MAWLAMYINE, MON STATE

Mawlamyine, the fourth largest city in Myanmar, is the capital of Mon State, which is well connected with destinations of islands, hills, tropical forest and cropland and plantations. The most famous destinations are Kyaikhtiyoe (Golden Rock) Pagoda is located to the north of Kyaikhtotownship; beautiful beaches in the areas at Kyaikkami and Sets; Thanbyuzayat, 60 km to the south of Mawlamyine, there is a war memorial to the 100,000 POWs and civilians who perished during the construction of the so-called “death railway” at the hands of the Japanese during WW II, Win Sein Taw Ya, is the site of the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world; and KyauktalonTaung is a flat rock formation 91 m high with a Buddhist shrine situated on top of it.

Mawlamyine is a charmed with its rich history, buildings with colonial style architecture, and World War II era wooden buses. The town’s landmark Kyaik ThanLan pagoda was built in 875 A.D. Kyaik Ka Mi was a small coastal resort and well-known for Kyaik Ka Mi Yele Pagoda, a metal-roofed Buddha shrine complex perched over the sea. Thaton was also known as Suvannabhumi, which bears rich significant in Myanmar’s history as it is one of the places where Theravada Buddhism was established and took root some 2500 years ago. KyaikHteeYoe Pagoda, known as Golden Rock was built in 574 B.C according to the legend. It lies 229 km far from Yangon and built on a huge boulder which stands on the extreme edge of the cliff, 1095m above sea level. The rock and the pagoda are at the top of Mt. KyaikHteeYoe. It is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar after the Shwedagon Pagoda and Mahamuni Pagoda.