Glimpses of Mandalay

There are so many more things to tell about Mandalay. We visited ancient teak monasteries, hilltop pakodas and back streets. Our breath caught in our throats over the sight of an onion dome floating over a mosque or the sound of the call to prayer or a peek at a strange and exotic hindu temple glimpsed through a gateway. Tea houses filled with men in longis or turbans sitting on child sized chairs.
People spitting everywhere till it seems like you can't find anywhere to to put your feet down.
A weaving studio hundreds of years old making silk with three hundred shuttles and two weavers sitting side by side weaving cloth so exquisite I could barely stand it.
Climbing to the top of a temple severely damaged by an earthquake and wondering if I'll be the last tourist to climb there as I'm risking life and limb to be there.
Having tea in a teahouse with Soe Soe and his friends while they talked politics and drink nescafe coffe so thick and sweet you can stand your spoon up in it.
Eating an early morning breakfast on the roof of our hotel while watching the city come alive.
Holding my breath to hurry by the dried fish stand at the bottom of our street.
Visiting pakoda after pakoda and chatting with monks in each one.
Watching the parade of monks with their bare feet slapping the sidewalks as they collect alms in a line from tallest to smallest. Those little novice monks tear at your heart, they're unbearably beautiful.
Barreling down the street in heavy traffic on the trishaw and hoping there would be no bumps to throw me off my perch.
Sitting at the chapati stand at night on kiddie chairs with a young muslim man staring at me and eventually joining us and asking me where is my gold and do I have money in my trying his darndest to look sexy.
Women in a miriad of colors carrying all manner of things on their heads.
One of the things that we noticed and that was different from traveling elsewhere is that because we were constantly with Soe Soe or his friends we had very little independent interaction with people. There were advantages to this though because it also meant we had translators. It was much the same for the rest of the trip in Burma because you either have a driver ( trishaw, ox cart, ponny cart etc) or a guide with you a lot of the time.
It's so weird. Last night the part of the blogger where you type was translating everything I did into an Asian script so that I had to type on a notepad and paste it to the blog. Tonight mysteriously it's back to normal....