201MANDALAYSIGHTSMANDALAY & AROUNDSIGHTSMANDALAY History SIGHTS
According to Burmese myths, Buddha him-
self visited Mandalay Hill (see p 201 ) and
also found time to scuttle up a riverside
bluff (p 225 ) in the guise of a chicken. In less
legendary epochs, Mandalay didn’t actually
take shape as a city until 1857. Its brief, if
momentous, period as a tailor-made Bur-
mese capital lasted from only 1861 until the
British take-over in 1885. However, several
other post-Bagan capitals lay very close to
today’s city (see p 224 ). On several occasions
new kings sought to build their legacy by
founding a new capital, often transport-
ing building materials with them, meaning
little remained at the old site. The longest
lasting of these was Inwa, known to Euro-
peans as Ava.
MANDALAY
%02 / POP C1,100,000 / ELEV 244FT
The natural focus of the city is an abrupt
hill, rising above a vast moated and walled
square. It once contained the sprawling
royal city but apart from reconstructed
Mandalay Palace at the very centre, this is
now a sparse, mostly out-of-bounds area of
military encampments. Today the city’s cen-
tre sprawls for miles, the commercial heart
lying south and west of the fort. Quieter mo-
nastic districts are further west towards the
Ayeyarwady River.
1 Sights
NORTHERN MANDALAY
If you’re fed up with visiting pagodas, this
area also has a swimming pool (p 210 ), golf
course and zoo (Map p 204 ; admission K2000;
h8am-5pm), the latter built in 1989 to cover
a site used during the 1988 demonstrations.
Mandalay Hill LANDMARK
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(Map p 204 ; camera/video fee K500/1000) To g e t
a sense of Mandalay’s pancake-fl at sprawl,
climb the 760ft hill that breaks it. The view-
point is especially popular at sunset when
young monks converge on foreigners for lan-
guage practice.
For many visitors the 45-minute barefoot
climb (all on covered stairways) is a major
part of the experience, but you’ll need at
least a minimum level of fi tness. The most
common starting point is at the south, ei-
ther between two giant chinthe (guardian
lion-dog creatures) or by another stair-
way starting further southeast where the
Bobokyi Nat (spirit statue) watches over
the entrance. The routes converge a little
south of a large standing Buddha, who
points an outstretched arm towards the
royal palace. No, he’s not playing Lenin, but
rather indicating the location of Myanmar’s
future capital. According to legend, the Bud-
dha, accompanied by his disciple Ananda,
really did climb Mandalay Hill and proph-
esied that, in the 2400th year of his faith, a
great city would be founded below the hill.
By our calendar that 2400th year was 1857,
the year that King Mindon did indeed de-
cree the capital’s move from Amarapura to
Mandalay.
Further up is the Myatsawnyinaung Or-
dination Hall. It’s a large, forgettable concrete
aff air that most people walk straight through.
But if you cross the hall and look out to the
northeast, you’ll spy the remnants of a three-
storey stone fort. Back on the main pathway,
steep steps lead past a memorial to Britain’s
Royal Berkshire Regiment who retook that
fort from the Japanese in March 1945.
As you near the summit, the plethora of
souvenir stands and ‘Hello Water’ womenNAVIGATING MANDALAYMandalay city streets are laid out on a grid system and numbered from east to west (up
to 49th) and north to south (over 50th). A street address that reads 66th (26/27) means
the place is located on 66th St between 26th and 27th Sts. Corner addresses are given
in the form 26th at 82nd St. Some of the longer east–west streets can also take names
once they cross the Shweta Chaung (Shweta Canal) heading west. Hence 19th St be-
comes Inwa St, 22nd St becomes Pinya St, 26th St becomes Bayintnaung Rd and 35th
St 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 88th
St. 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 thoroughfares
include 26th and 35th Sts plus 19th St east of the moat.