Kandawgyi Lake

Kandawgyi was built as a water supply reservoir in the colonial period and turned into a park, and it now works mainly as the place Yangon goes to walk in the early evening. A wooden boardwalk runs around a good part of the shore, the Shwedagon rises above the trees on the western side, and the reflection of the pagoda in the water at dusk is the standard photograph. At the eastern end sits the Karaweik, a concrete replica of a royal barge built in the 1970s, gilded, enormous and moored permanently.

What you actually see

• The boardwalk - a wooden walkway around much of the shore, busiest at dusk.
• The Shwedagon reflection - the pagoda seen across the water from the eastern side.
• The Karaweik - a gilded concrete royal barge, a restaurant rather than a boat.
• The park - lawns and old trees on the northern shore, used heavily at weekends.

When to go

November to February for the weather. Late afternoon into dusk is the hour to be here, when the light is on the pagoda and the city comes out to walk. The monsoon months make the boardwalk slippery and the park sodden.

Honest expectations

Sections of the boardwalk have been closed for repair for long stretches, so the full circuit is not always walkable. The Karaweik is a restaurant with a dinner show, not a monument. The water quality is poor and the lake is scenic at a distance rather than close up.

Nearby

The Shwedagon Pagoda is directly west, and the Chaukhtatgyi reclining Buddha is a short drive north.