I had a pleasant walk across the U Bein Bridge. I was interesting to see how people go about their daily lives and it is not everyday you get to see something so famous to be merely part of the lives of the local Burmese in Amarapura. There were a few tourists here on the bridge and I guess, this is as touristy as it can get. The fact that no one has offered me any postcards or souvenir items is proof enough, although one of the huts along the bridge has its share of hawkers, they were nowhere as annoying as the ones in Bagan.
At the end of the bridge is small village with of course, the requisite pagoda. This is the Thuangthaman Kyauktawgyi Paya. It is smallish pagoda with an impressive entrance. The entrance and the corn cob shaped sikhara has a golden color to it and it seems it was recently painted. It is free to ener the temple, though you need to leave your footwear outside.
The inside of the temple is quite interesting especially the ceiling of the main entrance. It is adorned with Buddhist paintings. Naturally the central part of the temple has a large Buddha statue. There weren’t any visitors to this temple when I was there but it might just probably be because of the time. There was a cleaner but that was it.
There was another large temple in the area but I didn’t have the time to explore any further. Along the banks of the Lake Thaungthaman, you can see the U Bein Bridge. A sunset will truly be impressive in this area. I really wished I have more time here. However, even if I did, I didn’t know if I would be able to get back to Mandalay by public transport. The guide books say that the last trip will be around six in the evening. However, it is possible that the sun doesn’t set until much later than that. Oh well.
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