Shwe Kyat Yat Pagoda

Shwe Kyat Yat Pagoda or Shwe Kyet Yet Pagoda. We find out this pagoda by the Ayeyarwady River is known by both names. Climbing the long staircase to the top of the pagoda the river is right in front of us, and we look out across the Mandalay port.

Loading and shifting freight only with the backs of men, the big barges are rammed up against the rivers bank and spanned to the bank with teak boards. With bags of freight on their backs, the men and women look like ants from our view point. As each truck is filled there is another replacing it.

The call of the monk singing the Buddhist scriptures before the Shwe Kyat Yat Buddha statue is filling the air and rings out across the boats below. As each monk comes to the end of his singing, his place is filled faultlessly by another. How long has this been going on? Not a beat is missed. Women are serving food to the monks and packing up the dishes when finished.

Kids stand and wait, and the pagoda cat walks by. A monk lies in his deckchair waiting too. Bowing to him a woman asks permission to unburden herself, and kneels beside him. He is kind in his attention to her.

We are still listening to the singing as we walk back down the long winding steps. The taxi is parked in the shade. our taxi driver offers us water and we leave to go to Mandalay Port at ground zero.

Admission Fee

Admission is covered by the Mandalay Archaeological Zone pass.

Getting There

We hired a taxi for our 4 day tour of Mandalay. You can hire a taxi for a 1/2 day at 25,000-30,000 kyat, or a full day 50,000 kyat to get to Shwe Kyat Yat and other places along the way.

---