Page 83 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

NortherN YaNgoN Yangon and around 81
Northern Yangon 1
The featureless suburbs of northern Yangon straggle all the way up to the airport and
beyond. None is of any particular interest, although they are dotted with a few further
Buddhist monuments including the fanciful Kaba Aye Pagoda and the grand Lawka
Chantha Abhaya Labha Muni Buddha statue, the latter easily combined with a trip to
the suburb of Insein on the city’s popular Circle Line railway. Kabe Aye Pagoda, Inya
Lake and the Myanma Gems Museum can easily be seen together as a single day-trip;
a taxi out from downtown should cost around K4000–5000.

Inya Lake and around

Centrepiece of northern Yangon is the extensive Inya Lake (formerly Lake Victoria),
created by the British in 1883 to provide water for the city. It’s now one of the city’s
favourite pleasure-spots, with attractive (and free) lakeside walkways along its eastern
and western sides, usually busy with couples smooching under umbrellas.
The area around the lake is home to some of Yangon’s premier real estate,
particularly along University Avenue, on the south side of the lake. Here, at no. 54,
you’ll find the house of Aung San Suu Kyi, where Myanmar’s most famous dissident
was kept under house arrest for fifteen years, although there’s not much to see apart
from the large walled compound topped with metal spikes, razor wire, a couple of
National League for Democracy flags and a photo of General Aung San over the
main gate.

Myanma Gems Museum
• Third floor, 66 Kaba Aye Pagoda Rd • Tues–Sun 9.30am–4pm • $5 • No photography
If you want to fully understand Myanmar’s incredible mineral wealth, the
government-run Myanma Gems Museum offers a good introduction (shame about
the rip-off entry fee). Start off with the fun illuminated map which helps you locate
where everything comes from at the press of a button, then explore the miniature
royal regalia (modelled after that in the National Museum), along with myriad other
gems and artefacts, some of considerable beauty, others veering into tat.

Kaba Aye Pagoda
• Kaba Aye Pagoda Rd • 9km north of downtown • Daily 6am–9pm • Free
The cartoonish Kabe Aye Pagoda (meaning “World Peace Pagoda” and pronounced
k’bah AY with the stress on the last syllable, pronounced like the letter “A”) is one of
the first great landmarks of independent Myanmar, commissioned by U Nu – the first
prime minister of independent Myanmar – and completed in 1952 in time for the
Sixth Buddhist Synod of 1954 (celebrating the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha’s
enlightenment).
Shop-lined stairs (which also house a number of palmists) lead up to the unusual
stupa (measuring precisely 34m high and 34m around the base). The odd, chintzy-
looking pagoda comprises a relatively small stupa-spire above and a circular shrine
below, with (unusually) five entrances rather than the customary four in order to
accommodate an additional shrine to the future Buddha Maitreya (see box, p.74).
Inside, five large seated Buddhas face each of the five doors, with statues of the
28 previous Buddhas seated around the huge central column. At the very centre
of the pagoda, a small shrine, protected by bank-vault-style doors, houses a further,
splendidly costumed, silver Buddha and numerous other precious artefacts donated
to the temple.

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