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Palmira is going on a 2 months trip to Sout East Asia. She is sharing her experiences and adventures with us

After Inle lak e, we went to Mandalay, one of the former capitals of Burma. When we arrived we were a little disappointed because we expected it to be more like a capital instead of a city full of dust, dirt and poverty.

In total, we spent two days there. On the first day, we visited Mahamuni Paya where Rasmus made his contribution to Buddhism by sticking gold onto the Buddha, the main attraction of the temple. Although I would have liked to do the same, I couldn´t do so because women are not allowed to approach the Buddha.

We didn´t have much time to visit the temple because we had to be in Amarapura (twenty minutes away) at eleven o´clock at Maha Ganayon Kyaung in order to see all the monks who study the teachings of Buddha there would gather to have lunch. It was amazing to see at least 500 monks having lunch at the same time and getting in line for their food.

The rest of the day we spent visiting temples and we enjoyed the sunset on Amarapura´s famous bridge, the U Bein´s bridge.

After five days of non-stop visits, we took the next day off and didn´t do anything. We actually felt bad for not doing anything all day long… but we thought that our “appointment” with the so called “Moustache brothers” would be so enlightening that we could afford spending a day like that. But instead of an amazing appointment it was a huge disappointment.

You can read their story on this website. We even thought that instead of a comedian making us laugh, these comedians were actually laughing at us. We had to pay US$ 8 even though the guide said that there was a voluntary donation of US$ 4. They didn´t talk about the government and the situation of the country, which was the reason why we actually went there. Instead, it was a show filled with typical Burmese dance which was interesting but not what we expected.

Would you like to join us? Calling all seasoned backpackers!

Willing to share your hidden gems with your fellow backpacker enthusiasts?
If so, we’re willing to share our love in the form of some well-deserved cash!
Email us at backpackreporter@iwannagothere.com to learn more.