Naypyidaw

Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar, a planned city built on open land beside the old town of Pyinmana in the middle of the country. Its Burmese name means abode of the king, a word once added after the names of royal seats, Mandalay among them.

Building began in 2002 on a site roughly halfway between Yangon and Mandalay, and the ministries moved north from Yangon in the mid-2000s. The name Naypyidaw was announced in March 2006 at the first public ceremony held in the new capital, on a parade ground watched over by giant statues of the kings Anawrahta, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya. Most of the construction was finished by the early 2010s, with the city divided into separate zones for ministries, hotels, housing and shopping.

Nay Pyi Taw International Airport, also called Ayelar Airport, opened south-east of the city in the early 2010s, and Naypyidaw Central railway station stands on the line between Yangon and Mandalay. The Yangon to Mandalay expressway passes the city, and its main boulevard through the government district has 20 lanes. Yezin, north-east of the center, groups the agricultural, forestry and veterinary universities of the country with the Forest Research Institute beside the Yezin Dam.

Uppatasanti Pagoda, finished in the late 2000s, copies the size and shape of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and stands only slightly lower. Uppatasanti, roughly protection against calamity, is the title of a sutra a monk compiled in the early 16th century, meant to be recited in times of crisis. The Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens opened in the late 2000s with animals moved from the old zoo of Yangon, and its climate-controlled penguin house draws the most attention. The National Herbal Park grows medicinal plants from every major region of Myanmar, with thousands of plants of hundreds of species set out by the region they come from.