Lonely Planet Myanmar (Burma) (Country Travel Guide)

99 MAWDIN POINT So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r CGehtatuinngg TThhaerBeea&cAhr o und If you follow the Pathein River until it empties into the Andaman Sea, you’ll reach Mawdin Point, a place of great religious significance to Myanmar’s Buddhists. This is where Buddhism is first believed to have to have been introduced to the country by sailors from the Indian subcontinent; Mawdin Paya has graced the point for centuries. The best time to visit is during the 15-day Mawdin Paya festival in February or March. Throughout the year, the point can be reached by either bus (K5000, six hours) depart- ing Pathein at noon and returning at 5am the next day; or by boat (K4000, 10 hours) leaving Pathein at 5am and returning at 6pm. As the point is near a naval base you’ll need a permit – Pathein guide Soe Moe Aung (p98) can arrange this and provide guiding services to the area (US$30 a day per person), which also includes Thamee Hla (Diamond Island), an important sea-turtle hatchery. Money can be changed at CB Bank on the beach on ponies, endless guitar playing, Shwezedi Rd, where you’ll find an ATM accepting boisterous beach football games, happy fam- international cards. There are also ATMs outside ily picnics and evening fireworks. Htike Myat San Hotel and Myanma Koe Hotel. Just 25 miles west of Pathein and six-odd 88 Getting There & Around hours from Yangon, Chaung Tha gets espe- cially busy at weekends and on holidays. It’s BUS not the most awe-inspiring coastline – parts If you’re bound for Yangon (four hours), head to of the beach can get dirty in high season – the bus company offices (Shwezedi Rd) located and the resorts are not aimed at foreigners. directly east of Shwe Zin Yaw Restaurant. The But if you’re looking to squeeze some sand cheapest air-con service is offered by Ayer Shwe and sun into your visit to Myanmar, it’s a Zin (% 09 4974 5191; K3600) and runs three relatively convenient and affordable op- times a day at 4am, 8am and noon, but at six tion and, unlike Ngwe Saung Beach further hours it is slower than the many other operators south, a fair few places stay open year-round. (K7000, four hours, hourly 3am to 3.30pm). 1 Sights & Activities Crowded buses ply the route from Pathein to Chaung Tha Beach (K4000, two hours, 8am, noon The beach is the main focus here, with the and 2pm), departing from an informal bus station pretty Kyauk Pahto pagoda on a rock a couple of blocks northeast of the clock tower. about two-thirds of the way down. Walk to the far southern end and you can take a boat To Ngwe Saung Beach (K4000, two hours, (K1000 return) to nearby Aung Mingalar 8am, 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm), buses leave Island where there’s a small fishing village from yet another informal bus station on the and the Aung Mingalar Mya Kyunnyo pa- riverfront. goda up on a hill. TAXI Get up early if you want to browse the Shared taxis for up to four people can be ar- village market (h5.30am to 9.30am) located ranged from your hotel in Pathein for Chaung behind Chaung Tha’s bus station. The rest Tha (K45,000), Ngwe Saung (K45,000) and of the village lies around here and along Yangon (K90,000). the road as it veers left after the Amazing Chaung Tha Resort. Continue to the wood- TRAIN en jetty at the end of the road, where you Pathein’s train station is the terminus of a branch should be able to persuade one of the fisher- line from Kyankin, 61 miles south of Pyay on the folk to take you up the river and around the west bank of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River. mangroves (per hr from K10,000). This is also the route to Ngwe Saung. Chaung Tha Beach ေခ်ာင္းသာကမ္းေျခ A modest coral reef lies a short way off- shore with reasonable snorkelling possible Chaung Tha Beach is the closest thing My- both here and around the headland at the anmar has to a holiday resort for ordinary beach’s northern end. During rainy season, folks – it’s where the locals come to play. At the water clarity is terrible. this very Burmese beach party there’s bob- bing about on rubber rings, plodding along The best snorkelling, though, is about a two-hour boat ride away. Boats, which can

