Page 286 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

284 MANDALAY AND AROUND MANDALAY HILL AND AROUND
Mandalay Hill and around
Rising above the northeast corner of the city – and visible from much of it – the
stupa-sprinkled Mandalay Hill is one the city’s most enjoyable sights, its endless
tree-shaded stairways and tranquil pagodas offering a blissful retreat from the traffic-
plagued streets of the city below, and particularly beautiful towards sunset. Further
temples lie dotted around the foot of the hill, easily combined with Mandalay Hill into
a half-day mini-tour. These include the spectacular Shwenandaw Kyaung teak
monastery, while close by the Kuthodaw and Sandamuni pagodas are home to an
extraordinary array of carved slabs popularly described as “the world’s largest book”.
Mandalay Hill
• Accessible from 10th St • Daily 24hr • K1000 to enter the topmost Sutaungpyi Paya, although access to the rest of the
hill is free; K200 to store footwear at the base, or you can carry it with you for free • Motorbike taxis to the top cost around K4000–5000
including waiting time, while pick-ups cost K1000; both are available on 10th St
For many people, the 45-minute walk up Mandalay Hill for sunset is one of the
7 highlights of a visit to the city. The usual starting point is the staircase between a large
pair of chinthe on 10th Street; there’s a second entrance a little further east. Concrete
steps run uphill from both entrances before meeting at Byar Deik Paya, from where
a large standing Buddha points back the way you came.
Further shrines punctuate the ascent. One of the first you reach is the memorably
ugly Myatsawnyinaung Thein, looking oddly like an abandoned factory with its cracked
concrete shell supported by dozens of iron pillars. Peer out of the hall’s eastern flank
and you’ll see the walls of an old colonial-era fort to the rear. Just above here (and built
into a further section of the old fort) is Ngon Minn, decorated with the names of
hundreds of donors written on its white columns.
As you get higher the crowds become thicker, particularly towards sunset, with stalls
of souvenir vendors, palmists and astrologers lining the disorienting tangle of stairways
(remember the way you came up, lest you get completely lost on the way back down).
After a fair few “Is this the top?” false dawns, the actual summit is quite obvious; the
wide terrace of Sutaungpyi Paya (“Wish-Granting Temple”) rewards the effort of
climbing to the top with superb views and a colourful ensemble of yellow, green and
pink shrines, glittering with glass mosaics.
At the eastern side of the first major level on the way back down, don’t miss the tiny
statue of San Da Mukhi, merrily holding her severed breasts in homage to the Buddha,
an act of piety which eventually saw her reincarnated as King Mindon, creator of
Mandalay (see p.281).
Yadanabon Zoological Gardens
• 10th St • Daily 9am–6pm • K2000
The city’s awful zoo has been included here as a warning alone – even by the
almost uniformly low standards of such facilities across Asia, this is a real shocker, with
most of the animals kept in featureless, undersized concrete cages. Unless you fancy
seeing depressed hippos standing for hours on end with their heads to the floor, bears
and big cats endlessly pacing the same side of their enclosure, or monkeys making
all-too-obvious calls of distress, leave this place well alone.

Kyauktawgyi Paya
• Off 10th St, south of the Mandalay Hill entrance • Daily 5am–7pm • Free
Right at the foot of Mandalay Hill, the small Kyauktawgyi Paya is centred on a giant
Buddha, hewn from a single slab of marble – no mean feat, given that the statue is
12m tall. Shiny mirrored corridors surround the statue, glittering like Santa’s grotto
on Christmas Eve and “enhanced” with the LED disco-Buddha lights so beloved by
the Burmese; the complex also serves as a popular playground for flocks of local
sparrows. Normally one of the city’s more peaceful shrines, the pagoda comes