U Min Thonze Pagoda

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 27 Nov 2017 22:37
U Min Thonze
Pagoda
![]() Out of the car, many steep steps up
through a skinny passage with the necessary tourist stalls, we reached the shoe
locker and saw first, an orange
building.
![]() ![]() ![]() Inside was
a variety of Buddha images, a reverent tall Buddha and some important monks on
the wall.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() We were so impressed with this
building, so different from all the other pagodas we have visited, so far. Bear
went to the far end for this picture. Inside are forty-five beautifully gilded
Buddha images in the crescent-shaped colonnade,
partly built into the side of the Sagaing Hill.
U Min Thonze Pagoda is one of
the most distinctive complexes on the main hill top of Sagaing,
constructed under the orders of Padugyi Thangayaza, a highly
revered monk. U Min means caves and Thonze
means thirty. Each Buddha statue inside, has a unique facial _expression_,
different in size and a couple were standing. We read some of the plaques placed
in recognition of their donations. We then followed steps up under a covered
walkway and found a few smaller shrines and a lean-to or two containing more
shorter lines of Buddha images. The views from the top over the fertile valley
and Irrawaddy River were spectacular. On our way down we had a look into the
‘caretakers’ digs, walked down through the lines of stalls once more and at the
bottom Bear’s trigger finger – always at the ready, found a dragon
guardian.
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ALL IN ALL I WONDER WHY THE BUDDHAS WERE SEPARATED SO UNUSUAL |