Ayeyarwady River Cruise to Mingun

The slums along the river.

The unfinished Po Hto Dow Gyi Pagoda.

Shanthay the souvenir seller.

The Hsinbyume Pagoda.

The Myanmar white beef cattle.

Stupas everywhere.

Monk school.

River canoes.

Mutual curiosity.

Walking the U Bein teak bridge.

Saturday, May 26^th.

We got off to a bit more leisurely pace today and our driver took us to the bank of the Ayeyarwady River, which runs through the heart of Myanmar and empties into the sea near Yangon. Pu Pu led us along the river bank where we could see the slums of Mandalay where the people live in a shanty town and work as longshoremen loading and offloading the boats that travel or cross the river. I am always fascinated by the life of these types of people because it is so far outside of my life experience. They live on the edge of society with very little in the way of possessions or comforts. We saw washerwomen, buffalo carts, families cooking outside and other aspects of daily life along the riverbank. 

Then we boarded a two-level wooden boat for a ninety-minute cruise down the river and across to the other side to visit the village of Mingun. This is where the unfinished remains of Po Hto Dow Gyi Pagoda are. It was to be the tallest stupa in Myanmar at 150 metres. The square base has an entrance door on each side which only goes about 10 feet inside. What is left looks like a very large pile of bricks. The king at the time spent 20 years building this temple with slaves and prisoners of war, but then a prophecy arose that stated that the king would die once the project was completed. Thus, construction was slowed down to prevent the prophecy's realisation and when the king died, the project was completely halted. By the time the construction project was abandoned, the pagoda had attained a height of 50 metres, one third of the intended height. People used to be able to climb to the top on a staircase, but no longer, as the structure has been damaged by a couple of earthquakes that have left large cracks and made it unstable.

It was a short walk from there to a little temple made as a memorial to a famous monk with a photographic memory who memorized all of the Buddha text. Nearby was another building that houses the enormous Mingum Bell that was supposed to be part of the temple. It weighs about 90 tonnes and is the second largest behind one in Moscow. It is fourteen times larger than the one at St. Paul’s. 

Completing the visit to Mingum we stopped at the beautiful, white Hsinbyume Pagoda which was built in 1818. I walked into it and climbed the hot stairs to the top without shoes. The view and the building were wonderful. When I came back down I met a charming young woman who was trying to selling me souvenirs. She spoke very good English and we struck up a conversation. She is 30, single and taking care of two younger brothers. I wound up buy two utility quality jade bracelets from her for eight dollars, because I felt sorry for her. All the local people are really suffering from the lack of foreign tourists because of the political problems.

Then we took the boat back to the other side. This time we sailed against the current and the crew had to take the canopy covering off as it created too much drag, so we sat on the lower deck in the shade and watched the river go by for an hour.

Then back to the hotel for a couple of hours to escape the heat.

At 5:00 we met up again and drove to Sagaing Hill which is covered with 600 white-painted pagodas and monasteries. Sagaing Hill is widely regarded as the religious centre of Myanmar. It is home to 3,000 monks, 1,00 nuns and 100 meditation centres. We visited one of the two large pagodas on the top of the hill, but Pu Pu decided not to take us to the other, as it is still very hot, the marble floors are scalding and she thinks we have seen enough pagodas for now. Instead she took us to Aung Myae the Monastic Education School. We were there during the three-month summer vacation but there were still young monks and nuns at the facility. They educate 3000 monks and hundreds of nuns. About 300 of the monks board here. The facility was founded in 2002 by a monk and has grown exponentially. I was only there for a half hour, but I was dismayed by the state of the place and lack of resources. I saw a chemistry class that was about the size of a normal class and held eighty grade 10 students. That is their highest grade before university. And the boarding accommodation was tight with just a bamboo mat to lay on and no air conditioning. And the area where they cooked the food was very basic. However, Pu Pu told us that they do good work and that the young woman who was showing us around had graduated from there and was now giving back by being a nurse and helping with the accounting for the school. 

Our last stop of the day was at U Bein the world's longest teak bridge. It was built two hundred years ago to connect two villages on either side of a marshy lake. It is a 1km bridge and believed to be the oldest and longest teak bridge in the world. This bridge is still an important connection for the local people and is busiest during July and August when the lake is most full. Built from reclaimed wood from a royal palace, there are 1,086 pillars rising from the water, though, not all are original.

We walked across it from one end to the other and then halfway back where we stopped to have a nice cold beer in the marsh, before continuing on to our parked car. Then our driver took us back to the hotel, where I had dinner alone in a very empty restaurant. The food, tom yum soup and chicken with cashew nuts in a soya sauce, however, was great.