Myanmar, no stranger to the world because of its very famous pagodas and temples. In every famous city, hundreds of pagodas attracts thousands of visitors every year. The top ten places bellow are the most famous places related to religion a visitor should adventure in Myanmar.
1.Ancient Ananda temple
As its name, this temple is an ancient temple which was built long time ago. Located in Bagan, Ananda is Myanmar attraction to the world with its ancient beauty. This temple is so famous that its name is always in any Myanmar travel notebooks.
Ananda is considered the best in bagon, which means Ananda helps this city get more and more benefit from tourism. The feature of this ancient temple is that it has four big statues of Buddha in gold, which are set in four directions. Ananda is also a construction of Mon minority, and a great mixture of India architecture and Myanmar architecture.
2. Gold Shwezigon pagoda
Bagan, ancient city of Myanmar becomes more and more popular to the world with many temples and pagodas. Not only famous for Ananda temple, this ancient capital is well-known for its gold pagoda-Shwezigon. This pagoda was built in the XIV century. It is also the oldest pagoda in Myanmar. Architecture of Shwezigon becomes the model for many pagodas to build later.
Myanmar expresses their respect to Buddha by decorating their pagodas with gold. Around Shwezigon, thousands of goldleaves are used to make the ancient pagoda spark in the sunshine. Nats are worshipped by Myanmar(Burma) for a long time. At the corners of Shwezigon, lion statues are sculptured skillfully and they protect the pagodas from bad things as in Myanmar’s belieft. The special part of this gold pagoda is that its top is bell-shaped with many small bells around. Myanmar think that bell is a symbol of Buddhism, so in any pagodas you can see bells are used very often.
3. Nathlaung Kyaung temple
Located in Bagon, this temple is related to Hinduism. This is the last Hinduism architecture in Bagan. Nathlaung Kyaung is always on top of the list to adventure in Myanmar. This temple was built in 900s and lasted more than one century. It has many stories related to Myanmar periods. Until now, Nathlaung Kyaung only keeps its one/third architecture. Other Buddha architecture built later also have some thing in common with this temple.
4. Htilominlo pagoda
Again we see another famous architecture of Bagan. This top 5 ancient Bagan pagoda is a very featured Buddhism architecture. It has its own ancient beauty, passing through many times but still keeps its special features.
Htilominlo gets up to 46 meter in height. From the center of Bagan, it only takes tourists a short time to visit this pagoda. Two kilometer is not a long distance at all. This huge pagoda was built through 3 decades, it is a very sacred to many myanmar people.
If you have the chance to visit this special ancient pagoda, one of Myanmar highlights, you can realize that many artists had to spend much time and patient to carve so many different patterns.
5. Dhammayangyi temple
Dhammayangyi was built with bricks, it has a difficult history with many time collapsing apart. It is the biggest campus temple with 6 millions of bricks used. The center tower has a wind chime. Until now, after many times facing natural disasters, it is no longer in use. But you can still ask to come to visit if you are brave enough. Why? Because it is also called “Ghost temple”. The rest is for you to decide.
6.Gold pagoda-Shwedagon
It can not be enough if we do not mention this famous pagoda. As Myanmar symbol, Shwedagon is not only famous as a big and luxurious pagoda in Myanmar, it is well-known to all over the world with its mystery about Buddha. Myanmar believes that this pagoda has 4 treasures of Buddha, that is why they often come to pray in this pagoda.
In Myanmar and in Asia, shwedagon is a very big pagoda with great height and width. From anywhere of Yangon, tourists can also see the center tower. This pagoda is not only painted with many goldleavesm but it is even decorated with thousands of diamonds. If you are adventuring Myanmar but missing this great gold pagoda, it is not a real Myanmar travel.
7. Shwesandaw pagoda
Once again, we visit Bagan and get to Shwesandaw. If you want to have the best view of Myanmar at sunset, shwesandaw is the best place to choose. Thousands of tourists come here because of this Myanmar site. With its height, Shwesandaw helps travelers get the best view to look around and see other surrounding pagodas.
It was built in 1057, this ancient pagoda still appeals to many customer and even local are coming to visit. In the early morning, tourists come here and wait for the dawn in Bagan. This sight is very familiar to Myanmar people. Will you be among one of these tourists? Will you take this chance? One more thing to say, December is a great time to visit Myanmar, good price and many festivals.
8. Pindaya cave
Located in Myelat, Pindaya cave holds more than 8000 statues of Buddha and related products. Infact, Buddha followers often choose this place to visit and pray to their Buddha. This cave is a very important Pilgrimage site to Myanmar. If they go abroad and come back to their country, travelling to Myanmar from india, England, America,…they often visit Pindaya cave as if it were their home.
9. Golden rock pagoda
No word can describe how special this pagoda is. Kyaiktiyo pagoda is in a very high mountain, it reaches up to 3615m comparing to the sea level. How fantastic if you can visit this Myanmar tourist site. Located in Mon state, 200 kilometer from yangon, this far away pagoda still appeals to many visitors from other countries to come every year. This golden pagoda makes travellers so excited that it is like they stop breathing for a moment. Featured thing of this pagoda is it’s golden rock. Can you imagine this sence? I can not understand how wonderous it is just by looking at the picture. Only coming can fulfill our imagination.
10.Taung kalat monastery.
The last but not least is Taung kalat monastery. Located in Pegu, this monastery is also one of many destinations related to Buddha that a visitor should come. With the height of 1518m to the sea level, Taung kalat on Popa mountain stands out in the forest. This is also a sacred place to local people. If you want to visit this high pagoda, good health is a necessary and you must be careful, because it is a little dangerous to get to the pagoda. But, of course, it worths your effort.
This list describes most of the famous pagodas and temples to adventure Myanmar during your tour. From Yangon to Bagan, from delta to mountain, you can find many destinations to rest and have new experiences. Let’s be ready for your Myanmar tour and enjoy wonderful moment with us!
