Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ACCOMMODATION
Popa Mountain Resort
1km east of Taung Kalat (4km by road) 01 399 334,
myan-
martreasureresorts.com
.
Aneatlittlemountainretreat,affordablypricedandofferingtheper-
fect base for treks up Mount Popa. Accommodation is in a string of individual bungalows,
nicelyfurnis
hed
withwoodenfloorandwickerfurniture;somehavestunningviewsofTaung
Kalat below.
$90
Salay
Around 50km south of New Bagan, just south of the town of Chauk on the banks of the Aye-
yarwady,
SALAY
(aka “Sale”) developed as a satellite of Bagan in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries and remains an important religious centre. It's home to around fifty active monas-
teries, as well as over a hundred Bagan-era monuments and some interesting, if dilapidated,
colonial buildings.
Yoke Sone Kyaung
Daily 9am-4pm • $5
Salay'smainattractionistheimpressive
YokeSoneKyaung
(aka“YouqsonKyaung”).Built
in 1882, the unusual wooden structure consists of a large platform, raised on pillars, with a
clusterofintricatelycarvedwoodenshrinesontop.Flamboyantwoodcarvingsalongitsouter
walls show scenes from the Jataka and Ramayana. The monastery is also home to the small
U Pone Nya Museum
, named after the celebrated nineteenth-century Burmese writer and
containing assorted exhibits from other sites in Salay including further fine woodcarvings.
Other monuments
A couple of minutes' walk from the Yoke Sone Kyaung is a cluster of temples dating back to
Bagantimes.Theseincludethe
Payathonzu
,
anunusualtripartitetemplesimilartoitsname-
sake in Bagan. Close by, the
Man Paya Pagoda
is home to the 7m-tall Shinbin Maha Laba,
the largest lacquer Buddha image in Myanmar, said to date back to the thirteenth century.
Around 6km south of town, the
Shinpinsarkyo Pagoda
boasts some fine murals and a
thirteenth-century wooden Buddha, while a further 1.5km beyond, so-called
Temple 99
has
further excellent Jataka murals in its small thirteenth-century shrine.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SALAY
By car
A trip by car to Salay from Bagan costs around $35-40 for a half-day, or around $75
for a day-long tour also including Mount Popa.
Pakokku
A large, leafy town on the north bank of the Ayeyarwady around 30km northeast of Bagan,
PAKOKKU
hit the international headlines in 2007 when local monks took to the streets to
protest against skyrocketing fuel prices, kick-starting the nation's ill-fated “
Saffron Revolu-
