During our two weeks in Myanmar we learned a great deal about the marble, gold leaf, and jade industries, plus we watched dozens of firefighters battle a blaze in a shopping mall near our hotel.

Marble Workshops – In Mandalay many marble workshops line Kyauk Sitt Than, literally meaning “Stone Carving Road.” And this was our first stop on our day-long tour with guide Go Pa. We watched artisans use electric tools to sculpt and sand Buddha statues, some of which are purchased for temples or shrines in homes and businesses in Myanmar. Other statues are bought by shoppers from China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan. 

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King Galon Gold Leaf Workshop – The gold leaf industry in Mandalay includes 50 workshops and we visited the city’s major manufacturing site. The 7 hour process turns a 12 gram piece of gold into hundreds of sheets, each with a thickness of 0.0003 millimeters. We were impressed with a young man repeatedly using a 7 kilogram sledgehammer to beat a deer leather pouch containing 800 sheets of gold between bamboo paper. The beating process continues for 5 or 6 hours with several employees taking turns. We watched several women cut the gold leaf into 2 inch squares, stack the pieces between bamboo paper, and then tie the stack into a bundle ready for sale. Our guide explained that many people purchase gold leaf squares to rub onto temple Buddha statues as offerings. The ultra-thin gold pieces are also added to beverages for medicinal purposes, included in soaps, made into jewelry or handcrafts, and even used as an ingredient in some cosmetics for sparkle quality. 

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Mandalay Jade Market (Mahar Aung Myay Market) – We stopped for a quick visit to the popular Jade Market during our day-long tour of Mandalay. Myanmar produces about 70% of the world’s jadeite, one of two minerals recognized as gemstone jade. (The other one is nephrite.) Customers from all over Asia, especially China, do business at the Mandalay Jade Market. During peak times of the year, over 40,000 buyers and sellers negotiate deals at the market each morning. Sometimes the buyer is actually in China and their representative sends live video feed of the possible rocks to purchase. We were thankful that the day we visited was quite slow, so we didn’t have to nudge through crowds of people to see the beautiful large and small pieces of jade, jewelry, statues, or tea sets. 

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Mandalay Yatanar (Skywalk) Mall Fire – Part of the one-square-block shopping mall near our hotel caught on fire one evening. Like many of the city residents, we spent a couple of hours watching, photographing, and filming the firefighters battle the blaze. At first the whole scene was very chaotic with fire trucks arriving at the same time other fire trucks were trying to leave or go to another side of the mall. We figured out quickly that Mandalay does not have a fire hydrant system, so keeping the fire hoses supplied with water was a challenge.  Eventually the firefighters figured out a way to connect a number of trucks and water tankers together with hoses. As a water-filled tanker arrived, it joined the end of the line and connected its hoses to the truck or tanker in front of it. And when the tankers at the end of the line became empty they went to refill at a water source a couple of kilometers away. 

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We estimate that 100+ fire trucks were on the scene and for a while we saw about 20 waiting ambulances lined up on the main street. But most of the ambulances eventually dispersed when it was clear they were not needed. The fire started just before or right after the mall closed, so not very many people had to exit the building quickly. Most of the fire fighters appeared to be volunteers, about 20-30 years of age, wearing flip flops, and eager to film the scene with their cell phones while riding on the top of arriving or departing fire trucks. And during fire suppression efforts, several truckloads of police officers in riot gear appeared. They lined up in front of the main entrance, presumably to prevent looters from entering the many jewelry stores in the mall. 

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We stayed in Mandalay a few more days after the fire. Each time we passed the mall we saw heavily-armed police officers or military personnel guarding the entrances, as well as construction workers beginning to remove burned interior features. We observed little fire damage to the mall’s exterior, except for windows broken by fire fighters.

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