Mandalay

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As each new king liked to reign from his very own palace in his very own capital city, there are four in the Mandalay area including that of Thibaw Min the last king of Burma, in Mandalay itself.  

Happy to see the bridge bathed in late afternoon light Barbara and I rented a boat and headed onto the lake to wait for the sun to set.

Although monastic buildings are of masonry or stone, the magnificent palaces were constructed completely from wood, which was handy when it came time to move as most of the materials could be recycled at the new location.   Thus it came about that U Bein the mayor of Amarapura the new capital of Upper Burma came to build his famous bridge with timber recycled from the former palace of Ava.

The photogenic elderly gentleman sitting and smoking a cheroot was making a nice little income from photographers.  They were lining up to take his picture.

For over two hundred years the people of Amarapura have crossed the 984 massive teak posts which support the 1.2 km span.
Finally, what I had come to see, the sun setting behind mayor U Bein's picturesque bridge.    Our boatman kindly stayed later on the lake than others and earned himself a double fee, so we were all happy.
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