Chicken pageants & lion dancing
■Dara & Ed’s Road to Mandalay, RTE One, Thursday, 10.15pm
Comedians Ed Byrne and Dara O Briain are back for another epic journey across Asia. The threepart travelogue starts out in Malaysia – a vibrant multicultural nation. The pair travel over 3,000 miles from Kuala Lumpur through Thailand and on to Myanmar, forging their own route to the historic city of Mandalay. Along the way they discover three countries, each facing rapid change as Malaysia’s tiger cub economy continues to develop, Thailand struggles with a rising tourism and Myanmar takes its first step towards democracy. In the first episode the pair are keen to see beyond the bright lights and towering skyscrapers of downtown Kuala Lumpur to find out how people really live. Determined to fit in they watch a beauty pageant – for chickens – before joining a mass cycle ride. Then it’s on to the finals of the world lion dance championships (yes, lion, not line) at one of the largest hotels in the world, before travelling on to Taman Negara jungle. There they meet the Batek, a Malaysian indigenous tribe struggling to find its place in this rapidly modernising nation. Taking the “jungle train” north they visit the Islamic State Kota Bharu to try their hand at shadow puppetry. The first leg of their trek finishes in the UNESCO world heritage site of Georgetown, where they take part in a Peranakan feast.