There are a couple of smaller temples near the giant brick pile. We visited the Hsinbyume Temple, built slightly later than the Mingun temple but actually completed. Because we had exhausted the sightseeing opportunities in Mingun and had to face another two hour boat ride when we finished, we decided to clamber up this temple as well. There's a little cave at top with a shrine where you can make offerings, or do what we did and take pictures of the brick pile.

We hiked up the ruins, which are still sort of wobbly, and have no guardrails of any sort. The stairs also stop after the first third of the trip, and then you're just sort of looking for places to put your hands and feet. Once you're on top, of course, the views are spectacular, the winding Irawaddy and the remaining abandoned temples of Mingun.

The city's main claim to fame is a gigantic temple that began construction in 1790. It was meant to be the world largest stupa, at 150 metres, built of solid brick then gilded over with gold. This would have been about the same size as a fifty story building. Work was stopped about thirty years later when the king died, which still makes it the largest brick structure in the world. An earthquake in 1838 atmospherically cracked the pile, and it's been slowly swallowed by the encroaching jungle ever since. That globular thing was supposed to be an elephant, one of a pair that was meant to great the royal barge when the king came to inspect his folly.

Mingun is another ancient city that has essentially disappeared, leaving just some world-record relics as a reminder of better times. It's only reachable by boat, about a two hour trip up the river. The river trip is pretty much like it was on the Road to Mandalay, but since you're only a few inches above the water, and sometimes covered in water, it's a lot more exciting. At the end of the trip, you come to a very laidbacklanding, where some kids tug your boat ashore.

97. Mingun

The trip officially ended on New Year's Day, but we decided to hang around in Burma for a few more days. We got up very early in the morning and headed to the riverfront port, which looks like a cross between Mad Max and Waterworld. We climbed aboard a barely seaworthy vessel and began our couple hour boat trip upriver to Mingun, yet another abandoned capital.