So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r CS lheaeupni ng gT h a B eac h100 DAY TRIPS FROM CHAUNG THA BEACH Whitesand Island (The Pyu Kyun), visible from the beach, is a popular snorkelling and swimming spot. Boats (K5000 return, 30 minutes) leave from the jetty at the south end of the village every hour or so from 8am (last one back leaves at 5pm). There’s very little shade on the low-lying island; bring plenty of water. Don’t attempt to swim over – it’s further away than it looks. About 9 miles north from Chaung Tha is Chauk Maung Na Ma, with a white-sand beach similar to Ngwe Saung: it’s quiet, and you can snorkel, fish and meet local people. It’s also a good place for a picnic. You can walk here in around two hours in dry season. Whether or not you’re not planning to overnight at Ngwe Saung Beach, the trip there on a motorbike taxi (K18,000) is highly recommended. The route, which takes about two hours, is through wild and glorious country and involves three river crossings on small wooden boats that have just enough room for a few motorbikes and passen- gers. You will speed along deserted beaches and through villages amid the forests, bumping along the trail and meeting locals along the way. be arranged through your hotel or local Wut Yee Hotel HOTEL $ guide Ko Chit Kaung, cost K50,000 per hour (%042-42305; Main Rd; r incl breakfast K30,000- for six people. If you don’t have your own 45,000; a) You won’t hear much English and gear it’s possible to rent a tatty snorkel and there’s no wi-fi, but this is a sound budget mask from some hotels. You can also rent option. It has decent-sized rooms that are canoes for around K10,000 a day, while you more appealing than the price suggests. can hire bicycles along the beach (K1000 The open-air, top-floor restaurant does OK per hour). Chinese-Burmese and seafood dishes, plus breakfast. It’s also close to the shops and 4 Sleeping market at the heart of the village. Chaung Tha offers the most affordable Shwe Ya Min Guesthouse beach accommodation in Myanmar. Some places close during rainy season (mid-May & Restaurant GUESTHOUSE $ to mid-September), while others slash rates (%042-42126; Main Rd; r incl breakfast US$15-30; by up to 50%. aW) Located across the road opposite the beach, this simple but friendly guesthouse You’ll only get 24-hour electricity at the has compact and clean rooms with reason- more expensive resorts. Elsewhere, you get able beds and plain bathrooms. New, posher power from 6pm to 6am. Wi-fi is patchy (if rooms were under construction at the time it works, it will be at night when the elec- of research. The attached restaurant is good. tricity is on). oAkariz Resort RESORT $$ There are some off-beach budget guest- (%042-42116; www.theakarizhotel.com; Main Rd; r houses south of the bus station, along the K88,000-165,000; aWs) Beachfronted and way to the pier. oHill Garden Hotel HOTEL $ brand new in 2016, the Akariz has 59 at- tractive, spacious rooms with high ceilings, (%09 4957 6072; www.hillgardenhotel.com; r incl wood floors and excellent beds. The seafront breakfast US$20-45; aW) The Hill Garden’s elevated, lush location – the chalets are rooms are particularly good, but all rooms have balconies and terraces and proper scattered throughout a large and appealing bathrooms. garden – make this an excellent choice for getting away from it all. The cheaper digs fea- ture a bamboo design, are fan-only and share New Chaung Tha Hotel HOTEL $$ (%042-42367; www.newchaungthahotel.com; r bathrooms; the more expensive are cement US$100-150; W) Rooms at this place are quite bungalows with air-con. All have balconies. stylish – there’s almost a vague boutique feel It’s more popular with foreigners than locals. to them – and sizeable, with decent bath- The downside is that it’s a good 20-­minute rooms and big windows to gaze out to sea. walk north along the coast from the centre But given the lack of a pool and restaurant, of Chaung Tha. it feels a little overpriced.

101 Shwe Hin Tha Hotel HOTEL $$ bungalows don’t look much from outside, (%042-42118; Main Rd; r incl breakfast K44,000- but inside they’re comfortable, if not huge. 88,000; aW) This long-standing place at Cheaper rooms are modern, but lack a sea the quieter, northern end of the beach is view. Good swimming pool. popular with foreign visitors, possibly be- cause of its breezy seaside bar. It has a mix oAmazing Chaung Tha Resort RESORT $$$ of fan-only rooms with shared bathrooms, housed in an unprepossessing block, and (%042-42346; www.amazing-hotel.com; Main Rd; nicer and more spacious beachfront bunga- r US$80-350; aWs) Formerly known as Ho- lows with air-con. Wi-fi is in the lobby and tel Max, this is the swishest resort in Chaung restaurant only. Tha by some distance. Villas and rooms are spread around a large, neatly manicured Hotel Ayeyawady HOTEL $$ garden facing the southern end of the beach, So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r CE ahtaiunngg T h a B eac h (%042-42332; Main Rd; r incl breakfast US$30-50; there’s a tennis court and spa, professional aW) You’re not seafront here – the beach staff and a decent restaurant. Note that is across the road – but the rooms are big, garden-v­ iew rooms have twin beds only. modern, comfortable and housed in a near- 5 Eating new block fronted by a swimming pool. There’s 24-hour hot water, but power only oShwe Ya Min after 6pm. The staff are helpful and