Bagan & Central Myanmar - Myanmar (Burma) - page 312

ments of the overgrown brick gate run alongside the dirt road. Immediately south is the
Rahanta cave temple , thought to date to the Bagan period and last repaired in the 1920s,
with eight buddha images lined along the south wall.
About a mile (1.5km) south, the Bawbawgyi Paya (Big Grandfather Stupa) is
Thayekhittaya's most impressive site: a 50yd (45m) cylindrical stupa with a golden hti
on its top. It's among the oldest and least obviously renovated Pyu sights, dating back to
the 4th century. It's the prototype of many Myanmar pagodas.
Two-hundred yards (190m) northeast is the smaller cube-shaped Bebe Paya , which
has a cylindrical top and a few buddha images inside; it's thought to date to the 10th cen-
tury. Just north is the squat Leimyethna Paya , which has a visible iron frame keeping it
together. Inside four original buddha reliefs (a bit cracked, some faces missing) are vis-
ible. On either side of the roads around here, look out for long ruts in the ground, which
were once brick moats.
A couple of hundred yards (190m) to the north is a fork in the road: to the right (north)
is a tin-roofed cemetery ; to the left (west), on the way to 'Thaungpye Mound', is the bet-
ter (but bumpier) way back to the museum.
Take the left and after half a mile (800m) you'll pass by a gap in the 9ft (3m)-thick
city walls, which has become a gate. Continue another mile, (1.5km) through a booming
farming village of thatch huts, with piles of radishes and other produce. Towards the
north end of the village is the 13th-century East Zegu Paya , a small four-sided temple
with overgrown walls and (usually) locked doors. It's off the main road, but is worth vis-
iting for the walk past the fields and farmers.
Getting There & Away
The turn-off here is a couple of miles east of Payagyi Paya. A return taxi between
Thayekhittaya and Pyay should cost about K10,000. No direct pick-up truck connects the
Pyay town centre with the site. You can bike to the site, but not around it.
Shwedaung
This small town about 9 miles (14km) south of Pyay, via the road to Yangon, contains the
famous Shwemyetman Paya (Paya of the Golden Spectacles), a reference to the large,
white-faced sitting buddha inside the main shrine. The buddha wears a gargantuan set of
eyeglasses with gold-plated rims. Coming south from Pyay, the turn-off for Shwemyet-
man is located on the right-hand side of the road; a green-and-white sign in English reads
'Shwe Myet Hman Buddha Image - 1 Furlong'.