Mandalay

        "Come you back to Mandalay,
 Where the old Flotilla lay;
 Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay,
 On the road to Mandalay,
 Where the flyin'-fishes play,
 An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!"

(Kipling - well, seemed appropriate given our residence in his bar the previous night)

Saturday dawned thankfully a little overcast and cooler than the day before (Mandalay is v hot - 38 degrees on Friday, luckily before we arrived!) as we set off to explore Mandalay and its surrounds.  After driving through downtown (largely new build as pretty much decimated during WW2) we took a boat trip over to Mingun, the old capital which preceded Mandalay.

There, we took in the great unfinished pagoda started by the last King to have his seat in Mingun before astrologers advised moving to Mandalay : they never got beyond the base, and engineers/architects now say it would have been impossible to do so.  Sadly, has been badly damaged by earthquake and is a little precarious:

Then we paid a visit to the Mingun Bell - the second largest bell in Myanmar (the largest is, sadly, residing at the bottom of a body of water, awaiting raising) - 90 tonnes!

Then it was on to the Hsinbyume Pagoda - spectacular views from the top!

We also had to make way for the local taxis..... London Black Cabs have nothing on these guys!

The day beginning to heat up, we were glad of the breeze on our boatride back to Mandalay, where it was time for an early lunch before rejoining the boat to head to another of the former capitals: Sagaing.

Beautiful approach from the water

We headed up (thankfully by car!) to the temple at the top of the hill - - for spectacular views of the hundreds of monasteries, university, and Irrawaddy River (note Burmese built bridge with British bridge from circa 80 years ago in background):

Then it was on to yet another former capital - Amarapura - to admire the traditional silk weaving and pay a visit to the famous U Bein Bridge - a 1.2km teak bridge built over a hundred years ago.

We also took in a gold-leaf workshop on the way back to the hotel - incredibly physical job: 6 hours of pounding a small piece of 6 micron thick gold to get it down to the requisite 3 micron thickness.

At the hotel, just time for a quick swim before sundowners and dinner: the last of our trip!