Mount Popa & It's Environs

Popa - Mt. Olympus for Greeks, so is Mt. Popa, - Flower Mountain, for Myanmars, especially for chose, who practices Animism. Popa is the noted Oasis in the Dry-belt Area of Middle- Myanmar. 300000 years old extinct Volcanoes, a pilgrimage place for Nat - (or Spirit) - worshippers. 80 km south-east of Bagan the panoramic view alone worths a visit.

Sale has ancient pagodas, which dated from the Bagan Period. There are over a hundred ruins around Sale, but unlike Bagan, many of them have never been systematically studied by archaeologists and historians. Sale seems to have developed as a town in the latter part of the Bagan Period and has been a centre of Myanmar culture for at least over 700 years.

Sale is famous for its Yoke-sone Kyaung (a 19th century wooden monastery) with exquisite wooden carvings. The whole building is built of wood and is a fine example of monastic architecture of the late Konbaung Period. The main attraction of the monastery is the decorative wooden panels made by the master carvers of the period whose meticulous workmanship is in many ways superior to those of later periods.