Ava Village "Horse Cart"

Our second day in Mandalay consisted of a “short” trip south to the ancient cities of Ava & Amarapura. This trip was to be our highlight of the Mandalay stay. Ava (changed to Inwa during British Colonial rule) was the capitol between 1364 and 1555. The era followed the collapse of Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms due to the Shan raids from the north. Amarapura or “City of Immortality” served as the capitol city several times during the 18th and 19th centuries under the Konbaung Dynasty. It is now just a city within the Mandalay province. Continue Reading

Near Mahamuni Pagoda

We arrived at Mandalay airport from Bagan ($46/flight) around 9am amidst pure chaos dealing with bags and transportation. Forget baggage claim, your bags just appear in the hands of the baggage boys from the runway. Luckily, we had purchased a taxi transfer while staying in Bagan. It cost 8000 kyat ($10) vs. maybe double locally. The airport is way out from the city center, a 40 minute ride to the Royal City hotel ($30/night) near the palace. We read that Mandalay was more modern than Yangon hearing things like the palace had been rebuilt since the British invasion. In reality, the confusion left by King Thibaw’s ouster on November 28th 1885 still exists today. Late 19th century Burma had a population around 5 million. Continue Reading