Romantic Mandalay… the cultural
heartland and the centre of Universe
Being the biggest city in Myanmar after
Yangon with population approximately 1.2mil,
Mandalay is the country’s second city and
major commercial hub, as a result of proximity
to China in the east and a trade route with
India in the west… Mandalay is rapidly growing
trade centre of all upper Myanmar located
700km north of Yangon.
 Mandalay
was established by the highly admired King
named Mindon, for his new capital and the
focal point for Buddhist teachings, in 1857AD
to fulfill an ancient Buddhist prophecy.
There were only two kings ruled over on
this last Burmese Capital, King Mindon (1852
to 1878) and King Thibaw (1879 to 1885).
When the British took the entire country
in 1885, the later king was exiled to Ratnagiri,
India and Yangon was chosen as their capital.
Although Mandalay didn’t survive long as
the “Golden City”, it remains as an important
cultural hub & Buddhist religious centre
with myriad glittering pagodas dotting all
corners of the region’s landscape and over
300,000 of country’s monks and nuns still
make their home in Mandalay area. As of
the country’s culturally important city,
one can surprisingly find several artists
& craftsmen using the same skill and methods
as were employed by their forefathers. The
woodcarvers produce from Buddha images of
different sizes, shapes, period to beautiful
floral motifs of 18th & 19th century reproductions,
where the stone-carvers sculpt usual marble
images of Buddha images to Chinese deities
and even occasional statute of virgin Mary,
as of the bronze casters do the same-kind
but of course from the different materials
and procedures, and the gold beating (making
of gold leafs) an extremely old manufacturing
process is carried out according to a time-honored
tradition. The other age-old tradition worthy
to see is the producing of tapestries Kalagar
(blinds and wall decorative embossed sequencing),
and the silk weaving of Burmese traditional
patterns. There are also a number of paint
artists using diverse techniques and different
mediums portraying ancient times, portraits
of people, scenes of nature, cultural, religious,
and lifestyle etc. If fact, Mandalay is
still living in the past… of those times
of the bygone kingdoms where one could recall
its ambiance in the air… or for many people,
Mandalay is simply romantic with the whitewashed
dazzling pagodas, glass-mosaics shrines,
classic Burmese speaking people, the massive
fort & the wide moats with Mandalay Hill
as a backdrop, itinerant monks, wide arrays
of better-tasting Burmese foods, skilled
artists and craftsmen, expanse farmlands
in the south & north bounded with hazy blue
Shan mountain range in the east and country’s
main artery & legendary Ayerwaddy River
with bustling traffic in the west, the deserted
cities before Mandalay period where one
can witnesses the abundant evidence of the
political and religious power that belonged
to upper Myanmar between the fall of Bagan
and the British occupation (14th to 19th
Centuries).
In-city Highlights
King Mindon’s Fort & Myanansankyaw
Royal Palace
 An
8-m high, approximately 12sqkm fort is surrounded
by the 70-m wide & 3-m deep moat was started
to built from the bare land in 1857AD by
the order of King Mindon, who was residing
at his palace in Amarapura. Then, the Golden
Palace was added right in the center of
the fort on the raised platform and walled
again. The grand audience hall awaits you
from a few steps on to the palace building
and the hall of lion throne topped with
multi spire roof, from which kings of Myanmar
believed to have wisdom necessary to rule
a kingdom funneled down direct of the heavens.
If fact, this particular place is the “Centre
of Universe” according to the Brahman-Buddhist
cosmology. The original place was destroyed
on 20 March 1945 in fierce fighting between
Japanese and allied forces, and all that
remains are the brick basement and some
masonry buildings. It was reconstructed
a decade ago, but now with concrete and
metal sheets. Nevertheless, it is interesting
to see what was like it at least and a museum
displaying some old black & white photos,
royal regalia, and some furniture used in
the palace. A 33-m high Palace Watchtower
offers a view of entire compound.
Mandalay Hill
 As
a saying goes “for live longer, take shelter
of Mandalay Hill”, one will witness some
overweighed people trying to stroll up and
down the 236-m high Mandalay Hill. This
place is as important as the foundation
of Mandalay… the place where Buddha and
his disciples visited and prophesized that
a great Buddhist city will be established
after 2400th year of his death. A prophecy,
which king Mindon, took a reason to establish
Mandalay. For those who have a lot of time
and energy can take the 1720-setps to the
top, while it can easily be reached by the
pickup truck to the upper base and take
a lift or escalator to the topmost platform
offering breathtaking expanse views of Shan
Hills, cityscape, the Ayerwaddy River and
even Mingun village if the weather’s good
enough.
