N 53 A Trip to Mwaydaw Nam Set (part 2 )

But there was nobody in the fairly neat and wide compound. Not even an animal was to be seen. We were  all alone by ourselves. Then we realized that we had come at the wrong time.

What the women at Kakku told us that there are about half the amount of Kakku pagodas is not true. There is only one big golden pagoda and some pagodas that look like old around it. We went into the small homage paying area where there is an old image inside a niche and one reclining statue and said our prayers.

After paying homage we put down our mats on the grass and prepare to have lunch. Everybody had packed some kinds of food and when we had laid all of them our lunch was like a feast. So although it was still early everybody ate heartily.

After all had eaten we wandered around the pagodas. I saw a zayat with open door. When I peeped in to see if there was  somebody so that I could ask questions I found none. Also  the building close to the pagoda is empty. So I gave up the idea of enquiring about the pagoda.

Beyond the compound there are many big banyan trees like other religious places. Some of us thought  the pagodas are not as old as the Kakku pagodas. And I noticed that the work is not very neat and impressive. But we can understand that this is a remote part of Shan State.

It was over noon when we set back on our way home. After Hsai Khao the Kyauk Talone road branched out to the west ,towards Kakku. So as not to trace back our old route we took this road. It was an unpaved road but smooth and not very dusty yet. Eventually we reached the paved road to Kakku and before long we sighted the amazing Kakku Pagodas.

  (  PS….the festival time of Mwaydaw Nam Set  is from 7^th to 9^th of the waning days of Tazaungmone ) 

N52   A Trip to Mwaydaw Nam Set ( Nam Set Pagoda )     Part 1

While visiting the famous Kakku Pagodas of Taunggyi last year I heard from shopkeepers there that there is another group of pagodas like Kakku in that area. So I thought I would visit this place someday.

Hopone Pagodas
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In one of the summer months this year I had to visit Kakku again. I had thought about taking a guide from there and go to the place they told me about.

But when I enquired about it , they told me that the place is twice the distance from Taunggyi, the road not good and there will be no people there during this season and advised me to go only during festival  time which takes place in the waxing days of Tazaungmone month.

Come the period they mentioned and so I organized a group and cars to go there. When I asked people about the place nobody seems to know about  it except that it is in Hsi Hsaing Township.

I called my friend Daw Hla Htay who had worked there as a TEO for some years and even she didn’t know about it but she said she will call the residing TEO and enquired for me. After some time she called back and told me about the Pagoda. The name is’ Mway Daw Nam Set .‘We have to go by Taunggyi Loikaw road past Banyin , Nawng Worn and Hsai Khao, not reaching Hsi Hsaing. After Hsai Khao we have to turn and go along a small  road which leads to the pagoda.

We calculated the distance and found out it would be about 60 miles from Taunggyi. So we set off at 7 am. We stop for a short break at Banyin a small town . Then to Nawng worn which is famous for its production of Shan rice. The road is a narrow tar road but sometimes we had to pass over pebble covered rough road.

The scenery around is amazing with golden colour rice fields ready to be cut and the clouds in the sky formed different pretty shapes. Seeing these beautiful sights My mind wandered about our country. How beautiful  our land is , what simple lives our country  people are leading  and striving for their livelihoods. I wish our people’s lives to be more developed, to have better homes, not to have to work so hard, to have access to modern machinery,and so on. But this is only my wish. Only a few people have better houses,cell phones, electricity and unlicenced vehicles now while most are still poor with not much education.

After some time we reached Hsai Khao. And then before long we came to a place where a small road branches out to the west. There is a concrete signboard there on which was written  “ Mway Daw Nam Sit “

 So we took this unpaved road and drove along. We didn’t  know how far the pagoda is .So when we saw one or a group of pagodas we wondered  if this was the one we had come to pay homage. But none was. We drove on and after two places where it would be difficult for saloons to cross due to road condition ( luckily we brought higher cars ) we saw the gate of the pagoda. So this is Mway Daw Nam Set ( Shan language ) we had ventured to visit.