Apparently up until the year 2000, the Mingun Bell was the World’s Largest Ringing Bell, but that honour now goes to one at the Foquan Temple in Henan, China. Regardless, at 90 tonnes, this is an very large piece of metal.

It doesn’t have a clanger but its rung by striking of the sides of the bell – these days primarily with tourist’s heads as they go under and into the actual bell itself.

Not much else to say about it other than its a bloody big bell and not all that interesting.  However the township of Mingun has some other very interesting attractions to see, so I’ll have a series of these coming up over the next week or so.  Watch this space for posts on Mingun Pahtodawgyi and Hsinbyume Pagoda.

To get to Mingun, you need to travel about 11 km up the Ayeyarwady River from Mandalay or go by road – singing “Road to Mandalay” is optional but recommended to pass the time.