Day 7: Mandalay to Monywa

Yesterday was a day off from cycling, and the chance to do some leisurely tourist sightseeing in Mandalay and just relax a bit.

Today's ride might have been titled: "Ancient Burmese Capitals", as it took in most of the historical capitals of the kings of Burma, i.e. Awa, Amarapura, and Mandalay.  (After Mandalay the British moved the capital to Rangoon, and then the general moved it again to NayPyiDaw.

First off was a visit to a village to see various local manufacturing activities,  including the crafting of alms bowls for Buddhist monks from beaten ex-oil drums, and the production of cheroots. Then on to the ruins of the palace at Ava, and a walk on U Bein Bridge, which at 1.5km in length, is the world's longest teak bridge. The end of the cycling part of the day involved crossing the Irrawaddy river and heading up to a hill-top temple for what would have been a great view of the river and surrounding countryside if it had not been so hazy.

 After lunch a two hour drive took us to the site of the world's tallest standing Buddha (lots of world records to be had here in Myanmar!) On the way up, we passed an area containing 10,000 Buddha statues, each seated under a Banyan tree.  Not sure if that is also a world record but it beats the paltry 7000 or so in the Golden Cave (q.v.).  There is no escaping the fact that the Burmese do like their Buddhas.