lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

NAVIGATING MANDALAY201Mandalay city streets are laid out on a grid system and numbered from east to west (upto 49th) and north to south (over 50th). A street address that reads 66th (26/27) meansthe place is located on 66th St between 26th and 27th Sts. Corner addresses are givenin the form 26th at 82nd St. Some of the longer east–west streets can also take namesonce they cross the Shweta Chaung (Shweta Canal) heading west. Hence 19th St becomesInwa St, 22nd St becomes Pinya St, 26th St becomes Bayintnaung Rd and 35thSt becomes Yangyiaung Rd. But even here the numbered address system still works.The ‘downtown’ area runs roughly from 21st St to 35th St, between 80th St and 88thSt. Across the tracks, 78th St is developing into the main site for big shopping malls;73rd St is also bustling as it leads down to the university. Major east–west thoroughfaresinclude 26th and 35th Sts plus 19th St east of the moat.HistoryAccording to Burmese myths, Buddha himselfvisited Mandalay Hill (see p 201 ) andalso found time to scuttle up a riversidebluff (p 225 ) in the guise of a chicken. In lesslegendary epochs, Mandalay didn’t actuallytake shape as a city until 1857. Its brief, ifmomentous, period as a tailor-made Burmesecapital lasted from only 1861 until theBritish take-over in 1885. However, severalother post-Bagan capitals lay very close totoday’s city (see p 224 ). On several occasionsnew kings sought to build their legacy byfounding a new capital, often transportingbuilding materials with them, meaninglittle remained at the old site. The longestlasting of these was Inwa, known to Europeansas Ava.MANDALAY%02 / POP C1,100,000 / ELEV 244FTThe natural focus of the city is an abrupthill, rising above a vast moated and walledsquare. It once contained the sprawlingroyal city but apart from reconstructedMandalay Palace at the very centre, this isnow a sparse, mostly out-of-bounds area ofmilitary encampments. Today the city’s centresprawls for miles, the commercial heartlying south and west of the fort. Quieter monasticdistricts are further west towards theAyeyarwady River.1SightsNORTHERN MANDALAYIf you’re fed up with visiting pagodas, thisarea also has a swimming pool (p 210 ), golfcourse and zoo (Map p 204 ; admission K2000;h8am-5pm), the latter built in 1989 to covera site used during the 1988 demonstrations.Mandalay HillLANDMARKmNÿel"et;='(Map p 204 ; camera/video fee K500/1000) To geta sense of Mandalay’s pancake-flat sprawl,climb the 760ft hill that breaks it. The viewpointis especially popular at sunset whenyoung monks converge on foreigners for languagepractice.For many visitors the 45-minute barefootclimb (all on covered stairways) is a majorpart of the experience, but you’ll need atleast a minimum level of fitness. The mostcommon starting point is at the south, eitherbetween two giant chinthe (guardianlion-dog creatures) or by another stairwaystarting further southeast where theBobokyi Nat (spirit statue) watches overthe entrance. The routes converge a littlesouth of a large standing Buddha, whopoints an outstretched arm towards theroyal palace. No, he’s not playing Lenin, butrather indicating the location of Myanmar’sfuture capital. According to legend, the Buddha,accompanied by his disciple Ananda,really did climb Mandalay Hill and prophesiedthat, in the 2400th year of his faith, agreat city would be founded below the hill.By our calendar that 2400th year was 1857,the year that King Mindon did indeed decreethe capital’s move from Amarapura toMandalay.Further up is the Myatsawnyinaung OrdinationHall. It’s a large, forgettable concreteaffair that most people walk straight through.But if you cross the hall and look out to thenortheast, you’ll spy the remnants of a threestoreystone fort. Back on the main pathway,steep steps lead past a memorial to Britain’sRoyal Berkshire Regiment who retook thatfort from the Japanese in March 1945.As you near the summit, the plethora ofsouvenir stands and ‘Hello Water’ womenMANDALAY SIGHTS& AROUND SIGHTS