scenery over the Irrawaddy river on my return trip
Hello Friends,
Today, I would like to present about a trip to Mingun which took place last year. Excuse me for being retrospective.
I worked in Mandalay and went to Mingun by bike in the morning. Mingun is on the other side of the Irrawaddy river. On the way to Mingun, I rode to the river side first and crossed it by boat letting it carry my bicycle first :) .
Mingun is primarily famous for its three ancient gigantic structures - the Mingun stupa, the Mingun Bell and the two guarding lions. The immense stupa and colossal lions were built by a Burmese king 1790 but they were left unfinished. Only the Mingun Bell was cast finished.
I arrived Mingun at around 10:00 AM; the commuter boat (that carries about 30 people) took me about one hour to cross the river. And the first place I visited was the uncompleted stupa and the two lions; it is about 10 minute ride from the harbour. Actually Mingun is used be populated with many tourists and visitors but because of COVID pandemic, I found only a few visitors there.
What you can see below is the side and the backs of the two lions .You can imagine the size of it by the photo of mine with the lion in the last row.
The gigantic lions located in front of the Mingun Stupa
Me with one of the two giant uncompleted lions
Those two lions are located in front of the unfinished Mingun stupa also called Mingun Pahtodawgyi. It is said if this stupa was completed, it would have been the largest in the world at 150 metres (490 ft). Because I was not allowed to enter the precinct, I was just able to take a photo from a distance. And you can see a huge crack at the side of the stupa that was caused by the earthquake in 23rd March 1839
The immense Mingun Stupa
However, I can still share the photo of it with visitors around - the one taken with my friends before Covid affected Myanmar so that its immense size can be envisioned
Another place I tried to visit is the shrine housing the gigantic Mingun Bell, which weighs 90 tons and which is today the largest ringing bell in the world. (The world biggest bell is the Tsar Bell in Mosco but it cannot be tolled). Unfortunately, that place was also locked. So I had to present with the photo that was taken in my previous visit.
Although Mingun is most famous for those three places, there are some other places one can visit - the house for the ages, Myatheindan pagoda and the monastery of Venerable Mingun Sayardaw, who was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as a record holder in the Human memory category in 1985.
My next visit was to Myatheindan pagoda which was built in 1816. The unique architecture style and the wavy tiers surrounding the Myatheindan pagoda make it a photogenic place for visitors. The access to it was restricted so I had to take photo from outside the compound.
Me at Myatheindan pagoda
And I visited the monastery of the past Mingun Sayardaw (Sayardaw means venerable monk in Myanmar). He is the one who can recite contents from 16,000 pages of Buddhist canonical text out of his memory; that made him included in the the Guinness Book of Records. The monastery was about 20 minutes ride from the Mingun Bell
the exhibition room at the Mingun Sayardaw monastery
The trip to Mingun can be enjoyable with the pleasant scenery along the Irrawaddy river and one can observe the rural life of central Myanmar from the villages around Mingun. And the souvenir shops around can sometimes part of the the lifestyle of the local people too. I took photos of some of them.
souvenir shops where one can purchase local products
I returned to Mandalay in the afternoon. Minguan is a one hour ride from Mandalay. It can be visited from Mandalay in two ways - with vehicle via Sagaing, with a boat crossing the Irrawaddy river. I recommend travelling there by boat if you are not in a rush to enjoy the scenery along the river in a more relaxed way. There are boats available for tourists that one can take without having to wait for other commuters. The best time to visit Mingun is during winter and early summer time, November till February, when the weather is not much hot and pleasant; not like the lower and other parts of Myanmar the heat in central Myanmar can be intense during summer time.
Let me stop my post here. I hope you enjoy what I presented. Please leave me some words in comment section if you have questions and comments. Thank you for viewing my post. Have have a nice day!
(The photos were taken with my Nikon Z6 camera and with my phone. I wrote my post so that it contains not too many photos nor too much content. I hope you enjoy! :). Thanks!)
