24 hrs in Mandalay, Myanmar
Burmese Food
In Yangon, the country’s capital, the food culture thrives. Having a mix between Indian and Thai, the flavors are deep, rich, spicy, tangy and sweet. Similar to the complex flavors of Malay cuisine, but Burmese (Myanmese??) food, in my opinion, tends to lean a little heavier towards the Indian side.
Mandalay, Myanmar
After spending three days in Yangon, we hopped an overnight bus, and woke up in Mandalay. A local gang of tuk-tuks were waiting in the dusty parking lot to swoop in and pick up a job. It was 5AM and the sun hadn’t even crept over the horizon yet.
The parking lot, utilized by the dozens of buses that come in each day, is on the edge of town surrounded by country fields. Agriculture accounts for about 40% overall GDP in Myanmar, while carrying 60% of the workforce; their main export is rice and they have magnificent, fertile soils to grow anything.
We passed by some of these fields while riding in our tuk-tuk to our hotel ($12USD a night).. We arrived at 6AM and they graciously allowed us to check in, and crash : )
Waking Up in a New Place
With tourism being relatively new to Myanmar, it was a vastly different experience for us after traveling from Spain —> Morocco —> Jordan —> India —> Nepal —> Myanmar. A common perception among locals to tourists, is that they come with money. You can very quickly attract a crowd with people looking to see if you need their services for anything: looking for your hotel, taking you on a tour, getting a taxi for you, which are all great services to offer, if you need it. Mostly, I prefer to keep to myself and enjoy the experience of finding things out on my own. Sometimes that’s worked in my favor, other times not.
In Myanmar, residents just go about their day without a second thought of seeing two white Americans walking around; it seems small, but it only added to the amazing experience we had in Myanmar.
Heading Out
The internet works fine in Myanmar and Google is what I used to create a walking map to see the sites and hit local eateries that seemed interesting. Before leaving the hotel, I save the map to my phone and follow the blue location dot to know where I am along the route.
We walked outside in the sunshine and began our trek.
We weaved in and out of markets selling fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, electronics, flowers, motorcycle parts, etc. The first spot we landed was an Indian restaurant with barely a sign. It was a family run restaurant with wooden tables, plastic chairs and no AC; perfect. The food was spicy, dirty, salty and delicious. We ordered four dishes and they delivered for a warm sunny lunch off the street.
U Bein Bridge
We walked around a couple more hours exploring before hopping a tuk-tuk and to head for U Bein Bridge.
U Bein Bridge is the main attraction in Mandalay. We negotiated a price with our tuk-tuk driver to drop us off, wait for us until after sunset (very common) and pick us up after. He agreed and we were off.
Being dropped off across town and out into the country, it’s a little touristy with shops selling small gifts and cold water bottles. We checked out one of the local temples in the area and found a bar stationed just off the Irrawaddy River. Other tourists were there as well, waiting for sunset.
We ordered a couple of beers and watched as our server (the son) stepped out of this family run operation to run down the street, purchase beer from the neighbor and bring it back to serve to us. I’m sure there’s a partnership in there somewhere. The beer was cold, local, bitter and lager — we drank four.
We walked down to the bridge with lots of people; not only tourists but locals joined as well.
The sun began to set, the bridge seemed to stand still in time and we soaked in the moment.
Mandalay Street Food
Heading back into town at night, Mandalay sprang to life. Street fests seemed to be happening on every corner. Eventually, we asked to be dropped off and we’d find our way back on our own. The energy was beaming. Music was blaring in the streets from djs, local people were laughing and talking loudly; and the street food, sizzled and popped.
The first station we came to, they were doing fried quail eggs with chile and tomato. Using a heavy cast iron-like pan, with oval shapes to fill in the eggs, the outer layer of the egg gets crispy, and holds the chile and tomato perfectly. It’s a magnificent bite of crunchy, juicy, spicy and acid. It tasted so fresh too.
We ended the night at an outdoor cafe/pub watching European soccer with a bunch of locals and ate spicy noodles and drank cold beer. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel; and couldn’t wait to wake up again.
