Mingun Paya, Mandalay

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The main attraction of Mingun (and most probably of all the ancient cities around Madnalay) is the ruined Mingun Paya, an functioning Buddhist temple with the remains of a massive stupa begun by King Bodawpaya in 1790. Thousand of slaves laboured to build the massive construction. The temple was not completed, due to an astronomer claiming that, once the temple was finished, the King would die. If it was supposed to be completed, it would have been the largest in the world at 150 meters. Despite its ruined state due to earthquake in 1838, the remains are impressive. Each side of this enornous building measures 72m
Nowadays you can climb up from a staircase on one side for fine views over the area

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A pleasant half day tour from Mandalay is to Mingun, famed for the huge devastated pagoda and the biggest bell.
Mingun can be reached only by boat from Mandalay (see my transportation tip) and it's a half day tour (9am - 2pm)

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Mingun is a short and very worthwhile trip upstream from Mandalay. A highlight, the Mingun bell, is supposed to be the largest in the world - the one in the Moscow Kremlin is bigger, but broken. Mingun must have the largest pile of bricks in the world as well - what was going to be the largest paya (temple) was destroyed by an earthquake and now lies in a pile of rubble. The village is easy to stroll around and there's no chance of getting lost as the kids will know exactly where you are !

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Mingun
Mingun Paya
Pretendio ser la estupa mas grande del mundo .
Se empezo a construir en el siglo XVIII con miles de esclavos y prisioneros de guerra , pero en 1818 la agrieto un temblor de tierra y se paro la construccion cuando solo estaba hecha la base
Sigue siendo un monumento impresionante , al que hay que subir descalzo y desde arriba hay grandes vistas del pueblo y del delta del rio

Mingun Paya
It pretended to be the largest stupa on the world.
They started to build it on the XVIII century with thousands of slaves and war prisioners, but on 1818 it was cracked by an earth quake and the construction it was stopped when only the base was built
Even now it is an impressive building, that you must climb with the bare foot and from the top you have great views of the village and of the river delta