Pyay is the principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, 260 km (160 mi) north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Ayeyarwady Delta, Central and Upper Myanmar and the Rakhine (Arakan) State. The British Irrawaddy Flotilla Company established the current town in the late 19th century on the Irrawaddy as a transshipment point for cargo between Upper and Lower Burma. The English novelist Jane Austen's brother Rear Admiral Charles Austen died here in 1852.
Shwesandaw Pagoda in Pyay
Strand Road in 1910.
Indian troops of the 20th Division search for Japanese at the badly damaged station in Prome, 3 May 1945.
Sign indicating city limits of Pyay
The Irrawaddy River is the largest river in Myanmar. Originating from the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers, it flows from north to south before emptying through the Irrawaddy Delta in the Ayeyarwady Region into the Andaman Sea. Its drainage basin of about 404,000 square kilometres (156,000 sq mi) covers 61% of the land area of Burma, and contains five of its largest cities.
Aerial view of the river
The spot-billed pelican was once widespread in Asia, but is not known to breed in Myanmar anymore.
Although the saltwater crocodile is not common in Myanmar, they do live in and near reserved forests. Attacks on people still occur in the Irrawaddy river.
A mangrove forest system along the coast
