Meandering in Mandalay

I spent parts of three days in Mandalay.  I visited the Mandalay Fort, containing the Royal Palace (it was rebuilt after being destroyed during fighting in WW II).  I also saw a few temples, but mostly just wandered around.  This took some work as Mandalay is a busy town of about one-million people.

One day I hired a motorcycle taxi to take me to the nearby village of Amurapura, famed for its 200 year-old, 1.2 km long, teak bridge.  My driver was a young guy who was keen to practice his English, so asked to accompany me on my walk across the bridge.  I asked him his name twice and instantly forgot it, so for purposes of this story I'll call him Kanji.  Anyways, Kanji is 28 years-old, married with two kids and before his current job he pedalled a rickshaw.  He grew-up in a small town, his Father died when he was age 10 and didn't go on with school past the elementary level because the family couldn't afford to send him.  He was a very positive guy with hopes that the improving political situation will improve things in Myanmar.  Kanji said that I was lucky to come from a country like Canada.  I agreed.

A funny thing happened when we returned across the bridge.  Some beautiful young women (Kanji later told me that they were of Hmong ethnicity) asked if they could have their photo taken with me, both as a group and individually.  I had Kanji take photos for me as well.  Although I'm getting older and bigger, it's nice to know that at least one ethnic minority group in a repressed country thinks I still got it.