Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Built at the same time as the adjacent Kaba Aye Pagoda, the Mahapasana Guha (“Great
Stone Cave”) was constructed to host meetings of the Sixth Buddhist Synod in 1954, during
which2500monksdescendedonthecavetorecite theentireTripitaka inPali.TheMahapas-
ana Guha is a modern remake of the Sattapannin Cave in India, where the First Buddhist
Synod was held shortly after the Buddha's death. From the outside it resembles a huge rocky
hillock; inside, the “cave” is actually just a huge conference hall, capable of holding up to
ten thousand people, supported on six enormous pillars and with a single small illuminated
Buddha flashing crazily on a shelf at the far end.
Insein
Several ofnorthernYangon'smostinteresting attractions areclustered inthenorthernsuburb
of Insein - home of the city's notorious Insein Prison - and easily visited in combination
with a partial circumnavigation of the city's Circle Line .
INSEIN ORIENTATION
To reach the places listed under Insein on foot, go straight ahead out of Insein Station, ig-
noring a couple of large roads left and right and continuing straight ondown the leafy little
Insein Butaryon Road until you hit the junction with Lanthit Road, where you'll find the
Arlein Ngar Sint Pagoda (just over 1km from the station). Continue right down Lanthit
Road and straight on at the junction with Pyay Road after a further 250m, then right again
down Min Dhamma Road shortly afterwards, where you'll see the Kyauk Daw Kyi Pa-
goda rising on its hillock ahead.
Kyauk Daw Kyi Pagoda
Min Dhamma Rd • Daily 6am-9pm • Free
Insein'smajorattractionisthe KyaukDawKyiPagoda (pronounced“Chow daw gee”,with
the final syllable said like the letter “g”), home to the revered Lawka Chantha Abhaya
Labha Muni Buddha , an 11m-high seated Buddha carved from a single gigantic piece of
marble discovered near Mandalay in 1999. The military, always keen to deflect attention
fromtheirrepressiveregimebyspectacularactsofreligiousmerit-making,commissionedthe
statue and had the 500-tonne image conveyed with great ceremony to Yangon by barge and a
speciallyconstructedrailwaytrack-muralsshowingthetransferandarrivaloftheimagecan
be seen over the two sets of staircases leading up to the statue, with assorted generals very
much to the fore. The image is fine enough, although not as impressive as others in Yangon,
while the glass case it's encased in makes it frustratingly difficult to see.
Hsin Hpyu Daw Elephant Park
Min Dhamma Rd (turn left out of the Kyauk Daw Kyi Pagoda and walk down the road for about 3min; the park
- no sign - is on the opposite side of the road) • Daily 9am-5pm • Free
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