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DestinationMRAUK U
Htukkanthein Temple
Koethaung Pagoda
How to Get To Mrauk UAbout ten years ago it was difficult to travel to this area but you can easily visit Mrauk-U now. From Yangon there are daily flights to Sittway the capital of Rakhine State. From Sittway to Mrauk-U you can take a boat on the Kaladan River and then go into some of its tributary streams. Mrauk-U, on Thinghanadi creek is only 45 miles from Sittway and the sea coast. It is a very pleasant river journey. |
Mrauk U is the only site in Myanmar
where there is an assemblage of many stone buildings.
The Rakhaing king Minzawmon founded Mrauk-U in1433. A
Deutsch man who visited Mrauk-U in the 16th century
described it as one of the richest cities in Asia, and
compared with Amsterdam and London in size and
prosperity. Tour highlight include Kothaung Temple; it
is the thousand of small Buddha bas-reliefs on the walls
of which make the temple so interesting, Sakyamanaung
Stupa, the bells reverts to a layered circular shape
which is mounted a decorative umbrella, Mahabodi Shwegu
Stupa; scenes from Jataka line( the past lives of Buddha
have 550 Stories.) the inner side of the passage, and
Pitakateik; Buddhist library, the monument's most
distinguishing features are its five tiered roofline and
beautifully. 
Htukkan (or Dukkhan), the temple
stands on a hill, 30 feet high, having a flat surface
like that of a drum. King Minphalaung built the pagoda
in 1571 A.D. Like the Shitthaung and the Andaw shrines,
Dukkhanthein was built of hewn sandstones and layers of
bricks over the roof. It measures 190 feet from north to
south and 200 feet from east to west. It is reached by
stone stairways, 8' broad, situated on the east and
south. These stairways measuring 106 feet are built of
massive stonewalls on the north, east and south. The
west one which is slightly convex is connected to an
oblong chamber. 
Standing on a plain of rice fields is
the Koethaung Pagoda; the name means 90,000 and probably
signified the number of Buddha images it was supposed to
contain. It was built by King Min Taikkha, the son of
King Min Bin who built the Shitthaung or temple of
80,000 images, so the son exceeded the father by 10,000!
It is the biggest pagoda in the Mrauk-U area. Like the
Shitthaung, this pagoda is also a massive fortress-lik e
structure built with stone walls and terraces. There are
108 smaller pagodas surrounding it, all made of
sandstone. With a winding corridor it is like a cave
tunnel which you have to traverse until you u reach the
central chamber. The inner gallery has collapsed and is
no longer accessible. There is an octagonal pagoda in
the middle surrounded by over one hundred smaller
pagodas. Unlike some of the other temples, not only
sandstone, but bricks were also used in this pagoda. 
