I saw one man let his horse to take some sand (or dust) bath, may be to get rid of the fleas.
After the sand bath, the horse looked more polished and happier, and brought to join the rest.
Time to go to the airport, but along the way, we met a group of monks marching from a monastery to the residential area of Bagan, looking for alms.
They walked bare feet and it was about 16 degree celcius. We quickly got down from bus and took pictures of them.
Goodbye Bagan, and welcome Mandalay!
The Mandalay Airport was the most modern airport we have encountered so far. Unfortunately, it looks very uncharacteristics, since there are fascilities but no decoration at all, which is the reason why probably I forgot to take a picture of it.
Myanmar goverment had assistance from China in building the airport. It was planned to be opened as an international airport, but it was not. May be some fortune teller has something to do with the cancellation, or may be the rulers were waiting for the completion of the new terminal for Yangon, since it would loose face if Mandalay has a grand international airport while the capital Yangon has an old run down airport.
This time round, we did not go to the hotel directly, as we are maximising our morning sunlight. First we went pass a village market and it was a market day. We were given 30 minutes to went in and take some pictures.
As a photographer you must have a sharp eye, and if you don't, at least sharp enough to see what other photographer are doing.
I spotted my room-mate, Mr.Ho with his usual ready-to-shoot stance.
I quickly ran to his side and found out that he had bribed a little boy with oreo cookies to be his model, and I tagged along for a free shooting.
Unfortunately the boy was not so co-operative, or may be he was just scared after some more of us joined in and he was suddenly surrounded by 6 people who furiously pressing their camera's shutter button.
Here are my crowd shots from the market.
And here are my portrait shots from the market.
Almost all of them are friendly and are not camera shy at all. Those not wanting to be photographed usually just hide their face with their hand and we understand and moved on.
We were about to go back to our bus, when I came across this bicycle repairman, who wore an old army steel helmet. May be he was in the army before.
Next, we made our way to an old monastery for nuns, to take their pictures.
This monastery was not so established and was undergoing some repair.
Somehow it does not look that strict because there was a samanera there, who are probably related to one of the nun (mother and son perhaps) and there are little girl and a baby.
The baby was not co-operative at first, probably scared seeing so many strangers with big cameras around. M&M does the trick again, and after some sweets, she calms down and we got our shots.
Here are some pictures of the nuns who become our models.
Again, our frenzy activity attracted some locals, but unlike the locals in Bagan who come near us, they keep their distance away, so tele-lense is an advantage.
We continued and along the way stop by to take pictures of the locals doing their activities. We met this family who were hunting for eels. The husband bring his wife and son to help him, while the younger daughter probably tagged along to watch and learn.
Mandalay was undergoing major infrastructure revamp when we were there, and these women were repairing the roads.
We went pass the grand train station of Mandalay. It was a huge building, bigger than the airport, and looks modern too. Looking at it, I think train ride could probably make a good alternative to flying if you are travelling from Yangon to Mandalay, if we were not rushed for time.
We arrived at Sedona Hotel Mandalay, which is facing Mandalay Fort, and this little girl was busily feeding the koi fishes at the hotel entrace.
After checking in and having a short rest, we went to a monastery, but our journey was interrupted by a procession. We first thought it was a celebration, but later found out that it was a funeral procession of quite a famous elderly monk.
It was grand and there are so many people who attended his funeral.
Some of us joked that while others learn to become a wedding photographer, here we were learning to be a funeral photographer.
After that, the journey was uneventful until we reached the monastery. They were still chanting when we came, and after that they will have lunch, so we go around and took some pictures around the monastery.
At the back of the monastery, we found one monk was taking a bath. Without respect of his privacy (it was an open bath, next to the well), we automatically encircled him and started shooting.
We were like a bunch of paparazzi. The fun lasted for more than 5 minutes and probably that was his most embarassing moment. His sacrifice was not in vain as some of us finally added a nice water splashing photograph, at least one of the best in my collection.
Our model finally finished from his daily chanting routine. He was probably one of the senior monk, and his wrinkled face was just perfect match with the wooden carvings.
Back in the bus, we realized that we faced the mortal enemy of DSLR cameras. DUST. Mandalay was really dusty. The sand in the monastery was very fine and really nice to walk on, but that also means there were a lot of dust (from our feet) and we had to be very careful when changing lenses. From there on, each time we get back to the bus, everybody was blowing dust from their cameras.
Time for lunch. We had a Myanmar food for lunch at Green Elephant Restaurant. It was really nice, unfortunately I did not have a photo and those who took photo told me that theirs are out of focus. So, no photo for Green Elephant, but I seriously recommend it. It was really nice.
After lunch, we made a half-day trip to Mingun, the home of the largest working bell (intact/uncracked and still rings).
Mingun was located at the western bank of Irrawaddy river, so we have to cross by boat, since the nearest bridge is too far away, and we have not got time to circle around. Along the way, we enjoyed observing the locals, and taking their pictures too.
When we arrived at Mingun, we were greeted by bullock carts. But instead of taking a ride, we shot them, and continued on foot.
We were right as we can take a lot of interesting photo opportunities along the way.
Mingun was probably the most touristy attraction in Mandalay, and you can probably find the best souvenir here. Here are samples of what you can buy, from the practical to the ornamental.
I noticed this very tall and old tree at the river banks. It should have some story, but I only have the picture for now.
We met some samanera and a nun, and they are happy to be our model.
We shoot them near Mingun Paya (Mingun Pahtodawgyi or Mingun Pagoda), an unfinished pagoda built under the instruction of King Bodawpaya.
And here is a picture of us, nicely framed inside a goal-post, while local kids watched with amazement of the dexterity of our trigger fingers. This was taken by Janet, one of our tour group member. It was perfectly framed.
I was separated from the group after stopping too many times to take candid shots of the locals, such as below.
I had to rushed after I rang the Migun bell three times. I forgot to take the picture of the huge bell.
A local girl has targetted me and was persistently asking me to buy a fan from her. It was rather expensive at 2000 kyat, and I was not interested in the fan at all.
I ran until I reached at Hsinbyume Pagoda. The girl followed me like a shadow. I actually arrived at another entrace and the girl guide me to another entrace where I finally met the tour group.
Luckily the photoshoot had just started.
I am not sure if this samanera was the same as the one in the cover of "Myanmar (Burma)" from Lonely Planet Travel Guide book
I was perspiring madly due to the running around, and the girl was so kind to fan me, while I was taking pictures. For a while, I felt like a king, and for that royal treatment, I parted with 2000 kyat, and also gave her M&M chocolate.
Seeing that the younger kids started to gather around so I have to quickly run away again.
We then rushed back to the boat, as it was getting dark, but I still managed to take a picture of Settawya Pagoda, which is near the riverbanks.
Although we were rushing, I stop to take a candid picture of this woman who is cooking dinner for her family, when we went pass her house while taking a shortcut to the jetty.
Hmm.. dinner... The journey back was uneventful, with beer on the boat, and a really nice sunset.
We have dinner (just so so) and got back to the hotel to download pictures to harddrive and recharge our batteries.
Silently, trouble was brewing. It started with me noticing that the first picture stored in all my 2 GB Kingston CF card are always corrupted. Little did I know until the next day, bigger problem cropped up.
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