99 Pagodas already on the way from the airport in Mandalay to the city center… wow…
After arrival we thought we walk to the first temple and/or pagoda but after half an hour we were so wet (even with rain gear) that we ended up in a café to think about plan B (other than walking or bicycle)…
Next day we got a car to make a not too wet pagoda / temple tour through Mandalay (plus some shopping: umbrella and gold leaf sheets)… We visited a monastery (Shwedandaw), a former part of the emperor palace. As King Mindon passed away in that wooden hall, his son placed it outside the palace walls and due to the bombs in WWII and the fire it is the only remaining piece of the royal palace. Old, dark teak wood with wonderful wood carvings, covered with gold leaves… Beautiful!
Close by the Kuthodaw Pagoda has the text of the Buddhist “bible” (the tipika) carved in > 700 stone plates – for each a little Pagoda built.
Image how full the “garden” of the main pagoda is… and the Pagoda next to it has the commentary for the original text on even more stone plates, again each in a little Pagoda…
The Mahamuni-Pagode is special because of a specific big Buddha which is very famous and therefore lots of people donate gold leaves – the Buddha is completely out of shape – approx. 100 years ago there was a fire and the gold melted away from the bronze Buddha (see historic pic) – after that again redecorated over the years – the assumptions are that there are between 3,5 to 12 tons (!!!) of pure gold up again… btw, in this temple there are also a few bronze figures from Angkor Wat in Kambodia – taken away by some ancient king, first brought to Ayutthaya (Thailand), then to Mandalay…
The production of the gold leaf sheets is quite interesting, small and already very thin pieces of gold are put in a little “booklet” between thin paper from Bamboo. It is beaten for in total 6 hours – purely manual work…
The Zeigyo market is not special at all and not worth a visit if you don’t want to buy an umbrella or a longhy (a piece of tissue, wrapped around the waist like a skirt – for men and women.
