Another popular excursion out of Pyay is the day trip to Akauk Taung, a sandstone cliff on the Ayeyarwady where hundreds of Buddhas have been carved into niches in the rock. The figures were the handiwork of long- distance boatmen, who used to pause here to pay tolls, or to wait for whirlpools in the river to abate. Viewed from the water, the shrines, with their white- washed surrounds and fringe of tropical foliage straggling above them, rank among the most photogenic sights on the Ayeyarwady River.