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136BAGAN & CENTRAL MYANMAR YANGON–MANDALAY HIGHWAYTHE NEW ROAD TO MANDALAYTaungooet;='=š%054, POP C120,000A busy highway town, Taungoo (also spelledToungoo) is a popular overnight stop forboth tourists and truckers. Sporting severalinteresting temples, a lively central marketand a pretty lake, it has more to keep yourinterest for a couple of hours than any othertown on the Yangon–Mandalay Expressway.A great guesthouse on the town’s outskirtsmakes it easy to stay an extra day, and canalso be used as a base for visiting elephantcamps in the hills to the west.King Mingyinyo founded his capital herein 1510, and his dynasty ruled the countryfor the next 150 years. However, WWIIbombing wrecked most of Mingyinyo’s KatumadiPalace (only sections of the old wallsand moat can still be seen). In celebrationof the town’s 500th anniversary in 2010 acouple of impressive new gates were built,as well as a massive statue of the king, unmissableon the old Yangon-Mandalay road,east of the palace walls.The Karen hills to the east are famed fortheir vegetables and coffee. The area is alsoknown for its bounteous areca (betel) palms.In Myanmar, when someone receives unexpectedgood fortune, they are likened to abetel-lover receiving a paid trip to Taungoo.Kayin State is less than 22 miles eastand Kayah State another 40 miles furthereast. Karen and Kayah insurgents havebeen known to operate within these areas.A dry-weather road continues east all theway to Loikaw, but any travel beyond theSittoung (Sittang) River a couple of mileseast of Taungoo requires special permission.Permission is typically arranged through atravel agent; see p 69 .1Sights & ActivitiesApart from visiting the sights listed below,it’s fun to hire a bike and spend half a daypedalling around the town’s sights and intothe countryside. Bikes can be rented fromBeauty Guest House for K2000 a day.Shwesandaw PayaBUDDHIST TEMPLEeráz®et;'.ur;"Situated in the centre of town, around500m west of the main road, this is Taungoo’sgrandest pilgrimage spot. The centralstupa, a standard-issue bell shape, is gildedand dates back to 1597; local legend says anearlier stupa on the site was built centuriesbefore and contains sacred-hair relics.Entering from the north, to your right is adisplay of Taungoo kings (and a rather bustyWhen Rudyard Kipling romanticised the road to Mandalay in his famous song, it’s unlikelyhe had in mind the kind of highway – over half a century in the making – that nowlinks Myanmar’s capital of Naw Pyi Taw with the country’s two major cities. Compared tothe old bumpy and tarred 432-mile route between Yangon and Mandalay, this relativelysmooth, concrete four-lane expressway, illuminated by solar-powered lights, is a revelation,slashing the drive time between the two from around 12 hours to eight. However,travel along it, and you’ll rarely see another vehicle.The Yangon–Mandalay Expressway’s emptiness is down to combination of factors, includinghigh tolls, which put off the majority of drivers. The road passes through unpopulatedareas and has a dearth of facilities along its route, making it potentially treacherousshould your vehicle breakdown. Heavy, road-punishing lorries and trucks are barred, butnot long-distance buses, which usually traverse the road at night when its surface iscooler and thus less likely to overtax old engines and threadbare tyres.At the 115-mile mark, just over halfway between Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, there’s a restcamp (services station) with several good 24-hour restaurants, including Feel Express, abranch of the Yangon dining favourite Feel Myanmar. A hotel is also under construction.The expressway’s origins date back to 1959 when the US provided $37 million in aid toGeneral Ne Win’s first military government, part of which was used for the expressway’sinitial survey by US Army engineers. It takes a long time to build a road when using forcedand manual labour, the main impetus for finishing its construction being the junta’sdesire for faster access to Nay Pyi Taw. However, like many new things in Myanmar, theexpressway is far from flawless. Apparently parts of it flood during the rainy season becauseof a lack of surface drains.