U Bein’s wooden Bridge in Amarapura

Travel Day 1149 – Mandalay and Amarapura, MYANMAR

My exploration of the Mandalay area continued today, but I went even further south and instead of using a bicycle, it was time to use a pick-up…

U Bein’s wooden Bridge in Amarapura

So far I hadn’t used any pick-ups at all, although they were probably the most common means of transport in Myanmar. They were basically little pick-up trucks with two benches on the back and so many people would squeeze into or hang onto them somehow, that it actually seemed dangerous to even consider using them. On the bright side, these little crowded trucks were dirt cheap and literally stopped anywhere along the road to let people hop on or off…

Since expensive tours were not quite my cup of tea and neither was hiring a personal driver, walking over to the closest pick-up stand seemed to be the best thing to do for me. Luckily in Mandalay there was the starting point for these little passenger trucks and so asking for destinations or getting a seat was not really an issue. On top of that, the local people seemed really happy that I joined them and squeezed myself as well on the tiny wooden bench on the back…

Kyauktawgyi Paya in Amarapura

About 30 minutes later found me somewhere close to Amarapura. The locals in the pick-up, who basically spoke not a single word of English had signaled to me that this was the right stop to visit the famous U Bein’s Bridge, but it took me another while to actually get there on foot. It probably was another 30 minutes of walking through a crowded marked, along old temples and monasteries, across train tracks and through residential areas. In the end it seemed almost a miracle that I actually managed to find U Bein’s Bridge, but I did with the added bonus of having seen some interesting local neighborhoods…

The area around the long wooden bridge spanning across a narrow part of Taungthaman Lake was then quite boring and touristic. During the entire morning I had not seen any tourists and all of a sudden next to U Bein’s Bridge there seemed to be a big parking lot for tour group buses, unloading all the trigger happy package tourists. Along with that came the usual arrangements of souvenir vendors, food stalls and other people trying to talk visitors into buying something that seemed pointless to own in the first place…

Local Village by Amarapura, Myanmar

Not being too impressed by the area or the wooden U Bein’s Bridge that turned out to be nothing but a long pier across the lake, I rather continued my exploration on the other side of the water. There I found some ruined temples and the nice Kyauktawgyi Paya which was a really peaceful place to wander around and explore. For me this calm place was a whole lot more enjoyable to visit than the stilted wooden bridge or to watch the feeding of the monks that every single tourist seemed to have on the must-see agenda…

Also the local village beyond the temple turned out to be a really interesting place to linger and watch some local life revolving around simple bamboo huts. Observing this local village life really became the highlight of my day and even if I couldn’t appreciate the main sight of Amarapuras’s U Bein’s Bridge as much as I should have, this little trip outside of Mandalay was definitely well worth the crowded pick-up ride and a great cultural experience…

Find all Amarapura Photos here.