Villages - page 2

Sale

Sale’s past is rooted in the 12^th/13^th centuries when Bagan’s influence spread. It remains an active religious centre with almost 50 monasteries. An interesting aspect is the faded colonial villas dotted around the town. Yoke Sone Monastery  is a 150-year old teak monastery with magnificent wood carvings. It was commissioned by a local ‘billionaire’ in 1882. Now it is a museum renamed U Pon Nya.

We visited the 5m high Gold Buddha made of straw laquer.
The image was washed downstream during the 1888 monsoon.

Minla

We walked to the fortress of Minhla, Iit was built by Italian architects to help the Burmese King keep the British at bay from advancing their troops towards the north. On the opposite side of the river is another Italian built fort, Gwechaung. These were captured by the British in 1885 in the 3^rd Anglo Burmese war. The fight for Minhla was the only serious action in the war and the death of a young subaltern inspired Rudyard Kipling to write a poem. Gwechaung, the more impressive of the forts, was captured from the rear before the Burmese had time to turn the guns around. After the Burmese captured the forts the navy sailed to Mandalay and the last Burmese King was sent to exile.

Thayet Myo

Thayet Myo was once the border town between the Royal Burmese North and the British Colonial South, following the 2^nd Anglo Burmese war of 1855. It boasts the oldest golf course in Burma (1885). Walk around the town and market.