Day 279 - Shwenandaw Monastery - Atumashi Monastery - Kuthoday Pagoda
Friday, April 12th, 2019.
Today we slept in and had a late breakfast. The dining room was packed, it seemed that they filled up the hotel overnight. I had to ask the manager for dishes, forks, and more coffee. I’m getting tired of having fried noodles for breakfast. I will try something else tomorrow. After breakfast, Gregory and I got ready to visit the Shwenandaw Monastery that we missed the first day.
In case I haven’t mentioned, Grab has tuk-tuk service which my husband chose in a very hot morning. His only comment was that he didn’t think it was that far but anyway, we got there and it was worthwhile the trip. Again, we regretted not bringing the kids because this is the only architecture piece that is 100% original and was built in 1880. The whole monastery is built of teak and there are thousands of figures carved on the wood doors.
The Monastery was in a different place but the last king of Mandalay, king Thibaw had it dismantled and moved to a different area and that’s what saved the building from being destroyed by the British military and then World War II. The inside is empty, except for an image of a Buddha in one of the rooms which by the way had a sign that read, “ladies cannot enter here”. I had read this sign yesterday and I asked a tour group from Spain to ask their local guide. The explanation was that in old times, women were not allowed were Buddha image was because that’s where the monks are and they don’t want that distraction. Again, we the women are the temptation or what? I’m sure Buddha would not have agreed to that but that’s only my personal opinion.
For more information about the Shwenandaw Monastery please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shwenandaw_Monastery
After taking several pictures of the Golden Palace Monastery which is another name for the Shwenandaw Monastery, we walked few meters to a big monastery called Atu Mashi Monastery which was built in 1857 by King Mindon. The original was built with teak but after a big fire, it had been rebuilt and it also burned a big Buddha image that had a 19.2-carat diamond as a third eye, it also was never seen after that.
For more information about the Atumashi Monastery please visit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atumashi_Monastery
The highlight of visiting this Monastery is that we were stopped by a young monk that just wanted to practice his English. His name was Sunbright and he kept repeating that he didn’t want money from us or anything just to practice his English. At first, I told him that we only had 5 minutes and in the end, it was me who kept asking him questions about his religion and his daily life. He told us that he could read the lines of our hands, but only money, and education but not love. I told him that the love was already solved, ha, ha. Gregory didn’t want his palm read but he read mine and he said that the line of economic and education was parallel and balanced and therefore I would be ok financially. Well, at least that's what I understood because it was hard to understand his English pronunciation.
His name was Sunbright and he kept repeating that he would pray for us and not to worry about our life or anything. He also asked us our age (you think I’m going to tell you mine- wrong) and after we told him, he asked if he could call us mother and father. Then I felt old! Of course, we said yes and now we have three kids with the names of Sunshine, Sundance (Daniel's middle name), and Sunbright!
I asked him to pray for our marriage but I meant later but he just did it right there. He corrected our sitting posture, told us where to put our hands and started praying in his language and said that his voice or words were coming from Buddha. It was a nice experience and we learn something about the life of a monk.
Finally, we visited the Kuthodaw Pagoda. The entrance was very impressive and long. Again, we had to take off our shoes, walk in the dirty and hot floor and walk to the end to see a sculpture of a Buddha with colorful flashing lights around the statue. The locals kneel, pray, left the offerings in front of the statue and then leave.
We walked outside where there was another building, more like an open area with a ceiling where many people were praying. We observe them for a while and then we decided it was time to go. It was 1:30pm, super hot and time for lunch. I thought about the monks who only have two meals a day, breakfast early and then lunch at 11:00am and then nothing! My stomach growled at the thought. I’m far from becoming a Buddhist!
For more information about the Kuthoday Pagoda please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuthodaw_Pagoda
We came back to the hotel to check on the kiddos and since they had snacked, they didn’t want to come with us for lunch. We went to our usual restaurant-bar J and J across the street and ordered chicken cashew and steam rice, yummy! After that, we came back to the hotel to cool down and take a nap. I’m really enjoying having time to nap, read and watch t.v.
We left the hotel around 7:00pm to go out for dinner to Pan Cherry which had great reviews online. The food was really good but they were very slow and the kids were starving. After dinner, our driver was already waiting for us and he drove us around the Mandalay Palace and another pagoda to see them all light up. It looked like Christmas time. It took a while to come back home because some of the streets were closed for the Water Festival tomorrow. Everyone seemed to be getting ready for the festival, the streets were alive with people, lights and decorations. An hour later, we made it to our hotel called Boss, a funny name, no?
