Taunggyi is a bustling mountain town on one of the major trade routes to China. Its market is a magnet for tribal people from all over the region. South-east of the city, a two-hour drive away through Pa-O tribal villages, one will find the famous but little-visited site of Kekku with more than 2400 stupas surrounding an over 2,000 years old pagoda.
Shwe Phone Pwint Pagoda: This Pagoda on top of a large steep mountain rising up behind Taunggyi offers a fantastic view over the city, the Shan Plateau and Inle Lake.
Kekku Pagoda Complex: There are 2478 stupas around the Pagoda, which contains a relic of the last Buddha. The first stupa is said to be one of 84000 supposedly built by King Ashoka (King of India) over 2000 years ago. In the 11th century King Alongsithu from Bagan ordered each of the families in the surrounding area to build a stupa around the pagoda in honour of the Buddha.