Well, waking up early means getting out from the hotel after breakfast and taking pictures of the locals.
We were lucky to stay at Sedona Hotel Mandalay because it is opposite the south-eastern corner of Mandalay Palace Wall.
We went out and found out that the locals were already up and there is an exercise corner at the road junction next to the moat, and it is very popular for the locals.
Monks were out as well. May be they were having their morning walk.
We found out that there were a lot people who use bicycle as a method of transport in Mandalay city.
We even met a group of cyclist who probably were training for some competition. As you can see in the picture, Mr.Ho was hiding behind the bushes to ambush them. A technique we commonly used in Myanmar.
After exercising our trigger fingers, we went back to the hotel for breakfast.
The sun was higher and now we can take a better picture of Mandalay Palace Wall (and the south-eastern corner tower). We did not go inside since it is not the real palace anymore. The real palace was destroyed in a fire during World War II, when British force bombard the palace, which was used as supply depot by Japanese force.
We then make our way to the next destination, but we stopped for a while to take pictures of monks lining up, performing pindapata (asking for alms from the commoners around their monastery), because bikkhu (Theravada Buddhist monks) are prohibited from having a job/career (work), owning money or property, and even cooking their own food. They have to beg for alms (food) and have to eat what is given to them.
Finally we reach the first destination of the day, Kuthodaw Pagoda. We were greeted by flower sellers and we responded by shooting them. This young girl was wearing a beautifully drawn tanaka powder, and has a nice smile.
The pagoda was surrounded by rows of shrines, each housing a slab of marble which was inscribed with pali text from Tipitaka, the holy book of Buddhism.
Inside the pagoda we found some puppies!
And the local kids performed some tricks and we were just happy to shoot them too.
Next to Kuthodaw Pagoda is Sanda Muni Pagoda which is basically an ancient backup plan of Kuthodaw Pagoda. Apparently they did not understand the concept of co-location yet at that time, and thus build it next to each other. (Sorry, that was a computer geek joke.)
Next destination was Maha Myat Muni Temple the wealthiest buddhist temple in Mandalay. First before we enter the temple, we have to went pass a shopping mall (well kind of) selling all sort of things from religious item, toys, and even decorative items and clothes.
The Maha Myat Muni temple does not allow female to the inner chamber, so donations by female worshipers has to be given to an old man, and he will hoist it on a stick and pass to the assistant inside the inner chamber to be put into donation box.
The Buddha statue in the temple is the oldest in Myanmar, and it was crowned with jewels. For hundreds of years, worshipers has been pasting gold leaf on the body of the buddha statue and now the body has been distorted by 15 cm layers of gold-leaf.
This temple is always crowded as it is popular with the locals. Monks from various monasteries come and worship here.
And this old woman (a Shan tribe) was praying and giving donation of 1000 kyat.
Almost all part of the inner chamber was either gilded with gold, or painted with golden colour.
The temple is popular not only to human, but it is also popular to birds. Here a pair of finch build a nest at one of the doorway.
On the way to the next destination, we saw some farmer ploughing the field, so we stopped and took their pictures.
We visited a school run by a monastery, providing basic primary education for free to the villagers. The children were wonderful. They were not shy at all. In fact, I was cornered by a few of them after taking their pictures because they want to see their photo. This photo was taken by Felicia, one of our tourgroup member.
I lost all the photograph I took there, other than the one below, because of a problem with my Kingston CF Card.
Next destination was Sagaing, to visit a temple on top of the hill, overlooking the Mandalay city. The temple was up the hill and we had to climb up many staircases.
We was shooting this monk, with the temple as the background when the resident dog went to her favorite spot to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
And she just sat there, ignoring the command from the monks and temple assistance.
Johnny had to go there and nudge the dog away, and grudgingly she went away.
And we can continue shooting again. This time without that dog in the background.
Outside the temple I found a shrine which is probably for the minor gods, or village gods, worshipped by the locals.
