Monywa

From Mandalay we continued by bus to Monywa, a bit on the northwest. From this place we took a tuktuk to get to the Hpo Win Daung Caves, on a bad and dirty road it took us 1,5 hours to get there.
On one side of a small hill are many (about 1000), mostly small caves, all of them artificial, cut by people into the rocks. From outside they are normally nothing special, but their interior is often full of paintings and Buddha statues. The condition of the caves can vary a lot, many are heavily damaged as nobody take care of them, but some (easiest way to find them is with a guide) are still nearly entirely covered with colours. The paintings date back to the 13th/14th century.

In the 18th/19th century they started again building new caves, the difference to the older one's is easily visible.

From Monywa we took a boat down the Irrawaddy river to Bagan, our next destination. On the boat we met a monk and taught him playing cards (skipo!), he nearly didn't speak English, but he learnt it quite fast.