Myanmar Mandalay at the Irrawaddy River is the last city where Burmese Kings ruled.

A not so old old pagoda and temples citadel of the Konebaung dynasty who ruled Myanmar or Burma for the last time before the British annexation in 1885. The city was built under King Mindon starting at 1856, at that time a Irrawaddy river cruise was the preferred means of transport.

Today the city is the number three tourist destination in the country and is flooded by Chinese immigrants from the north. For great travel a Mandalay Hotel is virtually behind every third corner.

This is still the hub and center of culture and communication with all what a great city needs, such as hotels around, a Mandalay Palace, markets, temples and a great Buddhist legacy with countless Buddhist monasteries and pagodas. Only the road to Mandalay is in real bad condition, potholes and craters are the normality, cows prefer to walk the street and its very dusty in central Myanmar where the

city is. The city is accessible by air via several Myanmar airlines, rail, river and road travel. A hotel almost always has a Chinese owner and the resorts and restaurants too. A Irrawaddy river cruise should be on every travel plan.

Hotels are plenty but only the Sedona Hotel is real top notch. The second up market, big and expensive is the Novotel. From the Sedona a breathtaking view over Mandalay Palace, the moat plus Mandalay Hill is available. Actually the Sedona Hotel is just on the other side of the road running along the Mandalay Palace moat. 

The road to Mandalay Myanmar

was made famous by Kipling and a river cruise on the mighty Ayeyarwady River or Irrawaddy River to Bagan is still a great event with the vessel "Road to Mandalay". There are also short distance boats and ships to Sagaing and Mingun. Larger river ships connect with upper or northern Myanmar. Some years ago the new Mandalay international airport was completed. Now flight became more easy. Mandalay is they only international airport beside Yangon airport. Until now only one Mandalay travel international flight from Chiang Mai in Thailand to the city is available.

Mandalay Myanmar sunset over palace and moat seen from Mandalay hotel of the Sedona chain. Here are Mandalay Images.

Mandalay still retains its old traditions and is the centre of attractions for its historical heritage, in the center is the fully restored palace. Mandalay is well-known and famous for the presence of significant monasteries, pagodas, temples and religious edifices and also for the palace right in front of Mandalay Hill where the last two Myanmar Kings, King Mindon and King Thibaw, resided, a reminder to British colonial time, means Mandalay travel to see the real thing before it vanish, there is a Mandalay Hotel for every taste and budget to handle this.From a Mandalay hotel a usual tour to visit some oft the most venerated pagodas and temples in the country, such as the Mahamuni Temple and Pagoda complex and countless other sacral buildings and monasteries, all visible at Mandalay travel.

A Irrawaddy River Cruise is one of the best things to do in Mandalay is  it wont need a long cruise. It only needs to walk to river bank and try to find a sampan for about 2 hours and tell the guy he should move up and downstream. The best would be to get a tour guide because they know better what to do and everything goes much faster as if you do it on your own, guides like Lonely Planet etc. are useless for this, read more.

The first Mandalay Daytrip should be to the top of Mandalay Hill, its the best view and orientation point in the city, from there Mandalay Palace and the most interesting monasteries, temple and pagodas can be spotted, a long lens camera should be taken with. The view over the city and the Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady) is breathtaking, during monsoon times it looks like a big lake where some white pagodas pop out. This is a fascinating city, but only at the second or third glance. It needs a bit of and explorer mind to find the the interesting things. It is almost mandatory to take a tour guide, otherwise everyone will miss more than the half of the interesting sites and views. It also makes it more easy to get into a monastery, temple and Pagoda since the people there usually know the guy or the lady, read more.

Another Mandalay Travel Daytrip is to Sagaing having a look around the pagoda and temples which are often close to the banks of the Irrawaddy and the Sagaing Hills behind. At this area its virtually possible to breath Buddhism and Asian history, more.

The Mahamuni Temple and Pagoda is probably the most venerated in the city, actually its not only the temple which is very interesting, its the same with they area around the temple which is one of the oldest quarter for arts and crafts in the modern history of the country. There are woodcarver, artists creating marble Buddha statues creator and everything around this theme, more.

