Monywa- Mock Trial Basics and Buddhas

Two surprisingly comfortable night buses in three days. Interestingly enough, I found out that in Myanmar, you should never ask when a bus will arrive because people think it might bring bad luck on the trip.

We went to Monywa in Central Myanmar to do a two-day mock trial workshop with law teachers at Monywa University. It's a different pace here than Yangon-- much slower even though with a population of around 800,000 this isn't a small town by any stretch of the imagination. No matter the hour in Yangon, traffic is bumper to bumper. I hadn't realized how accustomed I was to that until I actively noticed how strange it felt to be driving without stopping.

Unexpectedly, we've had some free time to play tourist. Very few tourists visit Monywa, but over the three days we spent here, I came to love the food at the night market, the mild winter weather that still inspired big jackets and woolly hats on the locals, the many nearby Buddhas, and the friendly people.  

Day One: Caves?

Love the pool mushroom!

After we arrived in Monywa via overnight bus to Mandalay, we went for a quick swim in the hotel pool (what a luxury!)
and then took a taxi to Hpo Win Daung "caves." I had imagined something very different from the description of this site in the Lonely Planet, so we were very surprised that "caves" meant little grottoes carved out of the hillside. Inside each grotto was a Buddha. Not quite sure if it was a lack of attention to detail on my part, but I kept wondering when we were going to reach the caves. There were some highly aggressive monkeys and quite a bit of trash. For a very long drive, after a very long night and morning on a bus, it was a little disappointing.

There is a buddha in each little grotto or "cave"

More Buddha-filled grottoes

Forlorn decorative objects just lying around

We ended the day at the Night Market, which was filled with vendors selling used clothing and street food. This was the first of three nights where I tried some delicious street food. Each item was around 500 kyat (less than 50 cents) so it's easy to try something that looks interesting even if you're not sure you're going to like it.  

Day Two: Our Workshop Begins and a Big Buddha

After the first day of the mock trial workshop, we hired a taxi to drive us to the Lay Kyun Sakkya Standing Buddha statue, the second largest standing Buddha in the world, measuring 129 meters (almost 425 feet) high. It was neck-craningly huge, and we arrived as the setting sun lit the gold on fire. We sped by 1,000 buddhas sitting under 1,000 bodhi trees and a huge reclining Buddha in the same complex, which was also impressive (at least to us, if not the taxi driver). 

A few of the Trip Advisor reviews said it was gaudy, but to me, it doesn't seem possible for something to be gaudy when it is an active place of worship. It's a reverential place, where the excess is not just excess, it's a source of inspiration and a reflection of devotion. 

Worshippers making offerings of a lucky plant

Monks want to have their pictures taken too!

   

Then we stopped by Thanboddhay Paya, a Buddhist temple unlike any other in Myanmar. Generally, temples in Myanmar are white and gold. This paya was filled with carnival-like bright colors, which apparently makes it more closely resemble Indonesia's Borobudur. It is said to contain over 500,000 images of Buddha, which I don't doubt. At first I didn't realize that there were tiny Buddhas lining the nooks of each pillar. 

Little Buddhas in rows on the pillars

And no better way to end the day again than with a snack at the Night Market.

This was a big thin crepe filled with bean sprouts, carrots, and beans. She folded it up and bagged some hot sauce for me to take it to go. It was so delicious that it didn't even make it back to the hotel.