I spent my last two night in Myanmar in Mandalay and splurged a little on a $40 a night hotel downtown. Mandalay is quite flat and easier to walk around than Yangon, though you still need to watch that you don’t fall into a storm drain that is missing a cover.
There is a large Chinese influence here with many new hotels being built by the Chinese and lots of Chinese restaurants. There is even a large mall downtown, but with few businesses inside and even less shoppers.
This is the view from Mandalay hill, which is a great hike, or, if you prefer, there is an escalator at the top where taxis can drop you off! The rainy season has started now and there was rain for both days in Mandalay. It was quite heavy, but it tends not to last that long.
In downtown, you can see where they make gold leaf. It’s the small squares of gold that they stick onto shrines, Buddha images, golden rock, etc. They start with a sheet of gold and hammer the hell out of it until it is so thin that it is virtually worthless. They sell a pack of ten 3cm squares for $3. This may make a better gift than the gems!
The airport is a staggering 45km away from the city, so allow lots of time to get there. There are foreign exchange offices there, but they were closed. Also, there was a power outage when I got there, so everyone had to wait till it came back on so they could use the X-ray machines!
Remember, you cannot exchange Myanmar Kyat outside of the country, you need to leave with US dollars so I would strongly suggest you exchange your money before getting to this airport. Otherwise, you may have more souvineers than you bargained for!
