Thanlyin

Thanlyin is one of the hidden attraction beyond Yangon is  Thanlyin Thanlyin (or Tanyin) formerly  known as Syriam located Just across the Bago River (Pegu River) it is an important port town in Yangon Division. It is only about an hour’s drive from downtown Yangon. It can be reached by crossing one of the longest “ Thanlyin bridge ” . Why Thanlyin ? Thalyin which remain a very ancient town in Myanmar had may ancients pagodas and monuments . In addition to that Thanlyin has served for centuries as Burma ‘principal harbor- a role it continue to play thanks to the modern deep-water container port of Thilawa installed on its waterfront. Most of the country’s trade pass through here, making this something of industrial boom city, with a population that quadrupled in the 1980s following the construction of an iron road bridge connecting it with Yangon . .The main incentive to make traverse is to visit wonderful hill top pagoda of  Kyaik Kauk Pagoda which is located  on the way to Kyauk Tan, on a hillock. The pagoda is very similar in structure to Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon .. If you travel half an hour further south  “ Kyauk Tan” is the site of another pretty Buddhist shrine , locally known as Yae Lae Pagoda which means pagodas built  in the middle of water: the pagoda is actually built in the middle of water out in the sea. The pagoda complex consists of several buildings including a monastery. Pilgrims and visitors are ferried by boats to the pagoda. While crossing, you can feed catfishes which jump out of water to snatch food thrown at them. Pagodas are not the only things to see in Thanlyin. Although the town itself was established since ancient Mon  kingdoms and Myanmar kingdoms, it was British who built modern Thanlyin as an important oil refinery town for BOC Company (Burma Oil Corporation). There is a large quarter for BOC officers now used as houses for the MOGE (Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise) officers. These houses were built since colonial era design. Made of brick and wood, these houses are large, roomy and airy as well as beautiful and elegant. Interesting story in brief However, the main purpose of the tour is still the rural lifestyle of the village in Myanmar.During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Thanlyin was the base of the notorious Portuguese explorer Filipe de Brito e Nicote. As a trade representative for the Rakhaing people, he had his own kingdom at Thanlyin. In many Myanmar blogs introducing this place, there records that in 1599, his own troops invaded Bago, but in 1613 the Bamar encircled Thanlyin. De Brito received a consequence of those who destroyed Buddhist temples: the death penalty. Thanlyin continued to serve as the main port and commercial center until this Myanmar site was destroyed by the Bamar king named Alaungpaya in 1756.