it’s de- Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $$ (Main Rd; mains from K3500; h7am-10pm; WE) cent value for the price. This roofed, open-air place across the road Belle Resort RESORT $$ from the beach is the best place in town to eat, outside the swish resort restaurants. It (%042-42112; www.belleresorts.com; Main Rd; r has a big menu of reasonably priced Chinese-­ US$80-140; aWs) More stylish than most Chaung Tha hotels, the rooms here are Burmese dishes and plenty of seafood. Everything is tasty, prepared with care and understated sophistication with sprawling served with more style than you’d expect. beds, big bathrooms and massive windows with equally massive ocean views. Staff are efficient. Grand Bistro CHINESE, BURMESE $$ (Main Rd; mains from K5500; h7am-10pm; E) This restaurant inside the Grand Hotel is Azura Beach Resort RESORT $$ one of the better places in town to eat, even (%042-42324; [email protected]; Main Rd; r K70,000-120,000; aWs) This brand if it’s not exactly an atmospheric venue. The extensive menu includes Chinese-Burmese, new resort opened in 2016 at the southern Thai and Rakhine dishes, as well as Bamar end of the beach. It was still putting the fin- ishing touches to the pool and some rooms food. The seafood is predictably good. when we dropped in. Sea-view rooms are 88 Information very large and comfortable – although the bathrooms are rather small – and equipped Reliable and friendly guide Ko Chit Kaung can with everything you’d need. The staff aren’t arrange snorkelling trips, day trips and various really used to foreigners. modes of transport around the area. Find him at his souvenir shop bearing his name close to the Grand Hotel HOTEL $$ Shwe Ya Min Guesthouse & Restaurant (p100) or (%042-42330; www.grandhotel-chaungtha.com; call him on % 09 42254 4634. Main Rd; r K50,000-88,000; aWs) Popular with families, rooms here are mostly housed There were no banks or ATMs in Chaung Tha at in the ugly main building, although they are the time of research. Bring cash. modern with decent beds but small bath- 88 Getting There & Around rooms. Not all have sea views. The hotel’s restaurant, Grand Bistro, is one of the bet- The twisting 25-mile road between Chaung Tha ter places to eat in town, while the attached and Pathein takes two hours to cover by bus. The bakery does reliable cakes and coffee. route passes through rubber plantations spread across the hills – it’s a depressing example of Golden Beach Hotel RESORT $$ the effects of deforestation. More than half the (%042-42128; www.goldenbeachchaungtha.com; villages passed along the way are Kayin. Main Rd; r K77,000-110,000; aWs) This 56- BUS room resort doesn’t have the park-like A number of buses leave for Yangon every day manicured grounds that others do and the (K10,000, six hours). They terminate at Sule

102 So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r SNiggwhetsS a&uAncgt Bi veiatci ehs Tha, such as pony rides and beach football, Paya or Aung San Stadium downtown. Book tick- are noticeably absent here. But if sitting ets at your hotel. Buses leave from the hotels, or around doing nothing more strenuous than from the bus station opposite Azura Beach Re- wiggling your toes in the sand sounds bor- sort. There’s also an earlier departure at 5.30am ing, there are a few calorie-burning activities that goes to Hlaing Thar Yar Bus Terminal in the you can try. far west of Yangon. To continue up the coast to Gwa, and from A boat trip out to Bird Island, just visible there to Ngapali, you’ll first have to return to way out on the horizon, for a day of snorkel- Pathein by bus (K4000, two hours, 6am, 8am, ling and, dare we say it, birdwatching, is the 10am, noon and 2pm). From there take a bus to most popular water-based excursion. Boats Nga Thein Chaung (one hour) where you’ll have can be arranged through many hotels for to change buses for Gwa (two hours). From Gwa, US$20 per person, but don’t run in the rainy it’s around five to six hours to Ngapali, so reckon season (May to September). on having to overnight in Gwa. If you don’t have the stomach or budget BOAT for a boat trip, at low tide you can simply If it’s calm, consider taking a boat (seats six; walk over to Lovers’ Island at the southern K70,000, two hours) to and from Ngwe Saung. end of the beach. The water surrounding This is handy if you’re in a group but be pre- this island is also a good place to snor- pared to wade ashore with your bags. Ask to be kel among dancing clouds of tropical fish. dropped as close to your hotel as possible. Bring Masks and snorkels can be hired from some water and sunblock. hotels (Shwe Hin Tha Hotel and Treasure Resort are the most reliable) for K3000 per MOTORBIKE day. December, January and February are Motorbike taxis can be hired to take you to best for water visibility. Diving trips can be Pathein (K12,000) or directly to Ngwe Saung arranged via the dive operations based out Beach (K18,000). of Treasure Resort, Eskala Resort and Ngwe Saung Yacht Club and Resort, which also TAXI has a marina from where you can go sailing Shared taxis for up to four people to Pathein (US$30 per hour). (K45,000), Ngwe Saung (K45,000) and Yangon (K150,000) can be arranged at your hotel. 