Ancient Mon capital with a 55-metre reclining Buddha and a pagoda taller than Shwedagon — 90 minutes from Yangon, visited by almost no one
Bago (historically Pegu) is one of the most historically significant cities in Southeast Asia — the capital of the Mon Kingdom and later the Hanthawaddy Kingdom for centuries before the Burman conquest — yet it receives a fraction of the attention of Bagan or Mandalay despite being only 80km from Yangon. The Shwemawdaw Pagoda, at 114 metres, is actually taller than the Shwedagon in Yangon and is one of the tallest religious structures in Myanmar. The Shwethalyaung Reclining Buddha (55m long, the third-largest reclining Buddha in the world) was lost to the jungle for over a century before bein…
Bago was founded as the Mon capital of Pegu in 825 CE according to tradition. It reached its greatest power under the Hanthawaddy Kingdom (1287–1539), ruling all of Lower Burma and competing with the Burman kingdoms of the north. The Portuguese adventurer Filipe de Brito e Nicote (Ngasinganwe) seized Bago in 1599 and held it as a personal fiefdom for 13 years before the restored Burman king Anaukpetlun had him crucified in 1613 — one of colonial Southeast Asia's most colourful episodes. The city was repeatedly sacked and rebuilt; King Bayinnaung (reigned 1551–1581) made it the capital of the…