Mon kingdom pagodas — four giant Buddhas and an ancient capital hour from Yangon
Bago (historically Pegu) was the capital of the Mon Kingdom and later the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, one of the most powerful states in mainland Southeast Asia from the 14th to 16th centuries. Today it is a manageable day trip or overnight from Yangon, offering a concentration of extraordinary pagodas and religious monuments without the mass tourism of Bagan. The Shwemawdaw Pagoda towers at 114 metres — taller than the Shwedagon — and enshrines hair relics of the Buddha. The Shwethalyaung Reclining Buddha (55 metres long) is one of the largest and most serene reclining Buddhas in the world, redisco…
Bago was founded according to legend when two swans (hintha birds) landed on a tiny island, which grew into the Mon capital of Hanthawaddy. The Mon Kingdom was one of mainland Southeast Asia's great civilisations — the Mon people were among the earliest Buddhists in the region and their art, architecture, and script influenced the Burmese cultural tradition profoundly. Bago reached its peak under King Bayinnaung (1551–1581), who unified much of mainland Southeast Asia under Burmese rule and made Bago/Pegu one of the richest cities in Asia, visited by European traders including the Portuguese…