Funemployment - Part I

To get to Mandalay, I took a boat up the Ayeyarwady River on a ten hour trip north departing Bagan at stupid o'clock. At 4am, I stumbled out of bed, showered, packed, and met my pre-booked driver who took me to the pier at Nyaung U in time for my 5am check in at the boat. The boat departed at 5.20am with just seven passengers. This is one upside of traveling during the low/wet season - empty hotels and tourist transport. The top deck of the boat was comfortably laid out with rattan deck chairs. We each had lots of space to ourselves.

After setting off from Bagan, I watched the sunrise over the Ayeyarwady, then I settled in for the long ride, observing the riverside communities and other boats as we passed them by. The main highlight for me was watching a rickety boat with five cows on it motor past me. It did get a bit monotonous after a while, but this was still a very pleasant way to get to Mandalay. Far better than an overnight bus along dusty roads which I am sure are no longer lined with the palm trees and tinkly temple bells that Rudyard Kipling once described.

The boat trip cost US$35, and included breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, water, coffee, and tea. A great deal overall. As an added bonus, the river breeze was a wonderful respite after one week of intense heat and humidity in Yangon and Bagan. As we approached Mandalay, we were treated to spectacular views of temples scattered across the hills at Sagaing. The boat arrived in Mandalay at 3.30pm. As I have come to expect, it was raining yet again at this time of the afternoon. The dock at Mandalay is very close to downtown, and my pre-booked hotel was only a short ride away. Per my MapMyRun app, we traveled 109 miles in 10 hours.

There is one other upside to traveling during the low season, and that is great hotel deals. Although I had noted in my Yangon entry that lower end accommodation can be pricey in Myanmar, there are good deals to be had in the three stars and above categories during the wet season. My room at Arthawka Hotel in Bagan was a bargain, as was the room I had initially booked for one night only (I was being cautious) at Mandalay City Hotel. After checking in, I was shown a very nicely appointed single room. The hotel also had a pool. The biggest draw of this hotel, though, was that it is set away from the road. The hotel is accessed by an archway along busy 26th street. Once past the archway, one goes down a driveway to a pleasant, tree lined property. I could not hear traffic noise from my room. This was a good deal better than other hotels I saw on agoda.com which were all multistorey affairs fronting busy streets. After settling into my room, I immediately went onto agoda and booked two more nights. At US$32 per night, this was a good deal.

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