From there a panoramic view over the city, and over the Irrawaddy show a flat scenery with the Ayeyarwady - Irrawaddy river in between. Legend tells that a ogress after a arguing with Lord Buddha decided to cut off her breasts and presented the same to Buddha. There upon, Buddha solaced her and made a prophesy that the ogress would be reborn as a Myanmar prince. This prophesy turned out to be when the city was founded by the pious King Mindon who convened the Fifth Buddhist Synod (Council) in 1871. When King Mindon ascended the throne, the King found a new and flourishing city at the foot of the Mandalay Hill, to be known as Yadanabon. Here, Buddhism will be promoted and perpetuated. King Mindon (1853-1878) was upright, wise and compassionate, out of Mandalay he ruled the country efficiently. He made vast and far-reaching reforms in the fields of administration, economy and judiciary. He also sent envoys to Europe for the first time in Myanmar golden Myanmar. The first minister who visited the West was distinguished minister, Kinwun Mingyi, eminent administrator and jurist. King Mindon convened the Fifth Buddhist Synod (Sangayana) at Mandalay, engraving the Buddhist scriptures at the Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of the Mandalay hill. The Buddhist Canon of Tripitaka Texts were inscribed on 729 marble slabs and housed in small shrines there. It constitutes the “World’sBiggest Book” in Mandalay. If piled up it will reach the height of 20 storied high rise building. King Thibaw (1878-1885), the last king who ruled the country. Buddhist scriptures at the Kuthodaw Pagoda. The Mandalay Palace enclosed with a moat and fortification such as the palace wall is probably the most impressive structure in the city beside of Mahamuni Pagoda and Temple. Totally destroyed and burned down after a direct hit by a Japanese bomb from an aircraft during WW2 it took a long time to to rebuild everything according to the old construction plans. It took the combined effort of the local military who convinced the richer crowd of the city to donated money for rebuilding and as we see today it worked, rebuilding was done by the end of the 198X. The interior is not up to date since too many items and goods where looted and stolen by the British colonialists. The Brits where literally spoken the pain in the ass of Myanmar and Mandalay, they destroyed virtually everything directly or indirectly, read more. Brief Chronology of the city 11.Sept.1853 a general meeting of monks and other men held at Masoeyane Monastery decided against the move of the capital to a new site.13.Sept.1853 A petition was put up to the king to convey the fact that public opinion was against the move of capital. 30.Oct.1856 A survey team was sent to inspect site for the new capital. 31.Oct.1856 A plan was drawn for the new capital. 29.Dec.1856 A detailed program was written to carry out the ceremonial and ritualistic side of the construction scheme, care was taken that none of the formalities omitted. 13.Jan.1857 A Royal Order was issued sanctioning the built of a new capital at a site called Mandalay.2.Feb.1857 Repair of water reservoir around the new site started and finished in two month’s time. 13.Feb.1857 Mandalay City and Palace plan and fortification plan were marked out and pegged. 25.Feb.1857 Leveling the ground for the Mandalay Palace. 6.Mar.1857 The earth was ploughed up at the city and Mandalay palace sites by gold and silver ploughs. 14.Mar.1857 A camp was put up at the northwest corner within the Mandalay palace site to serve as a temporary abode of the royalty. 7.May.1857 Construction for an Mandalay Palace arsenal began. 14.May.1857 Coronation; prisoner released; decision to revive the Thathameda tax. 25.June.1857 Exterior decoration put up at the royal Mandalay Place camp. 2.July.1857 The king moved to the royal Mandalay Palace camp with the idea to supervise the palace construction himself, monsoon flooding couldn't stop him. 24.July.1857 A stockade put up around the Mandalay palace site. 26.July.1857 The king inspected the various constructions in Mandalay City. 7.Aug.1857 Cutting wood for the Mandalay palace began. July-Aug.1857 New Mandalay city area was divided into plots for residential and commercial quarters. 1864 With the help of Bishop Bigandet, Mandalay got a steam printing press that could pro duce Pitaka written on 864 palm leaves by only single impression. March 1864 Ten homes of Mandalay for the aged poor were put under a German medical man called Merbie. 6.July.1865 King Mindon made six of his sons promise abstinence from drinking liquor. 11.July.1884 Telegram mentioned the Chinese attack of Bhamo; 1670 soldiers dispatched. 17.July.1884 Another 1650 soldiers dispatched; the Chinese surrender after one-month fight. 7.Nov.1885 King Thibaw declared war on the British and ordered the march of troops along three routes ' 5000 men down the Irrawaddy river, 5000 men along the Taundwingyi route and 5000 men along the Toungoo route. 25.Nov.1885 The British occupied Myingyan, King Thibaw considered evacuation but the queen was sick, queen mother too old and the royal princesses too young and so abandoned the idea of leaving Mandalay city; decided to give in to all demands made by the British. 1.Mar.1889 386 miles of Yangon – Mandalay railway line completed. 1901 The British Viceroy of India Lord Curzon visited Mandalay; he gave order to move the British troops out of the Mandalay palace immediately and to preserve the palace as a national museum. 19.Feb.1942 Mandalay Myanmar was bombed by the Japanese for the first time. 1.May.1942 Mandalay occupied by the Japanese. 17.Mar.1945 Mandalay palace was destroyed by the Japanese. 11.Mar.1949 Mandalay Myanmar was occupied by Karen rebels, they left on 6.April. 7.July.1967 The Ludu Daily, the only newspaper of Mandalay Myanmar was stopped from publication. Ref: From DR. THAN TUN books