This morning,on our way to our first antiquary,we stopped off at a local carving and embroidery factory. Next it was a silk weaving factory where the looms were like something out of the ark and the first time we've ever seen a spinning wheel in use commercially. we carried along "the strand"'the embankment that runs along the irrawaddy and prevents mandalay from flooding to amarapura ,a former capital. That attraction here is a 200 year old teak bridge that crosses over a vast lake that is linked to the irrawaddy in the rainy season and was originally built as a defence from a naval attack. A very narrow walkway with no handrail but still an enjoyable stroll.
We then boarded our bus to take us over a new bridge which crosses the irrawaddy to Saigain,a city with over 1000 religious sites . We piled into lorries to take us the main temple as the roads are so narrow and the down to our lunch stop. Retracing our steps along the strand to the ferry terminal we boarded a small boat to take us upstream for an hour to Mingann,another important royal site where the world's largest stupa was to be built. The project failed when the king died and then an earthquake struck. It is slowly collapsing and our guide said new cracks appear regularly as earth tremors are common. Next to the site is it's original bell,which is the world's largest ringing bell at 90 tons. It is surprisingly quiet for such a large bell. We all climbed inside for a look. All the houses in the village are typically burmese,on stilts and made of wood/bamboo. Our last site was the White Stupa,a giant meringue like structure and built to reflect buddhist beliefs in the route to nirvana. By now dusk was coming so we had a sunset boat trip back to mandalay and an early night as we had a 5 am breakfast to catch a boat to Bagan,our next destination.