Win Sein Taw Ya Reclining Buddha

Located near Mudon, about 24 kilometres south of Mawlamyaing, Win Sein Taw Ya is one of the world's largest reclining Buddha statues: 180 metres long, built from concrete and painted white, lying along a hillside surrounded by a complex of stupas, shrines, and monastery buildings. The scale is difficult to comprehend until you are standing next to it.

Getting there is straightforward — a 30-minute bus or shared taxi south on the main road. The site is open daily and entry is free; donations are welcomed. Allow at least an hour to walk the compound and, if it is open, explore the interior passages.

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The Buddha's interior is not empty. Passages inside the statue lead through multiple floors of dioramas depicting scenes from Buddhist cosmology — heavens, hells, and the life of the Buddha — all built and painted by the monks of the adjacent monastery. The experience of walking through the viscera of the largest reclining Buddha in the world is genuinely strange, and genuinely worth the detour.

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