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MANDALAY & AROUND


AROUND MANDALAY


8 Getting Around
A three-hour horse-cart tour visiting the three
main sites costs K5000 for one or two people. For
many visitors horse-cart tours are a major part of
the Inwa experience, the carriages avoiding noise
pollution and creating picturesque scenes them-
selves along the tree-lined tracks. However, carts
are undeniably slow moving and somewhat limit-
ing. Bringing your own bicycle or motorbike from
Mandalay can prove an attractive alternative.

Sagaing
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As you cross the Ayeyarwady on the busy new
bridge, Sagaing’s uncountable white-and-
gold stupas shimmer alluringly on a series of
hillocks that rise behind the almost fl at town
centre. No individual pagoda stands out as
a particular must-see, but taken together
the whole scene is enthralling. A highlight
is walking the (sometimes steep) tree-hung
stairways that lead magically past monaster-
ies and nunneries to viewpoints from which
you can survey the river and yet more stupas.

History
Named for the trees hanging over the river,
Sagaing became the capital of an indepen-
dent Shan kingdom around 1315, after the fall

of Bagan had thrown central Myanmar into
chaos. Its period of importance was short, for
in 1364 the founder’s grandson, Thado Min-
bya, hop-scotched the capital to Inwa. From
1760 Sagaing enjoyed just four more years
as capital, but the town’s signifi cance from
then on became more spiritual than political.
Today it is home to some 6000 monks and
nuns, and is a place where many Myanmar
Buddhists go to meditate when stressed.

 1 Sights
SAGAING HILL
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(admission Sagaing/Mingun $3 ticket)
Stupa-topped hillocks coalesce into Sagaing
Hill, a long tree-dappled north–south ridge
that starts around 1½ miles north of the
market area. If you drive to the top, you

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Road to Sagaing‚
Hill


Stairway to
Soon U Ponya
Shin Paya
and Sagaing Hill


To
Mingun

‚To Kaunghmudaw
Paya (3.5mi)

0800m
00.4miles

Sagaing
æSights
1 Htuparyon Paya ...................................B3
2 Shwe-kyet-kay .....................................D3
3 Shwezigon............................................ B1
4 Thacheiselik .........................................B2

ÿSleeping
5 Happy Hotel .........................................B2
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