playing a game of chance at the fairground during the festival. we accidentally stumbled upon this fairground one night, and it was fun wandering around here107 views
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there was a big Buddhist festival going on for a few days when we arrived in Mandalay. here are people hanging out and watching a travelling theatre group outdoors. these plays with singing and dancing telling mythical stories go on all night long91 views
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each of the 729 white pagodas contains a mable slab inscribed in Pali and they constitute the Tipitaka (sacred texts of Theravada Buddhism), so all 729 sabs together make up the one book. it took 9 years to complete the book80 views
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this girl at one of the pagodas had thanaka paste on her face in really cool looking leaf patterns79 views
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monks waiting to catch the sunset on top of Mandalay Hill78 views
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75 views
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this is a travelling band with instruments hooked up to amps and speakers on wheels, wandering the streets at night and blaring music74 views
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looking at the moat & Mandalay Hill (in the distance) from the foreigner's entrance to Mandalay Fort -there are 4 entrances, but foreigners are only allowed to enter through 1, which we discovered after going to the other 3, which took a long time74 views
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view of the palace buildings in the inner core of the Fort (the Royal Palace was turned into a fort after the British annexed Burma)74 views
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all these individual buildings and the grounds make up the inner palace. outside this center, but still inside the fort (which is surrounded by the moat) there's huge amount of land which is used to house the local armed forces and their families73 views
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chuck chatting with a monk at Kuthodaw Pagoda73 views
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one of the pages of the book73 views
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one of the rooms in the Royal Palace inside Mandalay Fort. you have to be barefeet to enter these buildings (same with temples, whether in active use or ruins).69 views
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the watchtower in the corner of this photo has amazing views of Mandalay69 views
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chuck on the motorbike he rented to go around Mandalay68 views
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the ferris wheel operator was standing high up on the wheels, looked quite dangerous67 views
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view of the city of Mandalay from the restaurant on the top floor of our hotel where breakfast was served. i LOVED burma, but Mandalay was the one place i didn't, despite its beautiful euphonious evocative name67 views
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66 views
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this building with the seven-tiered roof is where King Mindon sat (his throne room)65 views
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63 views
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62 views
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Monk at the Kuthodaw Paya - this temple complex at the base of Mandalay Hill houses the world's largest book.61 views
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many of the streets of mandalay would get flooded whenever it would rain and sometimes the only way to go across a street without wading knee-deep in water was to take a rickshaw for that short distance60 views
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serving some kind of noodle dish and having a good time59 views
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the Hills of Mandalay in the distance58 views
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view from another entrance to Mandalay Fort, of the moat and Mandalay Hill58 views
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games of chance seemed very popular57 views
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all kinds of interesting food at the fair57 views
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another burmese lottery game56 views
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pagoda on top of Mandalay Hill54 views
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