Myanmar monkey moments at Pho Win Taung

Pho Win Taung cave complex

A view overlooking part of the Pho Win Taung Buddhist cave complex in northern Myanmar.

Pho Win Taung, Pho Win Hill, is a Buddhist complex about 25 kilometres from Monywa in Northern Burma (Myanmar) on the western bank of the Chindwin River.
The name means Mountain of Isolated Solitary Meditation.
Pho Win Hill is famous for its caves.
These are not geological caves – they are all man-made, carved into a sandstone outcrop, and there are about 800 of them. They date from the 14th to the 18th century although there are legends suggesting much earlier caves and even an alchemist who lived at the top of the hill and made gold.

Small man-made cave niches with carved Buddha statues at the Pho Win Taung Buddhist cave complex in northern Myanmar.

Our group of tourists examine a Pho Win Taung cave with elaborate paintings and many Buddha statues.
A large Buddha in a niche cave at Pho Win Taung in northern Myanmar.

More monkeys than caves

The number of caves is dwarfed by the number of monkeys.
When we visited our guide, Joe, paid girls from a nearby village to travel around with us and toss food to them. This had the desired effect of stopping the monkeys tugging at us to beg.
These are wild monkeys but they’re pretty smart. They’ve taught humans to feed them!
But large numbers of monkeys mean the ground is covered in monkey poo. You really have to watch your step.

Monkey food

A smiling food vendor with a basket of dried fruit for the monkeys at Pho Win Taung cave complex in northern Myanmar.

Most of the food was tomatoes but there was also dried fruit that looked like blackberries.
On the whole the monkeys weren’t aggressive. They ran and jumped after food but didn’t fight each other. Much. Probably because there was plenty to go around.
Joe said the girls used to fight but there’s now a daily roster for different villages so life is much more peaceful.

Nuisance or attraction?

Although the monkeys can be a nuisance they are also an attraction on whom the food vendors rely for a living and there is no plan to scare them away.
Apparently the monkeys don’t like large crowds – of humans anyway – because they disappear every October when the Katina festival takes place and large numbers of pilgrims descend on Pho Win Thaung.
Katina is celebrated at the end of the Vassa, a Buddhist monastic retreat during the three-month monsoon period each year. During Katina Buddhists give large amounts of money to the poor or needy and also to monks and monasteries.

Tourists at Pho Win Taung

Pho Win Hill is a popular place for pilgrims and local tourists but you won’t see many westerners there.
Our small group of eight was travelling on the RV Zawgyi Pandaw, a teak and brass replica of the old Irrawaddy Flotilla boats, up the Chindwin River from Monywa to Homelin and we were the only western tourists we saw until we reached our destination after a seven-day cruise.
But we saw plenty of river life, hundreds of thousands of Buddha statues, stupas, markets and, of course, monkeys.