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The Road to Mandalay


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We booked a shared taxi to Mandalay and bought all 4 seats to have it to ourselves. Mew, our driver, took us on the old road to avoid tolls and to enjoy the scenes along the way. Total drive time was 10 hours including a detour and stopover in Pindaya to see the caves. (see pics below) We would recommend this to any travelers going from Inle Lake to Mandalay. We saw beautiful countryside, a mountain pass, descent into a gorgeous river valley, and then Mandalay! This would also be a fantastic 3 day bike trip, with an overnight stop in Pindaya at their nice hotels, and perhaps a stop in the small town of DSFDF. Miles and miles of single lane asphalt lined with eucalyptus through hilly farm country, then a mountain climb and descent into Mandalay. Then jump into a taxi to avoid Mandalay traffic.

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Pindaya Caves
Shwe Oo Min Natural Cave Pagoda in Pindaya, a limestone cavern 500 feet deep filled with over 8900 buddha images of a diversity of shapes, sizes and materials, including teak, marble and lacquer. Some were left centuries ago by Burmese pilgrims, while others are more recent donations from abroad. The spider guards the cave entrance, and legend has it that he trapped 7 princesses inside who were then rescued by the spider-slayer…

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Posted by mjschrum 19:29 Archived in Myanmar Tagged mandalay myanmar shwe pindaya nyaung

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Comments

Amazing,but you need to take your mechanic to ensure a safe return. And a cooler of beer in case there is a delay. Mechanics get thirsty

by Jody

Great pic's. I'm surprised by how developed for tourism that the caves appear to be.

by Jerry S

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