Notes on Mandalay

Day 2 Mandalay

Wednesday, 28 December, Raining.

A wedding procession today went past as I sat in the tea house. One speeding, honking jeep with a great golden flower adorned, offering bowl strapped to the bonnet, followed by the bridal party sitting in the tray of a lorry, on plastic deck chairs. The rain falls in mist and the umbrellas shield the important people.

 

The food in Mandalay is a mixture of Chinese, Shan, Indian. Each distinct, but available in the same restaurant or teahouse.

 

All people here, men, mingle in the teahouse, staffed by boys young as 10. Maybe younger, like in Dalla township. Grotty little 7 year olds who like playing with fire. The gentleness of the people in mandalay make me feel like the most stuck up person in town, even when I’m being as nice as I can be. The people laugh at my jokes easily enough which is a consoling feature of travelling alone here. I feel grotty for pointing out the price of an umbrella marked K300 less than the mentioned price, about 40c difference that is nothing ot me but the vendor laughs and corrects her offer. $1.75 for an umbrella.

Forgot to visit the Zey Cho market today, slept a lot. I have caught a respiratory infection. Every other tourist guide I’ve met seems to have. Hacking and spitting ( no betel juices).

 

Cancelled the day trip with Maungko due to rain and discovered last night that I spent too much cash on souvenirs. Spent the day wondering how I will stretch $200 over 8 days, judging by current form, $25 per day. That the trouble with last minute scheduling.

 

Notes on Food.

Alternative ways to serve food. –

Yangon teahouse puts everything on your table, like automatic Yum cha. Normal YC requires that you mob the dumpling cart lady as soon as she emerges from the kitchen. Here, you pay for what you eat, endless tea, K2300 < $3.

Most locals will not spend K1000 on afternoon tea, let alone dinner.

 

Indian, meat and three veg. The staff keep refilling the rice, veg, soup until the customer says stop. K3300.

Dish out fresh soup and curry veg with a ladle at the table. Add vegetable salad nibbles and 3 kinds of pickle.

Roast corn and turnip/yam on charcoal, street-side vendor. Served piping hot, break up the yam for foreigner (who doesn’t know how) so he can eat it.