Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( daylight hours)
If you thought you'd seen some big old buddhas, just wait till
you get a load of this one. Draped across a couple of green hillsides at Yadana Taung,
and surrounded by a forest of other pagodas and shrines, is this recently constructed,
560ft-long reclining buddha. It's easily one of the largest such images in the world.
Many other stupas and standing buddhas dot the area, including 500 statues lining the
road to the Win Sein Taw Ya. Aside from inflated buddhas, the area affords some gentle
walks with wonderful panoramas.
Every year around the first couple of days of February a crazy coloured festival takes
place here to celebrate the birthday of the monk who constructed the buddha. As well as
a host of itinerant traders, monks and nuns, magic men and the odd hermit or two, the
festival often hosts a major kickboxing tournament, which leads to the slightly surreal
sight of hundreds of cheering monks baying for blood in the ring!
Kyauktalon Taung
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
( daylight hours)
Kyauktalon Taung is a strangely shaped, sheer-sided crag rising
out of the surrounding agricultural land and crowned with stupas. It's a sticky 20-minute
climb to the summit. On the opposite side of the road is a similar but smaller outcropping
surmounted by a Hindu temple.
Kandawgyi
LAKE
( daylight hours)
This lake formed by
Azin Dam
(a water storage and flood-con-
trol facility that's also used to irrigate local rubber plantations) also boasts a tidy recre-
ation area and is a favourite picnic spot with locals. Don't miss the tasty
buthi kyaw,
deep-fried gourd, sold here. At the northern end of the lake stands the gilded stupa of
Kandawgyi Paya
.
Getting There & Away
Hop on a Mudon-bound bus or pick-up from Mawlamyine's Zay Gyo bus station and ask
to be dropped at the junctions for any of the sights (K800 to K2000, 45 minutes, hourly
from 6am to 4pm). Alternatively, a round-trip motorcycle taxi from Mawlamyine to any
of the sights will run between K4000 and K7000.
Thanbyuzayat & Around
Sights & Activities
