Page 291 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

SOUTH OF THE CENTRE MANDALAY AND AROUND 289
of shoe-wearing Europeans. Four monks were subsequently tried for the assault, with
their leader being convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
If you’ve a little time, head out of the western entrance and cross the road to a lovely,
secluded area of monastic dwellings – one of the calmest and most charming places in
the entire city.

South of the centre
South of the centre, the city streets becomes more workaday, exemplified by the hectic
Jade Market and the stone carvers near the huge Mahamuni Paya, the city’s most
revered temple. The nearby teak monastery of Shwe In Bin provides a haven of peace
amid the bustle.
Mahamuni Paya
• Off 82nd Rd, just east of Mandalay–Sagaing Rd • Daily 24hr; Buddha cleaning daily 4am • K1000 camera fee
The large Mahamuni Paya is Mandalay’s most important Buddhist site, and also home 7
to one of its biggest festivals (see box, p.298). The temple’s importance derives from the
presence of the revered Mahamuni Buddha, a 3.8m-high figure taken from Mrauk U in
1784 by the army of King Bodawpaya (see p.365) – a tale portrayed in a series of
paintings lining a gallery-like wing to the northeast of the main hall.
Male devotees visit to apply ultra-thin squares of gold leaf (from around K2000) to
the figure; women are not allowed within the inner sanctum and instead hand their
gold to a male assistant. The figure itself is said to weigh six tonnes, while the gold-leaf
covering adds another two tonnes. Pictures from 1901, 1935 and 1984 show just how
much bling the figure has accreted over the years, and the weight has really gone to the
Buddha’s calves, to such a degree that he appears to have elephantiasis. In the early
morning, a small crowd of early birds gathers while the face of the statue – pretty much
the only part not covered in gold leaf – is tenderly washed.
Northwest of the main shrine is a cream concrete building containing Hindu figures
taken originally from Angkor Wat by the Rakhine, before being appropriated by
Bodawpaya at the same time as the large Buddha.
Stone carvers’ workshops
Off 84nd St
Just west of the Mahamuni Paya complex is a dusty and noisy stone-carving district.
Dozens of workshops line the road, with Buddha statues in various sizes and stages of
completion spilling out onto the pavement, including rather spooky-looking
unfinished figures with blank red squares where their faces will eventually be.
Jade Market
Between 86/87th and 38/41st sts • Daily 8am–5pm • K1000
The stalls in the large Jade Market, located in a ramshackle and borderline chaotic
canal-side district southwest of downtown, sell mostly to dealers. The main trading
in the market takes place in the morning, but it’s possible to see jade being cut, shaped
and polished at any time, both in the market itself and in the workshops outside, on
the eastern side. If you’re interested in buying jade here yourself (see p.298), do some
research first.
Man Myoe Market
84th St, between 38th & 39th sts • Daily 8am–6pm
Two blocks east of the Jade Market is the contrastingly quiet and completely
untouristed Man Myoe Market, offering a peaceful, almost rustic, retreat from the
hectic surrounding streets, with dozens of quaint little gold and jewellery shops, plus
a colourful miniature fruit and vegetable market running through the middle.