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AROUND MANDALAY

EATING

MANDALAY & AROUND

EATING

AROUND MANDALAY

PALEIK

 5 Eating
There are half a dozen snack shacks around
Mingun Paya entrance, but only Poing, fur-
ther south, has a river view and draft Spiru-
lina beer (K700).

8 Getting There & Away

BOAT The Tourist Boat Association (%63596)
has a daily riverboat service from Mandalay
departing at 9am (K5000 return) and taking
about one hour from the western end of 26th
St in Mandalay (Map p 202 ). These boats return
from Mingun at 1pm. If there are less than fi ve
passengers or if you want diff erent departure
times, you can rent a small/larger boat for
K25,000/40,000.
MOTORBIKE Now that the road has been
mostly asphalted, it is increasingly popular
to ride to Mingun by motorbike (around 25
minutes from Sagaing) as part of an ancient
cities loop.

Paleik

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At 11am daily, local families and tourists con-
verge on Paleik’s modest temple, the rather
kitschy Yadana Labamuni Hsu-taung-pye,
to see the bathing and feeding of three giant
pythons, which give it the widely used nick-
name, the Snake Pagoda (Hmwe Paya).
The pythons appeared from the nearby for-
est in 1974 and never left. Predictably much
of the statuary now celebrates Buddha get-
ting cosy with snakes.
Arguably more impressive than the
python-fest is Paleik’s almost entirely over-
looked collection of over 300 close-packed
stupas in varying states of repair, many
from the Konbaung period. They’re easy to

fi nd. Simply walk fi ve minutes south from

the snake temple.

Paleik is about 12 miles south of Man-

dalay, a mile west of the annoyingly busy

Mandalay–Yangon road. If you’re heading to

Inwa or Sagaing, there’s a tree-shaded cross-

country lane that links the Yangon road to

Ava Bridge, so you don’t need to go all the

way back to Amarapura.

Ya n k i n H i l l

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Around three miles east of Mandalay, this

pagoda-dotted hillside lacks the historical

pedigree of other regional attractions but

makes a pleasantly simple, untouristy short

excursion from Mandalay.

Yankin Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLES

After crossing a long, fl at swath of paddy

fi elds, 19th St suddenly swings abruptly

right at the foot of Yankin Hill. A covered

stairway here takes you steeply up in 10

minutes to a pagoda where feeding a couple

of domesticated stags supposedly brings

you Buddhist merit. Pagoda walkways turn

south along the ridge-top, eventually duck-

ing down into a rocky cleft where devotees

splash water on tacky gold fi sh statues that

lie at the feet of a Buddha image. The main

attraction of the hill is the view, which takes

in a wide sweep of rice fi elds to the west and

the Shan foothills behind.

Mya Kyauk Kyaung BUDDHIST MONASTERY

From the foot of the Yankin Paya access

stairway, backtrack 300yd towards Manda-

lay then turn north and go another 300yd

north to fi nd this modern monastery with its

dazzlingly distinctive brassy stupa. Mya Ky-

auk is famed for its subterranean source of

TACTICS FOR MINGUN VISITORS

Mingun is so small that it can feel oppressively touristy, especially if you arrive with the

9am boat and follow the crowd along the main drag, overloaded as it is with drinks sell-

ers and oil-painting vendors. But you can easily bypass most of these by simply walking

around the monuments on dusty paths to the west. This route makes particular sense in

the afternoon when the sun lights the west-facing side of Mingun Paya. By then tourist

numbers will already be greatly diminished following the return of the 1pm boat. But the

bricks of Mingun Paya will be scalding hot after soaking up a full day’s sun.

In the past the Mingun-Sagaing combo-ticket was sold as you boarded the ferry in

Mandalay. However, since the Sagaing- Mingun road has been upgraded, the $3 fee is

now half-heartedly collected instead at the east side of Mingun Paya. If you don’t want to

climb the stupa, you’ll probably avoid paying anything.