Mrauk U is an archaeologically important town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. In 1431, King Min Saw Mon established Mrauk U as the capital of the last reunited and Arakanese Kingdom. As they prospered, they built many pagodas and temples, many of which remain today. The most notable are the Shite-thaung Temple (Temple of 80,000 Images or Temple of Victory), Htukkanthein (Htukkan Ordination Hall), the Koe-thaung (Temple of 90,000 Images) and the Five Mahn pagodas. Today, Mrauk U is a major archaeological and tourist site. It is about two days journey from Yangon, or 3-5 hours boat ride from Sittwe

Ngwesaung beach – Newly opened beach, situates thirty miles west of Pathein, the beach is 9 miles long, Ngwesaung beach considered being the perfect destination from Yangon 11- 12 hour driving through. With its sandy shore free of mud and clay, transparent and clean seawater, pretty islands nearby and rows of palm trees, is really an irresistible attraction for beach lovers.

Chaungtha Beach lies to the west of Pathein, a newly developed beach in Ayeyarwaddy Division. Kyaukpahto, at one end of the beach near a cluster of boulders, is a large rock that’s been carved into a pahto or “cave” shrine. A regular double-decker boat leaves p.m. every evening and reached by road from Yangon via Pathein taking only about 5 hours.

Ngapali is located in Thandwe about an hour’s flight from Yangon, enjoying many attractions of this unspoilt beach for swimming, carefree loitering on the beach, exploring or just sitting amidst whistling wind. There is a nine holes golf course only three miles away from the Ngapali Hotel. Nearby fishing villages there are also interesting places. Ngapali Beach opens from October to May.

To the north another group of people, the Bamar (Mranma / Myanma), also began to settle in the area. By 849, they had founded a powerful kingdom centred on the city of Pagan (spelled Bagan today) filling the void left by the Pyu.

Bamar tradition maintains that the Bamar were originally of three tribes, the Pyu, the Thet, and the Kanyan. Indeed, Pyu as a language and as a people simply disappeared soon after the Myazedi Inscription of 1113. The word Mranma,in both Mon and Myanmar inscriptions, came into being only at about the same time, lending support to this claim that the Pyu were an earlier vanguard of southward Tibeto-Burman migration who were entirely absorbed into a newly formed identity by later waves of similar people .

The Pagan Kingdom grew in relative isolation until the reign of Anawrahta (1044-77) who successfully unified all of Burma by defeating the Mon city of Thaton in 1057. Consolidation was accomplished under his successors Kyanzittha (1084–1112) and Alaungsithu (1112-67), so that by the mid-12th century, most of continental Southeast Asia was under the control of either the Pagan Kingdom or the Khmer Empire. The Pagan kingdom went into decline as more land and resources fell into the hands of the powerful Sangha (monkhood) and the Mongols threatened from the north. The last true ruler of Pagan, Narathihapate (1254-87) felt confident in his ability to resist the Mongols and advanced into Yunnan in 1277 to make war upon them. He was thoroughly crushed at the Battle of Ngasaunggyan, and Pagan resistance virtually collapsed. The king was assassinated by his own son in 1287, precipitating a Mongol invasion in the Battle of Pagan; the Mongols successfully captured most of the empire, including its capital, and ended the dynasty in 1289 when they installed a puppet ruler in Burma.