Kuthodaw, the world biggest
book pagoda
Dubbed with the name “the world biggest
book”, this pagoda is a great merit of King
Mindon, where the entire Tripitaka (the
holy Buddhist canons) was recorded on the
729-marble slabs in 1859AD and called for
the fifth Buddhist synod in 1876AD. The
king had an idea to inscribe the entire
canon on the stone slabs so that it would
last for another 2600years, the time when
the new Buddha appears in the world. It
took 7-years, 6-months, and 14-days to complete
with 200 of editorial committee and around
50 of stone carvers.
Sandamani Pagoda
 This
pagoda was built by King Mindon as a remembrance
of his brother prince Kanaung, who was assassinated
in an unsuccessful palace revolt. The pagoda
compound posses over 1700 of inscribed stone
slabs recorded the commentaries on the Tripitaka
were credited to U Khanti, a hermit who
also partake the construction of Mandalay
Hill top pagoda. There is an iron Buddha
image, casted in 1802 by King Bodawpaya
that was moved here in 1874 from Amarapura.
Atumashi Monastery
A huge monastery built by King Mindon
in 1857 having masonry base originally topped
with traditional wooden structure is a recently
reconstructed one. It has not much things
to see inside apart from the huge empty
hall but best seen from the outside for
its fine stucco reliefs. Atumashi literally
means, incomparable monastery.
Shwenandaw Kyaung
 Shwenandaw
Kyaung is a fine example of traditional
Burmese wooden monastery and a fragile reminder
of Mandalay Palace. The building itself
was once a part of Mandalay palace and moved
to the present place by King Thibaw to be
used as a monastery in 1880AD. The entire
building is carved & gilded inside and out.
So it is then rightfully called “Golden
Palace Monastery”. There is a seated Mandalay
style Buddha image on the throne and the
carved panels portraying the last ten stories
of the life of Buddha are particularly interesting
to see.
Kyauktawgyi Temple
Located at the base of Mandalay Hill,
a little northwest of Sandamani, Kyauktawgyi
is a temple to house 900-ton Buddha image
made from single-block of marble that labored
10,000 men spending 13-days to transport
to the present site from the query of 32-km
away. The eyes of 8-m high Buddha image
were painted by King Mindon himself in 1865,
but the 25-year long temple construction
attempting to copy the architecture of Bagan’s
Ananda temple was never been completed.
Mahamuni Temple
 This
is the most sacred Buddhist religious site
of all upper Myanmar. The temple houses
4-m high Buddha image casted in bronze and
heavily gilded with gold leafs about 15-cm
thick and thus the image is virtually out
of shape. Brought by King Bodawpaya in 1783
from Rakhings (Arrakhans) this image is
treated as alive-Buddha so monks brush the
teeth and wash the face of Buddha at 4:30am
and let the Buddha sleep by playing some
music at 4:00pm. The image is highly venerated
as Buddha himself supervised the casting
work and consecrated on the spot. There
are also interesting six Khmer figures from
Cambodians’ Angkor Watt, which were nabbed
by the Thais in 14th century, then 16th
century by the Burmese, and again 17th century
by the Rakhings, and finally by King Bodawpaya
in the 18th century.
Shwe In Bin Kyaung
This huge and elegant wooden monastery
is dated back to 1895AD, donated by a Chinese
jade merchant couple, has exquisite quality
of carved penal along the balustrades ad
roof cornices. The small streets leading
to the monastery limited the size of vehicles
and thus usually escaped from the tour groups.
Zaycho & Open-air Market
The biggest and the trade centre of all
upper Myanmar, Zaycho is always crowded
and full of activities during the day. This
is the place where one could find almost
everything that produce in Myanmar.
The open-air night market commence, by
blocking the main-road in front of Zaycho
market, in the evening around 5:30pm. In
this place you can find old books, imported
cheap items, and various Burmese traditional
snacks. The night market ends around 9:00pm.
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