The large Payagyi stupa and its oversized chinthe (half-lion/half-dragon deity) face an abrupt twin-peaked hill, topped with a stupa and castle-like rocky outcrop, and said to have an indelible footprint of Bagan-era King Kyanzittha at its base. Now boxed within concrete walls and a tin roof, the empty front prayer hall retains its 170-year-old teak pillars.
Its carved-stone floor tiles, telling Ramayana (the ancient Indian Hindu epic) tales, have been moved for safekeeping to a museum shed: notice number 274 featuring Hanuman (the monkey god) riding a sheep and smoking a cheroot. The attractive wooden monastery building seems oversized for the handful of resident monks.
It's 18 miles from the central junction in Budalin (marked by a golden horseback Bandula statue, 500m north of the Twin Daung turning), where you veer left. Keep left again after 2 miles, then continue 14 miles to Ta Kook Ta Nel. Turn right after the little row of teahouses, then follow the track 3 miles to Payagyi. It's a long way to come for one monastery, but the rural scenes en route are very attractive. The first six asphalted miles after Budalin pass through cotton fields, sunflowers and Palmyra palms to Nyaung Kai/Ywathar, which has a massive Shwezigon pagoda in a field at its southeast edge.
