Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mingun is a pleasant 35-minute drive from Sagaing, easily added to an 'ancient capitals'
motorbike or taxi tour from Mandalay.
But it's more popular to go by boat (one hour out, 40 minutes back, passport required).
From Mandalay's 26th St 'tourist jetty' (Mayan Chan), boats depart at 9am (foreigner/bi-
cycle K5000/500 return) returning at 1pm. Alternatively Nmai Hka's
Tharlarwaddy
($6
return, bicycles free) departs 8.30am from Gawein Jetty, returning 11.30am. For $8 extra,
the latter boat continues to Inwa. Don't waste money on 'upper class' tickets which use-
lessly provide a bed but no other luxury.
Another option is taking a bicycle on the boat then riding down to Sagaing (roughly
two hours). There are no major hills en route but there are plenty of undulations that can
be a little testing for gearless rental bikes. Sagaing-Mandalay pick-ups will transport you
and your bike back to Mandalay for K2000 or less.
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Paleik
02 / POPULATION C2500
Modest and rather kitschy, Paleik's
Yadana Labamuni Hsu-taung-pye
is widely known
as the
Snake Pagoda
(Hmwe Paya) due to three resident giant pythons. They appeared
from the nearby forest in 1974 and never left. Predictably much of the statuary now cel-
ebrates Buddha getting cosy with snakes but the main attraction is the pythons' 11am
daily washing and feeding ceremony. Off-season it's delightfully low key, attracting a
handful of local families. But the whole atmosphere changes dramatically when, as com-
monly occurs in peak season, a tourist bus arrives.
Less than five minutes' walk south of the snake pagoda is Paleik's 'mini-Bagan', an
almost entirely overlooked collection of over 300 close-packed
stupas
in varying states
of repair. Many date from the Konbaung period.
Paleik is about 12 miles south of Mandalay. Riding a motorbike along the busy Man-
dalay-Yangon road is an unpleasant chore, mitigated slightly by a brief stop at the gi-
gantic 1996
Golden Tooth Pagoda
, which looks especially impressive when floodlit at
night. There are contrastingly pleasant, well-asphalted rural lanes running cross-country
to Inwa and, with a brief double-back, to Sagaing: turn west at Newday Petrol just north
of the big river bridge.
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Pinya
