May 4, 2012, morning
We headed out via boat on the Irrawaddy (this seems to be spelled many different ways) River, on our way to Mingun. Some of the sites we passed along the way included this barge, made out of bamboo, which is used to transport teak wood along the river…
…also there were many temporary huts such as this along the river which the fishermen build close to the river in the dry season so they can be closer to the river…
….from the river, we could see the white painted Mingun pagoda…
As our boat docked, this taxi awaited us (note his hat has the word “taxi” on it)…
…however, we chose to walk up to the Mingun temple. This is the hind portion of the lion which was built to protect the temple, and was originally 95 feet tall…it was mostly destroyed during the mid-1800 earthquake..
…the stupa was never completed. It was to have been more than 500 feet tall and would have been the highest in the country, by far (the schwedagon stupa in Yangon is the tallest at 160 feet tall)…
There were several small monasteries in the surrounding area…
…and, of course, the bell! It is the largest “ringing” bell in the world, the Moscow bell being larger, but it doesn’t ring due to being cracked. (I was able to show my guide a picture of the Moscow bell which I had taken when in Moscow last year). I took a swing at this one just to make sure it really worked…
Then this little girl who was from the countryside who was visiting Mandalay for holiday wanted to have her picture taken with the unusual looking woman from America…
After our stroll around Mingun, we enjoyed a peaceful boat trip back to Mandalay…
Location:Mandalay, Myanmar
