From Pyin Oo Lwin we headed west to Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. The city is fairly large, with about one million residents, and is located on the Irrawaddy River. Unfortunately, the city’s primary tourist attractions are all run by the country’s military dictatorship, so all entrance fees collected support the regime. We decided we didn’t want to contribute financially to the government more than we had to, so we skipped the city’s main sites, opting instead to do a walking tour that led us to several pretty pagodas and through the extensive markets.
One evening we also attended a “Moustache Brothers” comedy show. The troupe of three real brothers has been performing for decades and their anti-government satire has cost them dearly: two of the brothers, Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw, spent six years doing hard labor after a performance at Ang Sang Suu Kyi’s home in 1996 and Par Par Lay was re-arrested in 2007. Since his release, the government has backed off a little and seems to look the other way as the brothers perform nightly shows in their garage (but the audience is foreigners only). It was a fun mix of comedy and traditional Burmese dance, but it was their unflinching commitment to speaking out against their oppressive government that truly left us awe-struck.
From Mandalay, we jumped aboard a ferry for a scenic, eight-hour journey down the Irrawaddy River to Bagan. Unfortunately, the dry season meant the rivers were running a bit low, and despite the efforts of the two depthfinders perched at the front of the ferry (two guys with long poles), we kept running up on sandbars. Usually, we were able to move off of them fairly quickly, but one particular sandbar toward the end of our journey kept us stuck for over two hours. Fourteen hours later, we arrived in Bagan.
Click on the photo below to view our Mandalay photo album.
One evening we also attended a “Moustache Brothers” comedy show. The troupe of three real brothers has been performing for decades and their anti-government satire has cost them dearly: two of the brothers, Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw, spent six years doing hard labor after a performance at Ang Sang Suu Kyi’s home in 1996 and Par Par Lay was re-arrested in 2007. Since his release, the government has backed off a little and seems to look the other way as the brothers perform nightly shows in their garage (but the audience is foreigners only). It was a fun mix of comedy and traditional Burmese dance, but it was their unflinching commitment to speaking out against their oppressive government that truly left us awe-struck.
From Mandalay, we jumped aboard a ferry for a scenic, eight-hour journey down the Irrawaddy River to Bagan. Unfortunately, the dry season meant the rivers were running a bit low, and despite the efforts of the two depthfinders perched at the front of the ferry (two guys with long poles), we kept running up on sandbars. Usually, we were able to move off of them fairly quickly, but one particular sandbar toward the end of our journey kept us stuck for over two hours. Fourteen hours later, we arrived in Bagan.
Click on the photo below to view our Mandalay photo album.
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