The oldest show in Southeast Asia

As the budget plane to Mandalay taxies for take-off at Don Mueang Airport, I plunge into my new but already-out-of-date Lonely Planet guide (published 2011).

My eye catches a heading, “cash-only economy”, and my heart-rate quickens.

“Myanmar ATMs don’t accept international cards. Get the right kind of bills before your plane lands in Yangon. Otherwise, you’ll end up in financial trouble”.

I am a couple of hundred feet in the air already. By the time we land in Mandalay 30 minutes later, I know I’m in trouble.

With only 600,000 rupiah (about Bt1,800) in my pocket and not a single dollar or kyat in hand, I have visions of sleeping on the streets of Mandalay before making my way to the Indonesian consulate in Yangon and begging them for refuge.

I cursed myself for not being better prepared. After all, I had been feeling drawn to Myanmar for some time.

In 2010, the military junta finally released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest. Then came reports from Rakhine State on the western border of deadly ethnic and religious conflicts between local Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. There seemed to a parallel with Indonesia, which overthrew its despot long before Myanmar but has also been struggling with religious conflict ever since.

My one-week plan was to visit the dusty commercial town made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Road to Mandalay”, followed by a stop at the ancient city of Bagan, where a forest of thousand-year-old red-brick pagodas stretch across the plain.

Budget airlines made entry cheap and easy, with Singapore-Yangon, Bangkok-Yangon and Bangkok-Mandalay routes now open.

The country is transitioning from a reclusive dictatorship hit hard by embargoes, to the new most-sought-after destination on the global tourist trail.

Luckily, and unbeknownst to me, economic sanctions that cut off Myanmar (and its ATMs) from the rest of the world were lifted last year. Phew! I was saved me from living rough on the streets of Mandalay. The ATMs here and in Bagan do indeed accept international cards, thank you very much.

Mandalay, the capital of Burma before the British takeover in 1885, bustles with life between rows of five-storey buildings. Here and there, you will find monasteries with lush trees. While Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the population, Mandalay is a city of many different faiths. Min, the taxi driver who takes me around, tells me that his wife is Roman Catholic while he himself is a Buddhist who believes in nats (spirits). In deference to his wife, he can recite the Lord’s Prayer.

AirAsia is good enough to provide free shuttle bus from the airport to the city, which is an hour’s ride. Despite all the talk about scarcity of accommodation, I discover that mid-range hotels for between $20 and $40 (Bt630-Bt1,260) a night are plentiful.

I choose the Royal City, which has a rooftop terrace for watching the sunset. Also visible from the rooftop, which is near Mandalay Palace, are the dome of a mosque, the spire of a church and the stupas of a pagoda – which stand out the amid a sea of satellite dishes on surrounding buildings.

I take a boat from Mandalay’s pier to Mingun Paya and clamber up the giant unfinished red-brick stupa. A busy-body tells me it’s forbidden to climb, as the bricks have been cracked and fissured by an earthquake. But teenage boys and young couples are ascending the structure anyway, and I follow suit. From atop Mingun, you can see the river snaking through Mandalay and the white pagodas from afar.

Back down in the city, fascinating discoveries await. In Ma Soe Yein Nu Kyaung monastery, an immaculate replica of Big Ben keeps time for hundreds of monks in red robes who wander the compound with books under their arms. A friendly monk gives me a tour after spying me snapping pictures of the clock. We enter a meditation building where the fifth-floor prayer hall re-enacts a religious scene with a statue of the Buddha amid fake trees.

More traditional is the beautiful teak Shwe In Bin Kyaung monastery. The mango trees that surround the compound have dropped their fruit on the paving, and the sweet smell drifts up to flocks of crows that flit from branch to branch above the meditation hall, where monks are sitting silently.

To get a sense of everyday Myanmar life I find a perch at U Bein Bridge in Amarapura and begin people-watching. Fishermen pole their boats close to the bridge and throw their nets into the water. Children in smart green sarongs, their cheeks pasted with powder made from Thanaka tree bark, walk along the bridge to school. The locals use the face paint as a natural sun-cream, says Min.

With my time limited, I choose to fly to Bagan from Mandalay rather than take the two-day boat trip along the Irrawaddy River. Though less romantic, flying offers the sight of thousands of Buddhist temples scattered across the plains.

Though some Bagan temples date back to the 9th century, most were built in a two-and-a half-century burst that began in the reign of Anawrahta, who converted to Theravada Buddhism in the 11th century.

The result is a magnificent sight. Without any modern buildings – only the domes of pagodas to fill the eye – I feel as if I am journeying not just to another place, but another time.

To explore the temples, a rented bicycle is an inexpensive and convenient choice. For some reason Bagan bans foreigners from riding motorbikes, according Aung Myo, my taxi driver.

I steer my rental bike along a dirt road and discover dozens of temples, some well preserved, others crumbling under the weight of centuries.

Sticking to the back roads will ensure you avoid the swarms of tourists that have begun to buzz in Bagan. It also gives you the chance to climb a pagoda, sit back and watch the sun sink below the horizon, flooding the plain with golden light and stupa shadows. This magnificent performance has played out here every day, unaltered, for the past thousand years.

The times, however, are a-changing in Myanmar. So, pack your bags and go.

The oldest show in Southeast Asia