208 days ago
208 days ago
Mandalay (pop. 1 million) is the former capital of the last sovereign Burmese nation and remained prominent under British rule. Today, it’s the country’s second most important city and second largest. Due to its past glory, Mandalay has many recognizable sights like Mandalay Palace, towering pagodas and numerous Buddhist monasteries, temples and stupas.
XTS Rating: 9- Mandalay is a hidden jewel that never blinks on the tourist radar. There’s no foreign influence and local culture flourishes. From the women’s traditional thanka face paint to the men’s longji dress, from the Muslim daily call of prayer to Buddhist monks in dark red robes strolling the streets, and from traditional markets to chaotic traffic jams, Mandalay always seems to keep your eyes wide open and senses ringing. There’s also some of the most spectacular clusters of gold plated Buddhist stupas on the outskirts of town, so rent a bicycle and definitely explore the suburbs.
We already know that Mandalay is awesome, but nightlife is nonexistent here and the rest of Myanmar in general. Plus the city is plagued by frequent powers outages, abject poverty, unsanitary everything and blinding dust storms. Despite its drawbacks, these “negative” characteristics is what makes Mandalay Mandalay; so don’t let them turn you off too bad.
