U Bein Bridge | The Oldest Teakwood Bridge in the World
U Bein Bridge (ဦးပိန် တံတား) is a crossing that spans the Taungthaman Lake (တောင်တမံအင်း) near Amarapura (အမရပူရ) in Myanmar (Burma). The 1.2 km (0.75 mile) bridge is believed to be the oldest and (once) longest teakwood bridge in the world.
Construction began in 1849 when the capital of Ava Kingdom moved to Amarapura, and the bridge is named after Maung Bein who had it built. Construction was completed in 1851 after three years. The bridge was built at a slight curve and is supported by over a thousand wooden pillars that were hammered into the bottom of the shallow lake.
The bridge was built from wood reclaimed from the former royal palace in Innwa, a former Burmese capital, that had been razed several times. The resulting bridge might not look very royal, but its history certainly is.
It features 1,089 pillars that stretch out of the water where Myanmar construction engineers used traditional methods of scaling and measuring to build the bridge. According to historic books about U Bein Bridge, Myanmar engineers made scale by counting the footsteps.
The ramshackle span is surprisingly long for a wooden bridge with no rails, but it cuts a striking figure. The bridge has become one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions and most photographed features. It is especially striking in the evening when the colors of the sunset paint the scene in natural color. This of course means that the bridge becomes more crowded during those times.
Though the bridge largely remains intact, there are fears that an increasing number of the pillars are becoming dangerously decayed. Some have become entirely detached from their bases and only remain in place because of the lateral bars holding them together. Damage to these supports have been caused by flooding as well as a fish breeding program introduced into the lake which has caused the water to become stagnant.
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