Travel Guide Monywa

An agricultural trading centre for the Chindwin Valley, just three hours drive west of Mandalay, Monywa borders the Chindwin River, one of the three largest rivers in the country. Monywa's main attraction is the Thanboddhay Pagoda. A very colourful pagoda, where 845 small stupas encircle the central stupa. This pagoda is different from all the other pagodas you can see and will have already seen in Myanmar. Here, the Po Win Taung caves are also of great interest. The sandy stone caves contain many different sculptures of Buddha and incredible frescoes on some of the cave walls. There are still relatively few tourists in Monywa, which makes it even more attractive. You can visit it by sidecar or trishaws for a few hundred kyats a ride. From Mandalay, for example, the departure by train is at 6 am for no less than six hours of travel. A great experience!