Category Archives: _Asia_

Sunset at U Bein Bridge

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The sun won’t wait for the tourist, who is a bit late for sunset – right!? So here you got the reason, why we were in a bit of a rush today … making our way from Sagaing Hill over the Irrawaddy to the Taung Tha Man Lake and the world famous U Bein Bridge.

U Bein Bridge is – at about 1200m – the world’s longest bridge made from teak wood .. sitting on well more than 1000 support poles.

Boats were waiting for us – and soon we were out on the lake, first cruising a bit (including a trip to the other side of the bridge) and then making it to a good vantage point for sunset-behind-bridge views and photos … below some selected evidence.

The Road to Mandalay

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I did not feel too well today, so had a slow and lazy start.

We left the community lodge mid-morning and were on our way back to tourist country – essentially (and literally) on the road to Mandalay. Our first destination though was the town of Sagaing, essentially facing Mandalay from the other side of the Irrawaddy river.

We got here in the early afternoon – and after a late lunch made our way up Sagaing Hill by truck. We first stopped at Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda (ဆွမ်းဦးပုညရှင်စေတီ), which supposedly goes back all the way to the 14th century. The pagoda however was … well … yet another pagoda – the real interesting bit was the view down the hill – toward plenty of other pagodas, temples and stupas – all with the Irrawaddy in the background (and depending on direction) even Mandalay.

From the Soon U Ponya Shin Pagoda we made it over to the U Min Thonze Caves. This temple of the 30 caves features 45 Buddha images, presented in a curve-shaped colonnade / string of images.

 

Up Mt.Popa

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After the balloon flight earlier in the day, it was now time to get up even higher – this time climbing Mt. Popa (ပုပ္ပားတောင်) to a soaring 1518m above sea level.

After (a second) breakfast we took a mini bus from our base in Nyaung U over to Popa village. Here we made it to the trail head and got going. An elevation gain of 900m was ahead of us; with the one-way distance provided as 11km (though – in reality we ended up taking shortcuts constantly, resulting in a quicker, but also steeper climb).

The hike started as a walk through the dense jungle, though after the half-way point it became gradually clearer and clearer and the trees smaller. We eventually had the first views of the surrounding area – including a direct via of the pedestal hill of Taung Kalat and the Tuyin Taung Pagoda on its top.

We continued higher and higher on Mt. Popa – until we eventually made it to the tree limit allowing for even better views. Views from the top were a disappointment, given that the top is used as a telecommunication station and as such is covered by all sorts of buildings. We also found a small stupa on top of the mountain, which made a good background for a late lunch.

We made it back following the same way as on the way up. However as the bus was waiting for us at a different location, we were spared an altitude difference of around 200m.

From Mt.Popa we made it back towards Nyaung U with a welcome stop at a swimming pool on the way to cool down after the hike; we made it back to the hotel well after dark.

Today has been a fairly busy day … from the adventure of a hot air balloon ride to the hike up a mountain – both providing great perspectives of the surrounding landscape – with a fairly close-by view from the balloon and the big picture from the top of Mt.Popa – overall a busy, but more than worthwhile day.

Irrawaddy Sunset Cruise

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The group met again in the late afternoon. We had hired a small boat for a sunset cruise on the Irrawaddy river. A nice and relaxing way to finish a very active sightseeing day … nuts, chips, beers – and a slight issue with a sandbank.

Sunset, Drinks and a “cool” Performance

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As it was getting closer to sunset, we only had a quick glance at the Dhammayan Gyi Pagoda, to be on the top of Taung Guni Temple (i.e. our sunset temple) in time to secure good spots to view the sunset.

There was still ample of time to kill once we had our spots taken. So – perfect timing to learn the Burmese alphabet and to get a lesson in advanced marketing by a souvenir vendor. @Kelly – just remember, you did not just buy a t-shirt, you also paid for the entertainment of everyone around you 😉

After sunset we made it back to the hotel to freshen up and then into town for some pre-dinner drinks. From here (after some convincing) we made it over to an open air restaurant, that featured a dance and music show over dinner.