4 Sleeping Ngwe Saung Beach The few budget hotels cluster at the south- ေငြေဆာင္ကမ္းေျခ ern end of the beach, while the northern end is home to upmarket resorts, which all offer More sophisticated than nearby Chaung Tha the same facilities: spa, international restau- Beach, and with finer sand and clearer, deep- rant, pool. There are a few midrange options er water, palm-fringed Ngwe Saung Beach scattered along the beach. Most places close has emerged as a hip destination for Yangon’s in rainy season (May to September). If you new rich. These days, the northern end of the want 24-hour electricity, you’ll need to check beach is home to a succession of upmarket into an expensive resort: everywhere else resorts. But backpackers have long found a has power 6pm to 6am only. home here too – the southern end has budget bungalows and an agreeably laid-back vibe. Shwe Hin Tha Hotel HOTEL $$ Foreign visitors tend to prefer this to Chaung (%042-40340; bungalow incl breakfast US$33-60; Tha’s more raucous and local atmosphere. a) Set at the southern end of the beach, this Dividing the north and south of the 13 miles place has a magnetic pull for backpackers of beach here is Ngwe Saung Village, where who agonise over whether to choose simple there is an increasing crop of decent restau- bamboo huts or the more solid bungalows rants. Given Ngwe Saung’s relative proximity with air-con. Either way, you can be sure to Yangon – a six-hour bus ride away – this that it will be clean and well maintained, is perhaps the best place in Myanmar for a and that hot water will appear on request. beach getaway that won’t break the bank. No wi-fi, and power only after 6pm. The attached restaurant is beachside and 1 Sights & Activities serves up pretty good dishes. Above all else, Ngwe Saung is an indulgent, EFR Seconda Casa HOTEL $$ lie-back-and-do-nothing sort of place, and (%042-40282; www.efrsecondacasa.com; Myoma most visitors are happy to comply. The kind St; r incl breakfast US$80-100; aW) Slap in the of activities that are common at Chaung

103 middle of the village strip, with beach ac- in front of the vast, thatched-roof seafront cess, this midrange place offers compact rat- villas. In contrast, the cheapest rooms are tan bungalows and larger cement ones with rather small for the price. The staff are pro- suntrap flat roofs to bake on. Bathrooms are fessional and there’s a spa too. plain and small, but the rooms themselves are comfortable. Ngwe Saung Yacht Club & Resort RESORT $$$ (%042-40100; www.ngwesaungyachtclub.com; Silver Coast Beach Hotel HOTEL $$ r incl breakfast US$60-240; aWs) Built for (%042-40324; [email protected]; r incl breakfast US$30-55; aW) At the southern end the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, this resort of the beach, steps from Lovers’ Island, this sprawls across a less-attractive stretch of the secluded, peaceful resort is a good budget beach 5 miles south of Ngwe Saung Village. option with big, if plain, beachside bunga- As the name suggests, there’s a nautical lows set in a garden with plenty of space. theme, with a marina offering boats for hire So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r NE agtwien gS aun g B eac h The cheaper ones are fan-only and have (US$30 per hour), a diving club and good cold-water showers, but all have balconies. pool. Rooms are modern, well appointed and comfortable, and the staff are professional. Silver View Resort HOTEL $$ The cheapest rooms are plain and fan-only (%042-40317; [email protected]; r incl breakfast US$55; aWs) Located south of the and are set in an annex to the side of the main resort (although guests can still use all village and more popular with vacationing lo- the resort’s facilities). Next to it is a camping cals than foreigners, this compact compound offers oldish mint-green-coloured bungalows, site, where two- and four-person tents can be rented (US$50 to US$70). most offering sea views. They’re clean, and there’s a small pool and a restaurant. Eskala Resort RESORT $$$ (%042-40341; www.youreskala.com; r incl break- oBay of Bengal Resort RESORT $$$ fast US$110-175; aWs) This conveniently (%042-40304; www.bayofbengalresort.com; r incl breakfast US$150-240; aWs) This immense opened resort just south of Ngwe Saung Vil- lage is more reasonably priced than some of compound dominates the far northern end of its competitors. It offers cooking classes and Ngwe Saung and is luxurious without