The Road To Mandalay

Rudyard Kipling made The Road to Mandalay famous in his invocative poem, popularised by Frank Sinatra’s version and Robbie Williams catchy, but – other than the title – unrelated song.  Kipling was a favourite in my house growing up, with my mum being an English Literature fan, and my dad being – well, born in India – a colonialist.  I obviously wasn’t paying attention though, as I didn’t realise “The Road” is actually the Irrawaddy river, plied by colonial steamers in Kipling’s time.

Back then, the journey on the Road to Mandalay, upriver from Rangoon (Yangon), took about nine days.  On our visit, we chose the JJ Express luxury bus which covers the (land) Road To Mandalay in about nine hours of reclining-seat, snack-fuelled, airconditioned comfort.

In the “current situation” (what seems to be the preferred way to talk about the current military dictatorship when you’re in the country…) the military are afraid of rebel groups moving people and weapons around the county, so all river traffic is banned anyway, and road transport is quite tightly controlled.

Mandalay isn’t immediately welcoming for tourists – I can’t help but think in part it’s because the romantic connotations inspired by Kipling and the like are hard to live up to.  Fun fact; Kipling never visited Mandalay – maybe his poem would have been less romantic if he had?

It’s not a large city, but the huge old Royal Palace complex occupies – as you’d expect – a prominent and central location.  But this means that to travel from one side to the other, you often have to take quite a circuitous route around the walled complex.

When we visited India on a family holiday when I was a kid, we took the Lonely Planet guidebook.  I just googled and see that that would have been the first edition!  Since it covered all of India and we were only visiting the north, my dad unceremoniously cut the thick book in half, discarded the ‘South’ portion, and taped the covers back together.  In my book-respecting house, that seemed quite sacrilegious!  I actually did the same thing with my “SE Asia on a Shoestring” guidebook – shrinking it dramatically as a carefully removed the other countries that we wouldn’t need on this trip.

When I left my first post-graduate job in Singapore to go backpacking for a few months, my colleagues took up a collection (as was the tradition) and bought me (amongst other things) a copy of “SE Asia on a Shoestring”.  My fifty or so colleagues wrote well-wishing messages through the book, such that even months later I’d flip to a new section and find a new message.  I wish I’d kept that book – together with destination notes I added myself – would probably make for interesting reading on what was important to 26-year-old me.

I think that those experiences cemented my appreciation of Lonely Planet books.  The format became familiar, although sometimes their popularity is their worst enemy – The Banana Pancake Trail is a tongue in cheek term for places full of western tourists that have been popularised by guidebooks.  Or these days I guess it’s social media telling the tourist flock where to go.

Things are certainly different in the digital world.  Booking accommodation, bus tickets or researching attractions are all much easier – you can even book a tuk tuk or motorbike taxi on ride sharing aps.  I did have a giggle when the government produced tourist handbook included – amongst tips on respecting Buddhism and local culture – a reminder to look up from your phone every now and then!

I bought a local SIM card to get data on the go.  In the “current situation” internet access is limited, with some sites blocked completely and social media (protestors’ favourite communication method) either limited or completely blocked.

I can’t help but think my internet became a lot slower, after I searched “how was the USA involved in the 1962 Burma coup?”.  I’ve been using app timers on my phone to try to limit how much time I waste each day on social media, and so I felt some appreciation for the military junta helping with this by simply blocking access!

The cityscape-dominating “rebuilt-after-a-fire” Mandalay Royal Palace is a bit ho hum, but there are some amazing pagodas and temples around town and we spent an enjoyable few days bouncing around temples that seem to be trying to outdo each other in grandeur, design detailing and religious significance, and other attractions. The jade market was another highlight, a huge complex where you can see the different levels of trading from raw stones, to cut ones, right down to the guys polishing pieces by foot-powered machines.

The climate was a few degrees cooler than hot-and-sweaty Yangon, so at least we could enjoy our mid-day breaks in fresh air tea houses – which Myanmar does very well – rather than AC restaurants.

I was brought up to travel to eat.  Of course it’s not the only reason, but it’s a great excuse, and besides, it’s often a great way to meet locals and to share a part of their culture.

Being vegetarian on Aroha is a definite advantage.  We tend to do a big shop every month or so and it’s easy to top up on fruit and veggies in between.  I can’t imagine the hassle of trying to buy fresh meat every few days.

Unfortunately the opposite is true when travelling backpacker style.  Back in the days when we used to eat meat, even without a common language, a series of thumbs up (with raised eyebrows; “is it good?!”), finger signs (with a smile; “two of those please!”) you can easily order what you see your fellow diners enjoying.

When we visited Shanghai a few years back, we got the hotel to write a note that we could show to restaurants / hawkers.  The hotel concierge’s eyebrows got higher and higher as we noted our requirements – “No meat”.  Ok, not so unusual in China. “Not even chicken?  Fish?”  “No”.  “And no eggs”.  Eyebrows raise.  “No cow milk”.  I thought the poor guy’s eyebrows were going to fall off the top of his head as he finished writing out our long list of dietary requirements.  The funny thing was that when we showed it to waiters or food hawkers, their eyebrows followed the same trajectory as they read each subsequent line.

Although initially not so attractive, we enjoyed our stay in Mandalay to extend “just one more day” two times, so it’s clear that Mandalay grew on us once we started finding our way around.  Our next stop would be Bagan and it’s ancient temples – the expected highlight of this trip.

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