Mrauk U

Mrauk U was the capital of the Arakan kingdom from the fifteenth century, a port state wealthy enough to trade with Bengal, Portugal and the Dutch, and its temples are built of sandstone rather than the brick of Bagan, squat and fortress-like with thick walls and dark internal passages. The Shittaung temple holds a maze of corridors lined with thousands of small Buddha images and carved reliefs of daily life. Koe-thaung, the largest, once held ninety thousand images. Unlike Bagan the site is not cleared and empty: villages, rice fields and hills sit among the temples, cattle graze between them, and morning mist gathers in the hollows, which is what makes the hilltop views so striking.

History

From 1430 until 1785 Mrauk U was the capital of the Mrauk U Kingdom, the largest and most powerful Rakhine kingdom in history. Some Rakhine scholars read its name as "the first accomplishment" in archaic Arakanese, after a 10th-century victory of the Mro prince Pai Phru near this place (Wikipedia, Mrauk U).

What to look for

• Shittaung - the temple of eighty thousand images, with maze-like inner corridors.
• Koe-thaung - the largest temple, a terraced ruin on the outskirts.
• Hilltop sunrise views - mist between temple spires, village smoke and rice fields.
• The village setting - temples standing among working farmland rather than a cleared park.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season and the only comfortable window; the monsoon from May is heavy in Rakhine and the rest is very hot.

Before you go

Getting here is the hard part: the river boat up the Kaladan from Sittwe takes most of a day, and the road is slow. Infrastructure is basic, English is limited and power is intermittent. The temples are spread across hills and villages, so a guide with a motorbike or a hired driver saves a great deal of walking in heat. Photography of the hilltop mist needs an early start, well before sunrise.

Nearby

Sittwe is the coastal gateway; the Chin villages lie inland up the river.