Today we slept in and had a late breakfast. The dining room was packed, it seemed that they filled up the hotel overnight. I had to ask the manager for dishes, forks, and more coffee. I’m getting tired of having fried noodles for breakfast. I will try something else tomorrow. After breakfast, Gregory and I got ready to visit the Shwenandaw Monastery that we missed the first day.
In case I haven’t mentioned, Grab has tuk-tuk service which my husband chose in a very hot morning. His only comment was that he didn’t think it was that far but anyway, we got there and it was worthwhile the trip. Again, we regretted not bringing the kids because this is the only architecture piece that is 100% original and was built in 1880. The whole monastery is built of teak and there are thousands of figures carved on the wood doors.
The Monastery was in a different place but the last king of Mandalay, king Thibaw had it dismantled and moved to a different area and that’s what saved the building from being destroyed by the British military and then World War II. The inside is empty, except for an image of a Buddha in one of the rooms which by the way had a sign that read, “ladies cannot enter here”. I had read this sign yesterday and I asked a tour group from Spain to ask their local guide. The explanation was that in old times, women were not allowed were Buddha image was because that’s where the monks are and they don’t want that distraction. Again, we the women are the temptation or what? I’m sure Buddha would not have agreed to that but that’s only my personal opinion.
For more information about the Shwenandaw Monastery please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shwenandaw_Monastery
After taking several pictures of the Golden Palace Monastery which is another name for the Shwenandaw Monastery, we walked few meters to a big monastery called Atu Mashi Monastery which was built in 1857 by King Mindon. The original was built with teak but after a big fire, it had been rebuilt and it also burned a big Buddha image that had a 19.2-carat diamond as a third eye, it also was never seen after that.
For more information about the Atumashi Monastery please visit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atumashi_Monastery
The highlight of visiting this Monastery is that we were stopped by a young monk that just wanted to practice his English. His name was Sunbright and he kept repeating that he didn’t want money from us or anything just to practice his English. At first, I told him that we only had 5 minutes and in the end, it was me who kept asking him questions about his religion and his daily life. He told us that he could read the lines of our hands, but only money, and education but not love. I told him that the love was already solved, ha, ha. Gregory didn’t want his palm read but he read mine and he said that the line of economic and education was parallel and balanced and therefore I would be ok financially. Well, at least that's what I understood because it was hard to understand his English pronunciation.
His name was Sunbright and he kept repeating that he would pray for us and not to worry about our life or anything. He also asked us our age (you think I’m going to tell you mine- wrong) and after we told him, he asked if he could call us mother and father. Then I felt old! Of course, we said yes and now we have three kids with the names of Sunshine, Sundance (Daniel's middle name), and Sunbright!
I asked him to pray for our marriage but I meant later but he just did it right there. He corrected our sitting posture, told us where to put our hands and started praying in his language and said that his voice or words were coming from Buddha. It was a nice experience and we learn something about the life of a monk.
Finally, we visited the Kuthodaw Pagoda. The entrance was very impressive and long. Again, we had to take off our shoes, walk in the dirty and hot floor and walk to the end to see a sculpture of a Buddha with colorful flashing lights around the statue. The locals kneel, pray, left the offerings in front of the statue and then leave.
We walked outside where there was another building, more like an open area with a ceiling where many people were praying. We observe them for a while and then we decided it was time to go. It was 1:30pm, super hot and time for lunch. I thought about the monks who only have two meals a day, breakfast early and then lunch at 11:00am and then nothing! My stomach growled at the thought. I’m far from becoming a Buddhist!
For more information about the Kuthoday Pagoda please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuthodaw_Pagoda
We came back to the hotel to check on the kiddos and since they had snacked, they didn’t want to come with us for lunch. We went to our usual restaurant-bar J and J across the street and ordered chicken cashew and steam rice, yummy! After that, we came back to the hotel to cool down and take a nap. I’m really enjoying having time to nap, read and watch t.v.
We left the hotel around 7:00pm to go out for dinner to Pan Cherry which had great reviews online. The food was really good but they were very slow and the kids were starving. After dinner, our driver was already waiting for us and he drove us around the Mandalay Palace and another pagoda to see them all light up. It looked like Christmas time. It took a while to come back home because some of the streets were closed for the Water Festival tomorrow. Everyone seemed to be getting ready for the festival, the streets were alive with people, lights and decorations. An hour later, we made it to our hotel called Boss, a funny name, no?
Click here for pictures
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xpftpVWzSKtmFdNEA
What a special moment with that Monk named Sunbright ❤
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