Taungup

Taungup lies in southern Arakan, where a river valley opens towards the Bay of Bengal and a pass crosses the Arakan Mountains to the east. The route over the hills connected the coastal kingdom with the Irrawaddy country, complementing the passage by sea. Forested ridges rise behind the lowlands, and streams carry the monsoon rains down towards the coast. Taungup was one of the points where travellers could approach the formidable mountain barrier separating the two regions.