Minglaba Myanmar!

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Geo: 21.9759, 96.0842

My flight from Bangkok to Mandalay was smooth, I had arranged a car and the driver with Soe Soe, so at the airport, SoeSoe's son Pho Se and the driver Fatty were waiting for me, I changed my crisp and clean US dollar notes with a current exchange rate of about 850 per dollar, it is very important for tourists to bring crisp and clean notes otherwise they will get rejected if there is tiny mark or a fold. I was excited at seeing Myanmar as I had always wanted to go to (Burma) Myanmar, Rangoon sounded exotic when I was young so it has been on my travel plans. Until 1989 the country was named Burma an outcome of the British colonial times but in 1989 the government changed the names of few places so Burma was changed into Myanmar and Rangoon became Yangon. The roads were bumpy and paths to temples were sandy, the military dictatorship in Myanmar has isolated the country from the rest of the world and left Myanmar behind in development.


Pho se was my guide and Fatty was the driver, trust me his name is really Fatty, I checked his card, he finds it all very amusing so they were my travel companions for next few days. The heat was unbearable so the AC car was such a relief, I would have not managed to bear the heat too long and hiring the car with the driver was an excellent idea.
We went to Sagaing hills straight from the airport, after crossing the bridge, I could see the hill tops with Pogodas, Sagaing was once a capital of Shaan Kingdom, many monasteries for monks and nuns are located for Buddhistic studies and meditation as Buddhism plays important part of the people of Myanmar by binding them together with a positive impact as people are calm and friendly.

The U Min Thonze Ze means thirty caves pagoda which has 45 gilded Buddha images in a crescent shaped colonnade, mural paintings can be seen in the Tilawkaguru cave temple which was built around 1672, the entrance and archways are well decorated,
Soon U Pon Nya Shin pagoda lies on the hill which resembles a frog and hence it is called the Nga-Pha Hill. It was built in 674 by sage U Ponnya of Pintaya Tazeeshine Thinhathu, It enshrined Buddha relics revered by successive kings. The views from this pogoda is splendid
Mingun is a village on the western bank of the river Ayeyawaddy, It can be reached by the ferry across the river which takes under 2 hours. Mingun has many Buddhist shrines, monasteries, meditation centre and monuments of historical and cultural importance.

Highlights in Mingun are Pa Hto Daw Gyi (The world's largest unfinished pagoda), the Great Mingun Bell and Mya Thein Dan Pagoda. There is 3000 kats charge for Mingun village.
Mingun Pahtodawgyi lies in Mingun, Sagaing Division. It is one of the famous monuments but it was left unfinished due to prophesy that once the pagoda was completed, the country would break. If it had been completed then it would have a height of some 500 feet and it would have been a wonder. It was stopped at 162 feet height. Its girth is about 450 feet. This unfinished structure was badly damaged with cracks by the earthquake of 1838. There are stairs there but I preferred to see it in distance due to the damage. There are two enormous prominent statues of lions in Mingun are at the east stairway of Pahtodawgyi which faces the Ayeyawaddy river, from here you have good views of the river.



Myatheindan pagoda was built by King Bagyidaw in 1816, the pagoda was constructed in memory of his senior wife the Hsinbyume (Indian) princess. It is built as a representation of the Sulamani Pagoda, the seven wavy terraces around the pagoda represent the seven mountain ranges around Mount Meru. This pagoda was badly damaged in 1838 by a quake but it was restored in 1874. It is all white with the terraces are edged with wave shaped white balustrades, all very beautiful, I liked this pagoda.


Biggest bell.

Mingun Glocke is very big bell weighing over ninety tons, the Bell is made of bronze but it is said that Buddhist devotees inserted gold, silver ornaments and jewellery into the bronze, I got the chance to strike the bell 3 times and I also went inside the bell which was fun, the wooden pagoda which house this bell was lovely as well.

I liked Mingun and if you are in Mandalay it is worth a visit here and you can take a ferry, we were then off to Mandalay and they took me to Nepali vegetarian restaurant which did nice stuffed paratha, dal and tea, I ate only hot food as a precaution as I did not want to be ill on my hectic holiday. The paratha was tasty and dal was nice and they made it piping hot for me, the masala tea was served in v little cup which is normal for Myanmar, there was not much an ambience and it was more a cafe style eating place but it was very good value meal.

I got dropped off at my Hotel Yadanarbon, where the staff gave me a nice drink and my room was lovely; as I was leaving early next morning at 4.30 am, they gave me a packed breakfast which was good.

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