The Royal Palace and U Bein Bridge are two of the most visited spots in the Mandalay area. And, of course, we explored those sites too. 

Mandalay Palace – The original teak wood palace was built over a five year period by King Mindon during the middle of the 19th century after he moved the capital from Amarapura to Mandalay. During World War II the palace burned, with only the watchtower and mint building surviving. We walked through the rebuilt structures, constructed in the 1990s from photographic records, plans and drawings. The new palace closely resembles the original set of 40 buildings, even though brick masonry was used in some of the new structures. We admired throne halls, audience halls, private residences, gardens with large tamarind trees, a performing arts building, temples, and personal artifacts (clothing, dishes, furniture) of the king and queen. Many of the buildings have beautiful ornate wood features such as carvings and a variety of inlaid woods 

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Centered in a large square citadel with high walls, the royal palace is surrounded by an operating military base, so we had to show passports and obtain an entry permit. The wide moat no longer serves a protective purpose, but does provide potable, lime-free water for some of Mandalay’s residents. And it was probably the water source for firefighters working on the Skywalk Mall blaze described in a previous post. 

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About halfway through our two-week stay in Mandalay we discovered free, nightly entertainment at the moat fountain.  Several evenings we watched the 30 minute show with seven light colors and music. The water fountain, controlled by a central computer, is 56 meters long and 30 meters high.

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U Bein Bridge – Famous for being the oldest and longest teak bridge in the world, the U Bein Bridge stretches 1.2 kilometers across the Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura, 11 kilometers south of Mandalay. We did not see much water in the lake, even though dry season doesn’t usually arrive until March. Typically visitors in August and September cannot walk all the way across the bridge because much of it is covered with water. In 1857, when the capital moved from Amarapura to Mandalay, the local mayor (named U Bein) salvaged wood from the dismantled teak palace and used it to build this magnificent bridge with 1,086 posts and 482 spans.

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Like many, many other tourists, we arrived at the U Bein Bridge just before sunset in order to get the the best possible photos. 

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After some of the numerous tourists returned to their buses, we walked a short distance on the bridge, which is almost two centuries old. The lack of side rails and rickety feel in spots was very unnerving. Quite a few of the teak support posts are decayed from stagnant water during flooding and fish breeding season. A few have been replaced with concrete pillars. 

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