only had that day to explore. We got a taxi driver who took us to Mandalay hill to see the beautiful views of the city. We then wanted to go to U Bein bridge for sunset, although it was still a bit early so our driver stopped at some shops along the way where we saw Burmese women hard at work. It was so amazing watching them doing delicate tapestry and hand woven silk dresses.
The 1.6km teak U Bein bridge is the longest in the world and the sight we were looking forward to most (just outside of Mandalay). We can now understand why people go there at sunset because it makes the bridge look so beautiful. Samuel was very happy to play around with his camera. We got a little boat trip on the river and got to see the boys and men fishing for dinner. A lot of the boys would just scoop up the fish in their longis (skirts).
It was quite a long day rushing from place to place and I was more than excited to enjoy my first bubble bath that evening since leaving England!
We set the alarm for 2.45am with the intention of getting the 4am train journey to Hsipaw which is supposed to one of the most scenic.

Before leaving the hotel we were given breakfast boxes and they even gave us a lift to the train station. We had been told to arrive there from 3am to get our tickets.
It was now nearly 4am and still no movement in the ticket offices or any sign of the train. After having our ears chewed off by a few drunk men we were also getting quite irritable. We eventually found out there was going to be no train due to weather!
However, there is a positive with every negative. On the short walk back to the hotel we got to see about 30 monks walking inline (from biggest to smallest) down the street to go and have their breakfast before collecting donations.
Luckily we eventually managed to get the 6am bus to Hsipaw but arrived very sleepy at 12pm!