Myanmar Motorcycle Epic 10: Amarapura and Inwa

The ignore the names on the map. By places I stayed, it went
Naypyitaw-Meiktila-Bagan-Kanpetlet-Mindat-Monywa-Shwebo-
Mandalay-Pyin Oo Lwin-Hsipaw-Naungkyi-Taunggyi-Loikaw-
Naypyitaw-Taungoo-Kyaikto-Mawlamyine-Setse Beach

Well, it's been a few days now that I've been back in Yangon. I'm still processing this unforgettable journey, but as I slip back into the everyday humdrum of my day job, I look forward to a couple more weeks of making videos of the trip. I get to do this route twice. The map pictured here is a rough representation of the 3300 kilometer (2000 miles) path.  

Back to the story of the trip. After a full week of riding the motorbike to a new city every day, I was happy to reach Mandalay and have a couple days in one place. I got to unpack a bit. Unload the backpack. Get some laundry done. Geographically, I was halfway through my trip, but time-wise, I was on my 9th day of 24. 

Just what I needed. A place to relax and enjoy the sights.

Fortunately, Mandalay, a city which before I came to Myanmar, I had heard of, but only as some Shangra-La-like, quasi-mystical, Oriental city, is actually quite an interesting place. There were multiple days of places to go and see in Myanmar's former capital. 

From under the U-Bein bridge

Amarapura and Inwa were the two I visit in this video, both also former capitals of Burma. The former was only the capital for a decade or two, and the most interesting thing remaining from it's reign is an old teak bridge. 

The latter, Inwa, AKA Ava, on the other hand, was amazing. For 400 years, with several interruptions, this place was the seat of power of the Burmese Empire. No place other than Bagan is more historical than this now sleepy town on the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy River. There were a few places that I, self-guided on my motorbike, not relying on what the tour guides took all the rest of the foreigners to, could go and see and play my ukulele.  

 

I've been reading about how orthodox Theraveda Buddhism has been in a centuries long battle with very un-Buddhist
beliefs like astrology. Here we find a pagoda with no Buddha images, entirely devoted to astrology. 

 

In background, a 500 year-old crumbling monument. In the foreground, the garbage dump of the local villagers. 

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