Amarapura Local Custom Tips by herzog63 Top 5 Page for this destination

drying bamboo

I noticed that drying bamboo was laying on the ground in front of almost all of the houses on the Thaungthaman side of the bridge. It must have been for repairs and new construction of homes. Almost all of the homes where built using this.

More Sequin work

You can see the beautiful work that is done on these wall hangings. The guy that owned the factory told me that most of this style of wall hanging that is sold in Chiang Mai Thailand are produced right here in Amarapura. He told me that is because the labor is so much cheaper than in Thailand. I believed him because the style is what I considered a Thai style that I had seen in Chiang Mai. Although I don't consider myself an expert on the subject. Actually I know very little about it. Just observations.

Sequin work for handicrafts

I went to a factory that produced sequin lined wall hangings and other handi-crafts. There were many girls working on these. On some of the bigger projects I saw 5 girls working on 1 project. I was told that they take up to 2 weeks to finish the big ones. Then I asked how much it cost and it wasn't that expensive I don't remember the price though. Then I asked how much the girls made and my answer was "It depends on the quality" Which I translated as They don't make much money!

Cotton Drying

Here you can see the cotton drying on the racks. Amarapura is such a huge weaving area that there must be huge fields like this for drying the cotton. But I didn't see them.

Silk weaving

I guess there are around 40,000 looms in the Amarapura area! The clickety-clackety sound is quite nice to listen to.

Silk Weaving

Amarapura is one of the big centers for Silk Weaving. Many of the factories offer tours for free! Of course they appreciate any purchases that you might make. But the tours are very interesting. Some of the designs are very intricate and are all done on hand and foot operated looms of the old tradition.

The monks are all lined up getting their food

Here you can see the beautiful robes of the Monks as they await their turn for recieving their offering.

Monks entering the eating hall

Here you can see the Monks as they are about to enter the eating hall. When they were outside that made quiet conversation amongst themselves but didn't talk upon entering the eating hall.

Meal time at Maha Ganayon Kyaung

Here you can see the Novice Monks taking their meal. You can tell the novice Monks by the white robes. It is quite quiet while the eating is going on. The Monks eat with their hands so there isn't any silverware squeaky either.