DAY 3 (5/8): THATBYINNYU TEMPLE, Bagan, Myanmar, 2017.12.25

Another prominent structures that we visited in Bagan was Thatbyinnyu Temple. Before entering the temple, our guide Win Thu led us to climb onto a long earth mount. We soon found out that the mount was part of the old city wall. We walked on it for a little bit. From the old wall, we enjoyed the fantastic views of nearby pagodas and the Thatbyinnyu. Built in mid-12th century, the 60m+ pagoda of Thatbyinnyu Temple is one of the tallest monuments in the area. We followed Win Thu into the temple, circled the interior passage once and stopped a few times to listen to our guide’s Buddhist stories.

From the entrance road, we were impressed by the splendid architecture of Thatbyinnyu Temple.

The ruined brick wall in front of the temple was the southeastern corner of the old city wall.

We walked the former city wall for a little bit.

From the wall, we could see various pagodas nearby.

The Thatbyinnyu stood beautiful just a stone throw north of the ruined city wall.

We followed Win Thu to find the main entrance of Thatbyinnyu.

Inside the temple, the first thing we saw was a prayer hall. For some reason, everything in Thatbyinnyu seemed to be light in tones, especially compared to the dimly lit interiors of other temples such as Dhammayangyi and Sulamani.

Much of the interior of Thatbyinnyu was repainted in a light beige colour.

Only small portions of the original fresco survives.

There were many worshipping niches along the wall of the passages.

We stopped at the statue of the Buddha with his hands resting on his chest. Win Thu told us the story of Buddha returning home to his wife and son after years of traveling and teaching.