Oh, Mandalay! Such an exotic name. It conjures up ancient tales of the orient. Expats downing gin and tonics under whirling fans, shining palaces and the lazy Ayeyarady River winding by. Well yes it is that but is also a very big commercial city and oh so hot at this time of year. Every day is over 40 degrees as the monsoon season nears and the dust is ever present, as the countryside cries out for rain.

We used every type of transport imaginable to get around Mandalay and the surrounding area. A river boat took us to Mingun, truck, bus and tuk tuks to Mandalay Hill, Sagaing Hill and U-Bein Bridge. Some tuk tuks are motorcycles with a cab, others have little truck cabs, some have seats and some have none. 

Our bare feet, however remain a primary transport. There is always the "shoe taking off place" right at the beginning of any place of worship. What we have never quite experienced before though is burnt feet. At this time of year and temperatures even the white marble pathways designed to be cool for the bare feet heat up beyond what our soft, usually clad feet can stand. We are an amusing sight to the Monks as we scamper and zigzag from shade to shade, willing ourselves the strength to run the gauntlet of the burning paths. Some places have added some green "fake lawn" type runners, but even these heat up beyond imagining in the scorching daytime temperatures. We've even seen monks struggling a bit and speeding up across the burning paths.

It is so worth it though. Our group of intrepid travellers have hot footed it past the 2,000 year old golden seated Buddha of Mahamuni who has had so much gold leaf applied by worshiping men, it is thought it is 6 inches thick. We've risked our soft soles to quickstep around the massive Mandalay Palace, the Sagaing Hill Monasteries and Pagodas including the quirky Pagodas of Mingun. Thankfully, in the slightly cooler hours just before sunset, our feet managed better for the climb to Mandalay Hill.

We visited places where the finest gold leaf is beaten out by hand held hammers and saw weavers meticulously weaving silk longhis, the highly versatile garment worn by both men and women.

A highlight was sunset at the 200 year old U Bein's Bridge - and we could leave our shoes on! This is the longest teak bridge in the world and a popular place for a sunset promenade by both the many Buddhist Monks and Burmese families. 

Next we travel to Bagan, the ancient city of more than 2,000 pagodas and temples dotted across the plain. I guess it will be more "touristy" but hoping not. It has been a delight to watch Burmese as the main travellers in their own country, with hardly a Westerner in sight.
Travel Note: Mingun was the only site on our Myanmar Tour where we experienced "hard sell vendors" and disappointingly children were also used. Not only was this quite dangerous with the children underfoot, tugging and cajoling while we were trying to climb steep steps and concentrate, it is also very annoying. One can only hope this was an isolated incident and will not become an issue that impacts negatively on Myanmar tourism.