| Situated 11km south of Mandalay, meaning ‘City of Immortality’, Amarapura has several interesting sites to be seen. Founded by King Bodawpaya, it was also for the first British Embassy in Myanmar in 1795. Few ruins are left of this town, but it owes its fame especially to the weaving of the magnificient cotton and silk clothing intended for the ceremonial longyi, and to the famous U Bein Bridge which was built completely of teak and spans across Taungthaman Lake, is over 1km long and has been standing on its 1086 columns since 1849. The best times to visit the bridge are just after sunrise or just before sunset, when hundreds of villagers commute by foot or bicycle back and forth across the bridge. |
