Devin and Alida on the Sunset Temple.....

.....with a great view of some of the 2,200 temples in the background.  

Second Day in Bagan was Raceday......

.....and yesterday we spent the day visiting the temples here including a horse and buggy ride along the race trail.

The day ended with a visit to the only temple in the complex that you can climb on and we joined a really big crowd--climbing to the top--and watched the sunset.

But today was race day.  The complex once had over 5,000 temples during the ancient kingdoms dating back to the 9th century.  Over those centuries, wars were fought with China, Thailand and Indian kingdoms and the remaining temples display several different influences.

Today about 2,200 temples remain and form a very small but heavily populated architectural complex that is a World Heritage Site. And we ran through many of them.  The race start and finish were at this giant temple:

The race was much tougher than any of us had imagined.  We expected the heat and humidity but the course conditions were very tough to run in.  Even Devin said he struggled with it.  I was doing really well until Mile 10 then I started having lower back pains.  The last mile, my back was twisted to the right side where I was almost staggering into oncoming traffic.  Alida did the last mile with me and it was the most miserable mile I've ever done but we finished!  She insisted I go to the first aid tent because she suspected dehydration (it wasn't) and they ended up doing acupuncture on my back and seemed to fix the problem almost immediately.

Here are just some of the photos I shot during the race:

Black Friday Nightmare at Bagan, Myanmar......

Second Day in Mandalay Was as Interesting and Hectic as Yesterday.....

....and started with breakfast on top of the hotel with an amazing sunrise.

We then went to the highest hill in Mandalay which is also a pagoda.  After a steep climb in jeep-like trucks, we spent some time just admiring the views.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at a Chinese Restaurant today complete with duck.  After lunch we took a one-hour boat trip up one of the local rivers to the unfinished Mingon Pagoda.

The Mingon Pagoda was built by a former Myanmar king who died before the construction was completed--thus the unfinished pagoda name--but it was a grand project.

It's only one-third the original planned size and earthquakes have split it open in several places but it is still impressive.  A community called Sagaing has grown up around it and we walked around checking out the vendor stalls and a couple of completed pagodas.

We could climb to the top of this particular pagoda which most of us did and the heat and humidity were in full Southeast Asia mode.....

I really enjoyed visiting the Mongon Bell--the second largest bell in the world and the largest uncracked, ringing bell weighing over 90 tons.

And then Devin tried to break the darned thing....

After returning to Mandalay, we headed to the airport where we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset to match the sunrise that started the day:

After we had several plane delays we made it in late to Bagan and the serious sight-seeing begins tomorrow.

Mandalay Was Magical.....

.....as Kipling wrote in probably his most famous poem:

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea, There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o'me; For the wind is in the palm trees, and the Temple-bells they say: "Come you back, you British soldier;' come you back to Mandalay!"

Of course Kipling had never been to Mandalay but George Orwell had.  And now I have.  And I've seen the pagodas, felt the wind in the palm trees and heard the temple bells.....

But they don't play games here--as the airport sign stated at the entrance from the plane:

We flew early from Rangon on an easy flight with a prop plane and went immediately into tourist mode before going to the hotel.  First stop was the U Pain bridge which may be the longest wooden footbridge in the world, just a little over a mile long over a tranquil lake.

In a lot of ways, the images here reminded me of the old black and white photos from Vietnam in the 60s--water buffalo, rice paddys.

It was a nice break before we visited the Maha Myat Mini Paya with a 14-foot tall Buddha made of bronze and gold--the second most sacred religious sight in Myanmar.

Next stop was a visit to a silk weaving shop which, of course had goods for sale but was nevertheless interesting to me.

While we were there, a group of child monks came by begging for food.

This is a common custom in SE Asia.  The children are probably orphans and were taken in at a local temple.  They will be raised as novice monks but will be free to leave the monastery whenever they choose.  The orange saffron robes are typical of all Buddhist monks and the pink coverings indicate they are novices.

As is the custom of all Buddhist monks in Myanmar, they go around in the mornings begging for food to instill humbleness.  Even the older monks do this and it isn't seen as a negative thing--but actually revered.  When he was younger, the King of Thailand would do this one day a year to remind himself of his humble station among the people.

After that we went to lunch at a local Mandalay restaurant.  There are seventy of us in the group and we've split into two buses and as a result are getting to know each other better and it turns out to be a really good group.

The local beer here is not too bad.

After checking into the hotel, we went to the Shwenandaw Monastery which was originally part of the royal palace and is about the only remaining section after the bombing by the Japanese and British during World War II.

It was constructed of teak wood and is literally covered in intricate carvings.

The last stop of the day was a place I was really looking forward to--the Kuthodaw Pata and the hone of the world's largest book.

There are 729 of these smaller white stupas:

And each one contains a tablet from the Tripitaka, Theravada Buddhism's most sacred text.

Together, they create the world's largest book and is a United Nations World Heritage Site.  I really enjoyed this visit. 

While there, a wedding was taking place which gave us a nice picture of formal Myanmar dress:

And of course the little kids were selling souvenirs.

After this we returned to the hotel and I think all four of us skipped supper.  I showered, ate a bag of peanuts and went to bed.  Tomorrow we'll spend another half-day in Mandalay before flying to our Grand Destination of the trip--Bagan Temple Complex.