Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sagaing Hill
Stupa-topped hillocks coalesce into Sagaing Hill, a long tree-dappled north-south ridge
that starts around 1½ miles north of the market area. A narrow, driveable lane winds up,
Pon Nya Shin Paya
BUDDHIST TEMPLE
(camera fee K300)
This 'early offering shrine', full name Soon U Pon Nya Shin Paya, is
the most important of the temples on Sagaing Hill's southern crown and the first you'll
come to on climbing the One Lion stairway. Notice the bronze frogs that serve as a col-
lection box in the rather gaudy buddha hall - the hill was originally thought to resemble a
giant toad, a superstitious blessing which inspired Sagaing's development in the 14th
century. The central 97ft-high gilded stupa was originally conceived in 1312.
Legends claim that the stupa magically appeared overnight, built by the local king's
faithful minister Pon Nya in a superhuman flurry of activity inspired by a magical
Buddha relic that he'd found in a betel-nut box. The myth fancifully claims that Pon Nya
himself was of supernatural parentage, his father having 'flown' to Sagaing from the
Himalayas millennia before, arriving to a curious communion with the Buddha, seven
hermits and a flower-bearing orang-utan. (Burmese genealogy is never boring.)
Umin Thounzeh
BUDDHIST TERRACE
Around 10 minutes' walk north of Pon Nya Shin, Umin Thounzeh (literally 30 Caves) is
famed for its crescent-shaped colonnade of 45 buddha images.
Around Sagaing Hill
Shin Pin Nan Kain
PAGODA
Shin Pin Nan Kain's brass-clad stupa sits on a hilltop that's lower than Sagaing Hill but
has even better panoramas. Resident monk Bhikku Tilawka speaks decent English and
delights in showing guests the best viewpoints.
Lejunman Aung Paya
STUPA
Contemporary stupa with gilt details and a white corncob spire.
