Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MANDALAY
02 / POPULATION C1,100,000 / ELEVATION 244FT
Hot, busy and not immediately beautiful, Mandalay is primarily used by travellers as a
transport and day-trip hub. But even amid the central grid of lacklustre concrete-block
ordinariness lurk many pagodas, striking churches, Indian temples and notable mosques.
West of centre towards the fascinating Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) riverside, shadier back-
streets link countless little-visited monasteries. And there's plenty of fascination to be
found delving into a range of craft workshops and arts performances.
NAVIGATING MANDALAY
Central Mandalay city streets are laid out on a grid system. East-west streets are
numbered from 1st to 49th with 12th/26th as the north/south edges of the fort-
ress moat. North-south streets are numbered over 50th, starting from the main
Pyin Oo Lwin road in the east but becoming slightly confused west of diagonal 86th
where some roads are more crooked and un-numbered.
A street address that reads '66th (26/27)' means a location on 66th St between
26th and 27th Sts. Corner addresses are given in the form '26th at 82nd'. The
'downtown' area runs roughly from 21st St to 35th St, between 80th St and 88th
St. Across the railway tracks, 78th St 33/34 has the main new shopping malls
while 30th, 35th and 73rd are all developing as busy commercial streets.
Sights
Several of Mandalay's top attractions are covered by a K10,000 Archaeological Zone
('combo') ticket valid for one week from first purchase. Currently the ticket is only
checked (and sold) at Mandalay Palace. Shwenandaw Kyaung, two sites at Inwa (Ava)
and one minor one in Amarapura.
Royal Mandalay
Mandalay Hill
LANDMARK
(camera fee K1000)
To get a sense of Mandalay's pancake-flat sprawl, climb the 760ft hill
that breaks it. The barefooted walk up covered stairways on the hill's southern slope is a
major part of the experience, passing through and around a colourful succession of pray-
