Mawlamyine

After a surprisingly good nights sleep in our beautiful bungalow hotel (I say surprisingly due to its proximity to the main road and near constant noise from trucks and beeping horns) we headed to breakfast. I found a heated bowl labelled porridge and rejoiced as its my breakfast of choice. Turns out it was rice based, but not rice pudding as you might expect; more like sticky rice without the starchy water being drained. I still went for it, not quite being able to stomach egg fried rice and spicy chicken soup for breakfast yet.

After that we headed out towards Mawlamyine to explore a few of the sites. The first of which was a mountain top on top of a huge limestone mountain; Zwe Kapin. You entered through fields where over 1000 donated Buddha statues sat which looked amazing

We then started the climb up the 900m high steep hill. We had a car waiting for us, as this part of Myanmar is difficult to travel through without one, and as our driver and guide couldn't keep up with us up the steps we were waved on to go alone. So up and up we went in the morning sun making it to a small monastery half way, with competing monks on tannoy systems reciting mantras like some sort of bizarre rap battle. The views were amazing.

And up we continued with several false summits. It got hotter, we realised we had no water, we were quickly overtaking the locals even though we were in flip flops and we started to wonder how long our driver would wait before getting worried. The steps got steeper and more unstable, a bit of scrambling was required and despite my drive to get to the top (what else would be there but a pagoda?) the penny dropped that I still can't go down hill that well so this was possibly a bad idea and we should head back. Though I am pretty certain the surgeon didn't specifically say I couldn't climb endless steps up and down hills...  

We headed down slowly, hip starting to complain, and met the worried looking driver who had headed up after us and looked shattered less than half way. "All Europeans are very fit" was his reasoning.

Next we headed to a beautiful religious site, Kyauk Kayat Pagoda, various stupas and Buddha images balanced on a tall rock in the middle of a lake. The first task was to buy some bread from the stalls nearby and feed the enormous catfish in the lake

On reaching the rock itself it was shoes off as usual and the test for tender feet ramped up a notch; who would choose a mix of pebble dash concrete, bricks (hot in the sun) and gravel for an area where you are not allowed to wear anything on your feet?

The views were wonderful and a combination of the lake, the mountains, the monks and the mantras made it feel very peaceful and spiritual. 

We were given orange thread bracelets by a monk whilst he prayed for us, which felt very special.

The monks in the area have built a new Buddha image next to the lake and also donate food to the local people by providing lunch every day

Nearby was another cave, full of bats, Buddhas and also shrines without Buddha images; we've not seen that before

A local tale tells the story of U Nar Ouk, a business man who ran a ferry company that competed with the Ayeyarwaddy Flotilla group. A price war led to both companies giving local ferry rides for free and eventually put U Nar Ouk out of business. He sold up all his assets and land and built a great monastery where he spent the rest of his days.

It had some beautiful buildings, and silent areas as monks live there still. It is an ongoing restoration project, but I can't say I agree with there tactics; more refurbishment than restoration perhaps?

We finally got to Mawlamyine which was once a busy port, and now is the 4th biggest city in the country. Lots of stalls on the road, bustling seafront and local restaurants. 

After the obligatory walk along the river we stop in a small local restaurant for dinner; you pick the meat or fish and sauce you want it in and that appears alongside rice and a vast array of sides; soups, sauces, currys and vegetables. All for less than $2!

The following morning we headed to the river side in Mawlamyine to catch a small local ferry boat (basically a fishing boat with planks to sit on) to Shampoo Island in the middle of the river. 

It gets its name from the fact the monks do a hair washing ceremony here and it's also where the idea for the famous Myanmar water throwing festival was thought up. It's a beautiful place with stupa, Buddhas and shrines scattered throughout beautiful gardens and stunning orchids. 

There is one monk who was particularly famous from this island and his body rests in a shrine here, he is one of a line of very important monks from the island. Their blessings are believed to protect people working with water; fishermen, those building local bridges. It seems they kept his trade mark glasses to adorn his statue.

A short boat ride back into town and we stuck our noses in two Christian churches; one Catholic and one Baptist. The latter built by the man who first translated the bible into the Myanmar language and also wrote the first English/Myanmar dictionary. Both churches were a slightly weird take on traditional church buildings.

We then took a ride out of the city to see a huge reclining Buddha image, it was set in a valley full of stupas and images

And had hundreds of monks lining the road towards it

There was the main image which still needed a bit of finishing off

Unlike others we've seen you could go inside this one and many displayed had been made of Buddist stories. Our guide complained that some of the stories were not complete and that the scene with topless women in it was not respectful or showing Buddhism in the right way. Weird as the monks who live here care for the site.

I thought it was even less respectful for one of the local visitors to be wearing a t shirt with the slogan "blow job better than no job" inside the Buddha statue... I only hope he didn't know what it meant!

There is the start of a second, even larger, reclining Buddha on the site. It looks like construction stalled a while back and even the first image hadn't been finished off.

The road out from here to the city ran through some substantial army areas; regional headquarters, the infantry division base, army school and army hospital. 

We explored the pagodas of Mawlamyine in the afternoon, the best of which appear to be on top of the hill in the middle of the city. Kipling and Orwell were both supposed to have been inspired by them in their writing. We visited four and they were all made even more impressive by the stunning views

From stupas

To glittering Buddhas

And peaceful crumbling monasteries 

Whilst we were there we spoke to our guide about Buddhism and he explained the differences between the Buddhas teachings and the folklore and legends that are layered on top on different countries. He explained the circular nature of your lives in Buddhism, and how good deeds and bad deeds add up over all these lives to determine your next state. Also the precepts that Buddhists live by and how they let you get into Nirvana; many good deeds over many lives and adhering to at least the first 5 precepts are a minimum. I doubt my chances, one of the 5 is not drinking alcohol... I must say I like a religion that puts your own actions alone as responsible for your life and future.

It ended, as seems the custom now, with a beautiful sunset