Page 304 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

302 Mandalay and around WERAWSANA JADE PAGODA • SNAKE TEMPLE • PINYA
A couple of further large and eye-catching stupas stand close to the lake just west of
the Pahtodawgyi: the boxy-looking Bupaya, right on the water’s edge and, slightly
further west and away from the lake, the large Shwe Linmin Pagoda, with its golden
spire poking up out of the trees.

Bagaya Kyaung
• Just east of Mandalay–Sagaing road • Daily 9am–5pm • Covered by the Mandalay Combination Ticket
(see box, p.286)
Around 2km north of the lake, the Bagaya Kyaung is a modern reconstruction of a
monastery built here during Amarapura’s first stint as royal capital. The averagely pretty
wooden exterior features a couple of steeply tapering towers, although otherwise there’s
not a great deal to see.
arrIVal and dEParTurE aMaraPura
By pick-up It is possible to get to Amarapura by pick-up to stop by the bridge, but let them know if you’d like to add
7 from Mandalay (see p.291), though these drop off nowhere other sights to your itinerary.
near the sights, which are also rather distant from each By bike You can cycle to Amarapura from Mandalay in well
other – far more trouble than it’s worth. under an hour; use the tall Pahtodawgyi stupa (see p.301)
By taxi or motorbike tour Most visit Amarapura as part as a reference point for when to turn off the main road.
of a motorbike or taxi tour (see p.299); your driver is certain

Werawsana Jade Pagoda
Just off the Yangon–Mandalay Expressway, 6km by road from Amarapura (easily visited en route between Sagaing/Inwa and
Amarapura) • 24hr • Free
Completed in late 2015, the kitsch Werawsana Jade Pagoda was the brainchild of gem
dealer U Soe Naing, who spent 25 years amassing over a thousand tonnes of the
precious stone in order to build what is claimed to be the world’s only Buddhist temple
constructed entirely out of jade. The sickly-green structure is perhaps stronger on
novelty value than aesthetic merit, by day at least; when illuminated after dark it’s
weirdly impressive, its 22m-high stupa (decorated with around thirty thousand
miniature jade Buddhas plus Jataka carvings) glowing luminously beneath the lights.

Snake Temple, Paleik
18km south of Mandalay; most visit the temple as part of a motorbike or taxi tour (see p.299), but with an early start and a good breakfast
it’s quite possible to cycle here and back in a day
The village of PALEIK, around 18km south of Mandalay, is famous for one thing and
one thing only – the “Snake Temple” (Hmwe Paya) at its centre. An unassuming
little place, it has earned fame thanks to a clutch of resident pythons – some made
the temple their home in 1974, and despite efforts from the monks to keep them
out, the serpents kept on coming back. The monks decided that the snakes were
probably holy, and allowed them to settle here. There are usually two or three
pythons in residence at any one time, coiled in corners or wrapped around pillars.
Most people visit at 11am, when the snakes are washed in a bath filled with petals
and then fed a mixture of milk and raw egg. A cluster of several hundred stupas,
some of them ruined and covered in picturesque layers of vegetation, stands a few
minutes’ walk south of the temple.

Pinya
• About 26km from Mandalay Palace along the expressway • Daily 24hr • Free
Southwest of Mandalay, a few kilometres from the international airport, PINYA is the
oldest and most obscure of the Mandalay region’s former royal capitals (see box, p.281).

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