being too pricey. The ground-floor Bengal Suites a dive operation, plus the usual spa, pool and restaurant. Rooms are comfortable, without have a spacious sitting area, huge balconies, being distinctive, the seafront bungalows be- and bathrooms with a stone tub and open-air shower. Reasons to leave your room include ing the best of them. It has keen staff and is walking distance to the village restaurants. tennis courts, a vast, cascading pool and a spa. Sunny Paradise Resort RESORT $$$ oEmerald Sea Resort (%042-40227; www.sunnyparadiseresort.net; r incl RESORT $$$ (%042-40247; www.emeraldseahotel.com; r incl breakfast US$100-185; aWs) Located south breakfast US$75-270; aWs) Yet another im- posing compound north of the village, Sunny of the village, this cosy resort isn’t as os- Paradise also includes two adjacent proper- tentatious as the newer places along the beach, but it has an attractive design and ties: Dream Paradise and Ocean Paradise (offering the cheapest rooms with no direct excellent service. The rooms are beautifully beach access). The attractive, well-equipped created with minimal decor, making the virgin-white and comfortable interiors all wooden bungalows in the Sunny Paradise section are the pick of the bunch. the more classy, even if the bathrooms don’t quite live up to the price tag. 5 Eating There’s a decent restaurant (advance no- tice is often required), a spa and a beautiful Break out of your hotel at least once to eat in stretch of beach out front. the village, where there is a growing number of restaurants. There is little to distinguish Aureum Palace RESORT $$$ one from another – most places offer similar (%042-40217; www.aureumpalacehotel.com; r menus focusing on Chinese-style, seafood-­ incl breakfast US$160-810; aWs) Designed based dishes. in glitzy royal Myanmar style with plenty of oUme Restaurant & Bar ASIAN $$ gilded traditional carvings and soaring teak pillars, the Aureum caters to the very rich (%09 42532 4652; mains from K4500; h10am- 10pm; WE) Run by a Japanese woman and who can gaze out at the strip of beach 20yd

104 her Burmese husband, this cool place is lit years. The food remains worthwhile, but it up spectacularly at night (check out the is overpriced. lights 50ft up at the top of the surround- ing palm trees). The menu spans Chinese-­ 88 Information Burmese, Thai and Japanese, with pizza as well. There’s a nightly fire-dance show and Sandalwood (h7am-7pm), a cafe and informa- the bar stays open till midnight serving OK tion centre, is the place to go for local info. It’s cocktails. located in the market behind the main village strip (accessed off the road on the left heading Ume is south of the village, close to the out of town towards the pagoda). Silver View Resort (p103). Local expert and guide Tom Tom (% 09 42246 2904) can arrange a day trip or snorkelling Royal Flower SEAFOOD, INTERNATIONAL $$ excursion, and rents motorcycles (K10,000 per (Myoma St; mains from K4500; h10am-10pm; day). If he’s not at the Sandalwood cafe in the So u th w e s te rn M ya n m a r NIngfwoermSaatuinogn B eac h E) The same seafood and Chinese-Burmese market, he can also be found via the Shwe Hin dishes offered by all Ngwe Saung restaurants Tha Hotel (p102). are supplemented here by reasonable pizza There are a couple of KBZ Bank ATMs in the and pasta. There’s a pleasant atmosphere – village and outside the upmarket hotels, includ- there’s mellow live music sometimes – and ing Emerald Sea Resort and Ngwe Saung Yacht it’s consistently popular. Club and Resort, but they’re often not working. Bring cash. Golden Myanmar 88 Getting There & Around Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $$ (Myoma St; mains from K4000; h7am-10pm; Air-con buses to Yangon (K10,000, five to six E) Busy with both locals and visitors, this hours) leave at 6.30am, 8am and noon from restaurant is located in the middle of Ngwe Ngwe Saung Village. During rainy season (May to Saung Village and offers decent and fresh September), only the 8am bus runs. For Pathein dishes. The seafood is especially good, but (K4000, two hours), buses go at 6.30am, the salads are worth sampling too. 7.30am, 9am, noon and 3pm. The buses leave West Point SEAFOOD $$ and arrive at the junction between the village (Myoma St; mains from K7000; h10am-10pm; and the beach resorts. E) The closest thing you’ll get to seaside dining in the village (the view is distant), Taxis can be arranged to Pathein (K45,000) West Point has sand for a floor and a nice and Yangon (K140,000). ambience. But, sadly, the charges for the seafood, Chinese and Thai offerings have You’ll need a motorbike taxi to move between jumped considerably in the last couple of the southern end of the beach and Ngwe Saung Village (K1000). Motorbikes can be hired via Sandalwood or from some hotels for about K10,000 per day.

