11/23: Mandalay on Foot: Map Reading Goof & Gold Pounding

We decided to explore more of the west and southern part of Yangon on foot by ourselves and started out walking toward the Clock Tower. We had to be careful walking in almost all of downtown Yangon as there were no sidewalks suitable for pedestrian use; they’re used instead for parking spots, additional display space for stores, etc. 

The Diamond Jubilee Clock was erected in honor of Queen Victoria’s 60 year reign.

We walked onward to Zegyo Market, Mandalay’s most important bazaar and the center of trade for all the people of Upper Mandalay. We wandered through the market that was laid out around the Clock in 1903 for a while. 

Photos of Zegyo Market:

The most exciting thing at Zeygo Market though was outside as we watched for about 10 minutes while 2 guys strapped plastic chairs on their rickety bikes and then toddled off. I would have loved to have seen especially as they attempted to see people and traffic around them in between the chairs as they tried to turn street corners.

Bicycle Trishaws were a common sight in Mandalay.

Eindawya Pagoda was our next stop. Photos from there:

We were very surprised at how extremely dilapidated and dangerous in spots the pagoda and the surrounding buildings were.

We felt pretty stupid when we looked again at our map and also the description we had to discover that what we had just seen was not in fact Eindawya Pagoda at all! The real pagoda was across and a few steps down the street from the one we had just seen. Below are photos of the actual Eindawya Pagoda:

It was like an oasis of peace and serenity in the city center and seemed as big as a small village.

A number of women were applying gold glitter to fans that had very intricate designs on them.

The Buddha figure, above, was made of chalcedony, a form of quartz, and carried to Myanmar in 1839 from Bodhgaya, India where Gautama attained enlightenment. The Buddha image is now covered with gold leaf.

Sewing holders for monks’ begging bowls.

We walked through the Produce Market next en route to another pagoda.

This block should be called Garlic Block as the air was redolent with its smell!

I felt like we were in a time warp and imagined men must have been pulling carts like this 100 years ago.

We walked to Setkyathiha Pagoda next. Photos from there:

It was very unusual to see both gold and silver colored shrines in one pagoda. Setkyathiha Pagoda was rebuilt after being badly damaged during WWII.

As you know if you’ve been reading recent posts, Steven and I have seen a massive number of pagodas this trip but we’d never seen a sculpture like this row of monks lined up as if for Tak Bat, i.e. the Buddhist Call for Alms that we’d witnessed in Luang Prabang, Laos weeks earlier.

Seeing the Pagoda’s own version of the Golden Rock in Mon state brought back fond memories of our recent visit there.

After leaving the pagoda, we could smell delicious scents coming from a nearby bakery so we had our noses lead the way there. 

Steven particularly likes rolls to munch on while we’re out and about so we bought one of the individually wrapped sponge cakes that we’d seen being assembled for .8 to see what it was like. For that price, we couldn’t go wrong and thus bought many more after Steven decided he liked it.

We made a point of stopping by Judson’s Baptist Church when we saw it listed on the map we had.

I wondered again why there was barbed wire atop the church fence as there had been atop the Catholic Church we'd been to in Yangon.

It was quite normal seeing ads attached to street signs.

Just a block away from the Baptist Church was Father Lafon’s Catholic Church.

 Christmas lights were just being struck up when we visited.

 

It was sad seeing this boy begging with the infant in his arms but beggars were not an uncommon sight in Myanmar.

Our next goal was the Gold Pounders’ Workshop which took a while to walk to and find as we had an old map.

Photos from Gold Pounders’ Workshop:

Most of the one inch gold leaf sheets we saw worshipers putting onto shining Buddha images are laboriously pounded for hours by hand.

Watching each man pound at very slightly different intervals than his colleagues produced almost hypnotizing music. I could have listened to that insistent thumping rhythm for far longer than we did. I guess it took me back to watching your Dakota Ridge Marching Band all those years ago, Nina. We found out that the men wield the 7 pound mallets for one hour straight, then relax for 30-45 minutes before resuming the pounding.

A guide told us the men had been doing this for 10 years. What backbreaking work. I saw one man who had fallen fast asleep during his break although I didn’t know how he could have slept through that ruckus as the noise was deafening. I wonder if the men are provided ear plugs.

These women were counting out the tiny squares of gold leaf that had already been placed between thin sheets of tissue paper.

Below, the steps involved in making the wafer thin gold leaf:

Having seen so many tiny gold leaf squares available for sale at so many of Myanmar’s pagodas recently, it was fascinating being able to find out how they were made. It certainly gave us a deeper appreciation for the hard labor involved in the process.

It was cute seeing this little child having lots of fun playing in the dirt as we left the King Galon Workshop.

Throughout our approximately 4 mile walk through much of southern Mandalay, we had been approached by lots of men offering their taxi services, i.e. on the backs of motorcycles. I am sure they see few Westerners walking in the parts of town we were in as we were off the ‘tourist path’ definitely. I don’t recall seeing many locals walking either, come to think of it.

After leaving the Gold Pounders’ Workshop, I suggested to Steven we get 2 guys to take us back to the hotel on their motorbikes since it was again over 30 degrees out and we otherwise would have had a fair hike back to the hotel. He was able to negotiate the fare for only .80 each – that sure seemed like the best use of .80, I thought, even if there were no helmets to wear. Plus, I admit, it was a lot of fun too hanging on tightly to my driver as we raced through the city’s bumpy streets! 

I have no desire to go out and get a Harley Davidson, mind you though, but doing something just a little wild and crazy was a lark. Before this trip, the last (and possibly the only) time I had ever been on a motorbike was 45 or more years ago when my brother John took me for a spin up and down Birch Ave, where our home was located in Ottawa.

Posted on 12/5 from Kathmandu, Nepal.