"Second city but not second best." a Mandalay Travel Page by planxty

There are some places whose names are just magical, names heard in childhood of exotic places that conjure up images of worlds barely conceivable to the young mind. Amongst these for me Kathmandu, Ulaan Batar and Mandalay were such names. When thinking about my trip and writing these pages, I was determined to avoid the slightly obvious Kipling references, but it's almost unavoidable. As I was walking round the city (the best way to see anywhere, I think) snatches of his work kept running, unbidden, through my mind.

The second city of Myanmar (Burma), I found it in many ways more vibrant that Yangon. I think perhaps this has something to do with the ban on motorcycles and car horns in Yangon, which is so untypical of Southeast Asian cities. Mandalay has motorcycles in profusion and the attendant noise and smell of two-stroke is something inextricably linked in my mind with my favourite region in the world.

Certainly, Mandalay has nothing to compare with Shwedagon in Yangon, but then again, where has? Despite this, it is still one of the "Big Four" on most travellers itineraries, along with Bagan and Inle Lake, but it never feels overrun with travellers. Apart from the main sites, you can walk for hours and not see another Westerner. For the lucky few of us that do get there, there is certainly plenty to keep you occupied for a few days, or even longer, food and accomodation options are good and I really enjoyed the ambience of the place.

Hopefully now, I've got everything written down ( a time-consuming business as VTer's will know) and I trust it will be of benefit to other travellers.