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Southeastern Myanmar Includes  Why Go? Mt Kyaiktiyo Off the beaten track and strangely neglected by many vis- (Golden Rock). . . . . . . 107 itors, southern Myanmar offers some of the finest natural Mawlamyine . . . . . . . . 109 sights in the entire country. Ye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Hpa-an. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 In the space of a couple of days, you can descend into the Myawaddy. . . . . . . . . . 126 Buddha-packed caves around sleepy Hpa-an and ascend the Dawei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 winding road to the sacred golden boulder perched on Mt Myeik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock). Then there’s the little-known and Myeik (Mergui) even less-visited Myeik Archipelago, perhaps Myanmar’s Archipelago. . . . . . . . . 135 most dramatic intersection of water, land and sky. Kawthoung . . . . . . . . . 138 If that wasn’t enough, the historic city of Mawlamyine, once Best Places to Eat Myanmar’s capital, has almost as fine a collection of colonial-­ era buildings as Yangon, while Dawei and Myeik can boast ¨¨San Ma Tau Myanmar of centuries of history as ports and mix traditional wooden Restaurant (p123) architecture with brick mansions and buildings constructed ¨¨Daw Yee (p114) during British rule. Best of all, the lack of visitors means ¨¨Shwe Mon (p134) there’s plenty of space to enjoy the region. ¨¨Bone Gyi (p114) ¨¨Zan Pya (p134) When to Go Rainfall inches/mm ¨¨Hla Hla Hnan (p130) 20/500 Southeastern Myanmar Best Places to Sleep °C/°F Temp ¨¨Hpa-an Lodge (p123) 30/86 ¨¨Cinderella Hotel (p112) ¨¨Ngwe Moe Hotel (p112) 20/68 16/400 ¨¨Golden Sunrise Hotel 12/300 (p108) ¨¨Hotel Zayar Htet San 10/50 8/200 (p129) 4/100 0/32 JF MAM J 0 J ASOND Mar–Apr Temper- Nov–Jan The days May–Oct South- atures can reach are relatively cool ern Myanmar sees as high as 86°F during the winter. more rain than (30°C) during the elsewhere during summer. the wet season.

106 Thaungyin River 0 100 km Thanlwin River 0 60 miles Southeastern Myanmar BAGO Sittoung RiverMt Weik-zar Highlights STATE (3681ft) 1 Myeik Mt Kyaiktiyo THAILAND Archipelago (p135) (Golden Rock) Sailing, cruising, Kyaikto snorkelling and diving among the YANGON Theinseik 8 Mt Hpan Pu 800-odd islands STATE Hpa-an here. Thaton 2 Hpa-an Hpa-an (p121) Discovering Mt Zwegabin (2372ft) Myawaddy seemingly hidden lakes, hanging Mawlamyine to 85 Mae Sot Buddhist art and Hpa-an ferry a sparkling spring Mawlamyine in the many caves Kyaikmaraw around Hpa-an. Bilu Kyun KAYIN 3 Mawlamyine Kyaikkami Mudon STATE (p109) Hoping for the inspiration that Gulf of Setse Thanbyuzayat fired Kipling to Mottama compose his most (Martaban) Zami River famous opening So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r M ya n mar H i gh l i ghts line in his poem Kalagok MON ‘Mandalay’. Kyun STATE 4 Myeik (p131) Travelling back in Ye Payathonzu time in this ancient, Three Pagodas Pass atmospheric and allegedly haunted Sangkhlaburi port city. 5 Dawei (p127) 8 Heading to the little- seen golden-sand Kanbauk Dawei River beaches around this Heinze Kyun sleepy and historic Dawei Phu Nam Ron southern capital. Nabule Beach Htee Khee 6 Mt Kyaiktiyo (p107) Reaching Maungmagan Kyun TANINTHARYI for enlightenment Maungmagan Beach REGION and marvelling at this gravity-defying Launglon golden rock. Kyun 7 Ye (p119) Kicking back in Teyzit Beach this chilled Mon State town, while ANDAMAN Mali Palauk Tanintharyi River exploring little-seen SEA Kyun villages and temples in the surrounding Pataw THAILAND area. Padet Kyun Myeik Thayawthadangyi Tanintharyi Kyun Daung Kyun Pyinzabu Kanmaw Lenya Kyun Kyun Bokpyin Pan Daung Kyun (Kisseraing Island) Myeik Archipelago Ka Mar Kyan (Owen Island) Lampi Pagyan River Kyun (Sullivan's Island) Kawthoung Gulf Zadetgyi Kyun of (St Matthew's Island) Thailand Ranong

107 MON STATE မြနျ္ ပညန္ ယ္ magic: pilgrims chant, light candles and So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r AMctotnKi vySiattiaikettsei y o (G o l d e n R o ck ) meditate all through the night, while men Mon State has a mix of everything that’s (only) are permitted to walk over a bridge wonderful and unique about Myanmar: spanning a chasm to the boulder to affix gold golden temples, a palpable colonial past, leaf squares on the rock’s surface. And the charming villages, a mix of different ethnic boulder itself is stunning, especially when groups and even some scenic coastline. Trav- bathed in the purple, sometimes misty, light elling in this region is generally easy and the of dawn and dusk. people are friendly, while the distances be- tween key destinations are short. Yet, despite During the rainy season (June to Octo- the historic cities and the presence of some ber), the mountain is mostly covered in a of Myanmar’s most holy religious