Monywa and the Buddha Caves – Myanmar – January 2013

After our two great days in Mandalay, we stopped off to watch the making of gold leaf before heading to Monywa.

The artisans start out with about 2 ounces of gold which is pressed and cut into 200 pieces, which are then stacked on top of each other and secured to a rock.  A man straddles the rock and pounds for a half-hour after which it is divided again, making 1,200 pieces.  It is pounded for another half-hour and divided yet again.  The workers perform a final round of pounding for 5 hours…

Pounding gold to make gold leaf.

Pounding gold to make gold leaf.

…ending up with thousands of 1” square pieces of gold leaf (I lost track of exactly how many thousands), which are placed between sheets of handmade paper and made into packages of 100 sheets each.

Making packages of gold leaf for sale

Making packages of gold leaf for sale

You will see people all across the country applying this gold leaf to pagodas or Buddha images.  They also use it in the manufacture of lacquerware.

We continued heading to Monywa, which is about 100km from Mandalay.  On the way, we stopped to stroll through one of the villages.  We were lucky enough to see the children decked out in their initiation (rite of passage) costumes…

Boy & Girl in Initiation costumes

Boy & Girl in Initiation costumes

For the young boys (who can be anywhere from 5 to 15 years of age)…

Little boy in initiation costume.

Little boy in initiation costume.

…this means they will have their heads shaved and will live in the monastery for one month, after which they will decide if they wish to remain there as young novice monks.  For the young girls, they will have their ears pierced.  The procession which usually accompanies the ceremony had actually occurred the day before, but other festivities were planned for later on this day, including the ritual head shaving.

Initiation Procession (Bagan, April 2012)

Initiation Procession (Bagan, April 2011)

 

Little boy in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2011)

Little boy in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2011)

 

Little girl in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2012)

Little girl in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2011)

 

Elephant dancer in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2011)

Elephant dancer in initiation procession (Bagan, April 2011)

We made another stop to visit the Laykyun Setkyar (Standing Buddha) statue, which is the second tallest Buddha statue in the world at a total height of 129 meters or about 425 feet (the largest is in China).

Laykyun Setkyar (Standing Buddha) statue

Laykyun Setkyar (Standing Buddha) statue

Also, at the same location, is the longest reclining Buddha in Myanmar at 333 feet long…

Longest reclining Buddha in Myanmar

Longest reclining Buddha in Myanmar

…as well as the Buddha garden, containing 1,000 Bodhi trees (sacred fig trees), each with a Buddha image seated in front of it.

Buddha Garden

Buddha Garden

One last stop was made at the Thahboddhay Pagoda complex, which is reminiscent of the world-famous Borobudur Temple located in Java, Indonesia, and is the only structure of its kind in Myanmar.

Thahboddhay Pagoda, Myanmar

Thahboddhay Pagoda, Myanmar

It was built during the 14th century and contains more than 500,000 images of Buddha (including all of the pinhead rows of Buddhas in the below photo)….

Thahboddhay Pagoda with more than 500,000 Buddha images

Thahboddhay Pagoda with more than 500,000 Buddha images

We arrived at our hotel in Monywa that evening, looking forward to our visit the next morning to the sandstone caves of Hpo Win Daung, where there are over 900 caves carved into the sandstone, dating back to the 14th to 18th centuries.  These caves are considered by archaeologists to contain the richest collection of mural paintings and Buddha statues in Southeast Asia.  They are not on most of the standard tour routes, and as can be seen by the photos below, they were among the highlights of our trip…..

Buddha caves at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha caves at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha image at Hpo Win Daung caves

Buddha image at Hpo Win Daung caves

Hpo Win Daung Cave

Hpo Win Daung Cave

Buddha in Hpo Win Daung caves

Buddha in Hpo Win Daung caves

Reclining Buddha inside Hpo Win Daung cave

Reclining Buddha inside Hpo Win Daung cave

 

Sample of painted walls in cave at Hpo Win Daung

Sample of painted walls in cave at Hpo Win Daung

 

Buddha inside painted cave at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha inside painted cave at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha image in cave at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha image in cave at Hpo Win Daung

Buddha images...on and on...in Hpo Win Daung caves

Buddha images…on and on…in Hpo Win Daung caves

After leaving the caves, we proceeded to travel to Bagan, where we were able to catch one of their spectacular sunsets.

Sunset over Bagan

Sunset over Bagan

We spent the next two days exploring Bagan and its awesome display of shrines, temples and stupas.

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