Buddhist Temple
Soon U Pon Nya Shin Paya
This ‘early offering shrine’ is the most important of the temples on Sagaing Hill’s southern crown and the first you’ll come to on climbing the One Lion stairway. Notice the bronze frogs that serve as a collection box in the rather gaudy Buddha hall – the hill was originally thought to resemble a giant toad, a superstitious blessing that inspired Sagaing's development in the 14th century. The central 97ft-high gilded stupa was originally conceived in 1312.