sites, rel- chilly coat of mist and rain, although that atively few visitors make it down here. That, doesn’t stop people from coming here. The though, is their loss and travellers who do area’s hotels are open during this period, but come have all the more space to enjoy it all. some restaurants shut down. History 2 Activities Once native to a broad region stretching from Ascending the Mountain southern Myanmar to Cambodia, the Mon Kinpun, a busy hub of restaurants, souvenir have been absorbed – sometimes willingly, shops and hotels, is the base camp for Mt sometimes not – by the more powerful Bur- Kyaiktiyo. It’s from here that large trucks mese and Thai cultures in Myanmar and Thai- climb the 7 winding miles to the rock (K2500 land respectively over the last thousand years. per person). The truck beds are lined with wooden slats for benches and seat about 40 Though no one knows for sure, the Mon people. Five passengers are allowed in the may be descended from a group of Indian much more comfortable front seats (K3000 immigrants from Kalinga, an ancient king- per person) but these are usually reserved dom overlapping the boundaries of the in advance by groups or families. As an in- modern Indian states of Odisha and Andhra dividual traveller, it’s difficult to secure a Pradesh. They were responsible for much of front seat, while a group of five has a better the early transmission of Theravada Bud- chance. The trucks don’t leave until they are dhism in mainland Southeast Asia. packed to the brim, so you may have to wait for an hour or more to depart. Since 1949 the eastern hills of the state (as well as mountains further south in The ride takes about 45 minutes and usu- Tanintharyi Region) have been a refuge for ally includes a brief stop around halfway up the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and its to allow trucks coming from the opposite di- tactical arm, the Mon National Liberation rection to pass. The first truck in the morn- Front (MNLF), whose objective has been ing leaves at 6am and the last truck down self-rule for Mon State. In 1995, after years departs at 6pm, though you should try to be of bickering and fighting, the NMSP signed at the terminal earlier to avoid the risk of a ceasefire with the Myanmar government. being stranded for the night. Since then, peace has largely been main- tained, and foreign travellers can now ven- In the old days, trucks only went as high ture south of Mawlamyine freely. as Yatetaung terminal, leaving pilgrims with a 45-minute, unforgiving and sweaty schlep Mt Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock) to the top. Now, the trucks proceed virtually to က်ိဳက္ထီးရိုးေတာင္ the peak of Mt Kyaiktiyo, terminating steps from Mountain Top Hotel and the ticket % 057 checkpoint, leaving us to ask, ‘Where’s the sacrifice?’ Mt Kyaiktiyo (K6000), the Golden Rock, sounds bizarre: an enormous, precariously Perhaps it’s the requisite K6000 entrance balanced boulder covered in gold and topped fee for foreigners, payable a short walk from with a stupa. But this monument is a major the truck terminal, just after the Mountain pilgrimage site for Burmese Buddhists and Top Hotel. Tickets are valid for two days. it’s the presence of so many devotees that Women wearing shorts or skimpy tops risk makes the place so special. being denied entry. The atmosphere during the pilgrimage Hiking & Other Activities season (November to March) is charged with If you have the time to extend your stay in the vicinity there are several other rewarding

108 cation means stunning views. The attached hikes that take in eye-popping views and restaurant is reliable. Wi-fi in the lobby only. quiet religious meditation. You can start your journey from Kinpun, the Yatetaung Yoe Yoe Lay Hotel HOTEL $$ bus terminal, or even the shrine itself. (%09 872 3082; www.yoeyoelayhotel.com; Moun- From Kinpun the most obvious short hike tain Summit; r incl breakfast US$100-120; a) is to Maha Myaing Pagoda (မဟာၿမိဳငဘ္ ုရား), Towering over the pilgrims’ village north of a miniature Kyaiktiyo, an hour’s climb from the boulder, the Yoe Yoe Lay offers fantastic Kinpun. Any of the Kinpun hotels can point views from some of its rooms. But it doesn’t you in the right direction. offer much else, as many of the rooms are From Yatetaung bus station, it’s a 45-minute small, old-fashioned and have basic bath- climb to the top of Mt Ya-The (ရေသေ့ တာင)္ , rooms. At night, the place is lit up like a a 30-minute walk down to Mo-Baw Water- gaudy Christmas tree. fall (မေုိ ဘာေရတခံ နြ )္ and a 1½-hour walk to the Sa-ma-taung paya and kyaung (mon- Kyaik Hto Hotel HOTEL $$ astery; ဆမေတာငဘ္ ရု ား ၊ ဆမေတာငေ္ က်ာငး္ ). (%09 4981 9196, in Yangon 01-536 003; www.kyaik From Kyaiktiyo itself, a trail continues htohotel.com; Mountain Summit; r incl breakfast along the crests of the surrounding peaks for US$85-100; aW) This