Monywa, at the heart of
Chindwin Valley
The northwestern city of Monywa lies
on the eastern bank of Chindwin River, with
approximate 300,000 inhabitants, mostly
Burmese. This little visited town is located
136km (100miles) northwest of Mandalay and
probably founded during Bagan period. Monywa
is a thriving business town, which economy
relies on agricultural related products
and industrialized foodstuffs. On the other
hands, Monywa serves as the gateway to the
entire western Chindwin and Ayerwaddy rivers,
and pave a passage to Indian border across
Chin Hills, enabling the town as a sub-hub
to trade with central Myanmar and India.
The road to Monywa from Mandalay or Monywa
to the tobacco producing town of Pakokku,
adjacent to 11th century Bagan, pass through
a semi desert land, bean, pea and garlic
farms, typical Burmese backwater villages,
and dotted glittering stupas – an interesting
drive to see the peoples and their lifestyle.
Highlights
Thanboddhay Temple
 Thanboddhay
is an awesome place, which has been linked
to the Borobodur temple of Indonesia. Monyin
Sayadaw built this magnificent temple in
1939 without taking any engineering advices;
the stunning temple architecture and its
vibrant colors draws much interest to the
visitors. The temple compound is guard by
two white elephants, a deviation from the
usual Leograph as in the many of Buddhist
shrines. The temple is topped by a central
stupa that is surrounded by a forest of
smaller stupas laid upon the multi-level
terraces in the form of multi-layer realms
that encircled the mythical Mt Meru – the
center of universe in Buddhist cosmology.
The temple walls inside, the pyramidal pillars
on the outside, every terrace and corner
contain seated Buddha images in niches that
claims a total of 582,357 images – that’s
over half a million!
Boddhi Tataung
 A
big area where some big monuments stood,
Boddhi Tataung is about 4-km east of Thanboddhay,
where 90-m hollowed reclining Buddha image
and 132m standing Buddha image perched on
top of Po Kaung Hills, overlooking the panoramic
views to the Chindwin valley and a good
spot for catching sunset. The nearby Aung
Setkya stupa rises 130m, and the watchtower
build with Toddy tree trunks provides some
good views of the gigantic monuments in
the west and little Buddhas under the Bodhi
trees numbering over 9000 and still counting
to 10,000.
Ledi Kyaung
This monastery (Kyaung in Burmese) is
dated from 1886 and founded by renowned
Pali Scholar Ledi Sayadaw to house 806 inscribed
stone slabs to record the commentaries of
Buddha.
Kyaukkar
Village
 Kyaukkar
village actually lies 16km (10miles) east
of Monywa, on a tree-arched road that leads
to Shwebo, where the third Burmese empire
kick-start in 18th century. Although many
tourists sought after the trendy Bagan lacqureware,
Kyaukkar is the best place to hunt for more
typical Burmese style plain lacquerware,
which is more practical for daily use. The
much revered Shweguni temple, which housed
14th century Buddha image where the eyes
of Buddha were heavily gilded, reflecting
the major health issue of the region, is
worth visiting. Normally, Kyaukkar is excluded
from the itinerary unless requested.
Po Win
Daung Caves
 Po
Win Daung caves is located 25km west of
Monywa, on the western bank of Chindwin
River and accessible either by direct road
over new Monywa bridge or more enjoyable
ferry crossing to the other side of Chindwin
River and take a local jeep. The latter
option is better to see the busy bustling
ferry port of Nyaungbin village and an interesting
local market, which should be visited in
the morning. Then the road passes through
some remote villages and the enormous copper
mine before it gets hilly. Then, you’ll
be driving through a reserved dry forest.
Po Win Daung is a sprawling place, and the
trails lead you to the numerous sandstone
caves where the images inside were carved
out from the living rock and the walls and
ceilings were covered with bright mural
paintings of geometrical patterns in 3D
as well as those of ancient Buddhist stories
(Jatakas). Most of the artifacts found here
are dated the period between 14 and 18th
centuries but no one know for sure about
its history. Po Win Daung is a well worth
a visit.
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