I was so excited that I forgot to wear my sandals when I went down. I only realised it when I reached the bus, so I had to run up the stairs to the temple again.
I got my sandals, I met this monk and took his picture, and run down the stairs.
It was quite an exercise, but somehow that running up and down the second time is not as tiring as the first time.
Time for lunch, and we are making our way to Ava
We have to cross a small river using a boat, but before reaching the boat, we were mobbed by these kids, trying to sell us something. Somehow I find them not as charming as those in Bagan and Mingun.
But we managed to pass thru without having to part with any kyat. Below is a photo of Johnny (from behind) on the boat.
And on the other side of the river, again, more kids!
We were hungry, so probably that affected our mood and none of us buy anything from them.
Finally, we reach Ava, as the sign below said.
We eat lunch at a Myanmar restaurant. The food was nice, and we eat it under a tree (and some umbrella), but I forgot to note down the name of the restaurant. However I did take a unique sign in the restaurant, directing us to the toilet.
We were fed, and happy. I believe Mr.Li bought a smoke pipe from one of the kids and they were finally happy.
Next, is the horsecart ride, which has been waiting for us.
Each cart is for a pair of passenger, plus the driver.
And even on bumpy road, we still acted as if we were paparazzi.
Finally we reached a wooden monastery (see a pattern here?) and take pictures of more monks.
I am bored, and shoot one of us, who is shooting something else that is not a monk.
Then we went back. Along the way I took picture of farmers cultivating the land,
and villagers working on a bamboo craft industry.
Time to say goodbye to the horse pulling the cart I was riding (felt a bit guilty as I was probably too heavy).
And realised that the cart I was riding has a picture of Tweety Bird, and one unrecognisable female superhero look-alike.
From there we make our way to Amarapura, to take a boat trip around the river until dusk. It was still about 3 PM, so we have plenty of time to take other pictures.
These rows of boat was very colourful and the reflection was great. Also, I found that the pedal has a star painted on it, which is unusual.
And I found this old mazda car by the river, which has been made a taxi. It was still shiny, so it was surely maintained well. May be it has just been cleaned and it was left there to dry.
We shot the locals catching some kind of fish.
And caught this boatman scooping water out of his boat. I made up my mind not wanting to take his boat.
Some of us shopped, while I took pictures of this family who has a small vegetable farm by the river.
The people there was so warm and the girls are pretty.
Even this little girl waved back at us from the top of the bridge.
This potrait was not straight, due to the shooting frenzy. Unfortunately this is the best picture of her. When I might fix the image later when I have time.
Finally, it was time to get into the boat.
We were going away, while other tourists are coming back.
On the boat we were busily shooting.
And I managed to take a picture of a crane in flight. It was a bit blur, but it is the best "crane in-flight" picture that I have.
We went under the bridge, and I took this picture to show you the age of the bridge, and notice the water level (now it is low). The difference between low and high is almost 2 meters if I am not wrong.
All kinds of people uses the old wooden bridge.
But there are those who decided they rather walked on the shallow water (a bit higher than knee deep).
I noticed that the bridge was also a good dating place.
And good for fishing too.
We took all kinds of photo of the bridge.
Here are the proof of how persistent the kids in chasing tourists money.
And finally, sunset.
We were still shooting till dusk. We did not manage to get that photo Steven was talking about. Felt a bit disappointed, we went stright back to the bus. We were waiting for Steven, the only missing person from the tour group when suddenly he came.
He told us that the sky colour he was talking about is there outside and was wondering where we were. We quickly jumped out from the bus armed with tripod. I took this with the highest ISO setting (ISO 1600) so it is quite noisy. I have some other pictures and I will see later what I can do with photoshop to enchance the picture.
We went for dinner. This time it was at Golden Duck (no website - so here is the google search link). It was really nice. Highly recommended.
Back in the hotel, I finally realized a problem. One of my Kingston CF card was acting up and while I downloaded the pictures to my harddrive, it hangs, and the pictures get corrupted. One card down, two to go. I was so annoyed.
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