former government-­ another couple of hours to the Kyauk-­si-yoSo u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMltoenKe ypSaitniakgttei y o (G o l d e n R o ck )owned hotel is where most package tourists Zedi (ေက်ာကဆ္ ညရ္ ိးု ေစတ)ီ and Kyaiktiyo stay. There are two wings: the institution-like Galay Zedi (က်ိဳက္ထးီ ရုးိ ေလးေစတ)ီ , two old block and the better, bungalow-style small, golden, hilltop stupas. rooms opposite. None are really worth the price, but they are just a short walk to the 4 Sleeping boulder. In terms of value for money, Kinpun and 4 Kinpun Kyaiktiyo’s hotels are some of the worst in Myanmar. Budget options are especially poor, oGolden Sunrise Hotel HOTEL $ but the high-end places at the summit of the (%09 872 3301; www.goldensunrisehotel. mountain are also grossly overpriced for what com; Golden Rock Rd, Kinpun; s/d incl breakfast you get. If you want to catch the sunrise and US$42/47; aW) A few minutes’ walk outside sunset, though, this is where you need to be. the centre of Kinpun village in the direction of the highway, the Golden Sunrise is one of Note that foreigners aren’t permitted to the better-value hotels in southern Myanmar. stay in the many zayat (rest shelters) for pil- The semi-detached, bungalow-style rooms grims at the mountain summit. 4 On the Mountain are undisturbed by noise, decked out with attractive wood furniture, and come with ve- Mountain Top Hotel HOTEL $$ randahs overlooking a secluded garden. (%09 871 8392, in Yangon 01-502 479; www. mountaintop-hotel.com; Mountain Summit; r incl Bawga Theiddhi Hotel HOTEL $ (%09 4921 6464; www.bawgatheiddhihotel.com; breakfast US$110-135; aW) The pick of the Kinpun; r incl breakfast without bathroom US$20- hotels on the summit, the rooms here are still overpriced but they’re clean and well 35, with bathroom US$45; aW) Kinpun’s flash- iest hotel has rooms that are clean, spacious maintained, with good service, and the lo- LEGEND OF THE BALANCING BOULDER Legend states that the boulder at Mt Kyaiktiyo maintains its precarious balance due to a precisely placed Buddha hair in the stupa. Apparently King Tissa received the Buddha hair in the 11th century from a hermit who had secreted the hair in his own topknot. The hermit instructed the king to search for a boulder that had a shape resembling the hermit’s head, and then enshrine the hair in a stupa on top. The king, who inherited su- pernatural powers as a result of his birth to a zawgyi (an accomplished alchemist) father and naga (dragon serpent) princess, found the rock at the bottom of the sea. Upon its miraculous arrival on the mountain top, the boat used to transport the rock then turned to stone. This stone can be seen approximately 270m from the main boulder – it’s known as the Kyaukthanban (Stone Boat Stupa).

109 MT KYAIKTIYO TRANSPORT CONNECTIONS DESTINATION BUS TRAIN Bago K5000; 3hr; frequent 8.45am-4pm K650/K1300 (ordinary/upper class); 3hr; daily Hpa-an K7000; 3hr; frequent 9am-3pm noon and midnight Mawlamyine K7000; 4hr; frequent 10am-4pm N/A Yangon K7000; 5hr; frequent 8.45am-4pm K1300/K2550 (ordinary/upper class); 4hr; daily noon & 11.30pm K1200/K2450 (ordinary/upper class); 5hr; daily noon & midnight and equipped with TV, fridge and free wi-fi, There is a tiny branch of the KBZ bank in Kin- although only the most expensive come with pun with an ATM, but it was closed at the time of their own bathroom (the shared bathrooms research. Another ATM can be found in the lobby are well maintained). of the Lotus Da Dar Hotel. Nearby Kyaikto has branches of the CB and KBZ banks that change Lotus Da Dar HOTEL $$ money and have ATMs. So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r EMaaotwni nlSagtmayt ei n e (%09 2644 92468; [email protected]; Kinpun; r incl breakfast US$38-60; aW) This 88 Getting There & Away new hotel has 20 bungalow-style rooms set around an attractive garden. The cheaper The major transport hub for Mt Kyaiktiyo is the rooms are plain; the deluxe ones have better similar-sounding town of Kyaikto. This is where the bathrooms. All come with their own veran- train station is, and the town’s main street is where dahs. There’s an on-site restaurant and an you’ll board (or disembark from) buses. Frequent ATM in the lobby. It’s a 10-minute walk from pick-ups cruise the road between Kyaikto’s train the bus station on the road to Golden Rock. station and Kinpun (from 7am to 4pm, K500, 20 minutes), which is the base camp for Mt Kyaiktiyo. Golden Rock Hotel HOTEL $$ (%09 871 8391; www.goldenrock-hotel.com; Moun- The one destination you might consider using tain; r incl breakfast US$110; aW) The Golden a train to get to is Kyaiktiyo. Every Saturday, a Rock Hotel, just a few minutes up from the service using air-conditioned carriages departs Yatetaung bus terminal, has comfortable Yangon for the Golden Rock at 6.25am (US$10; rooms in a secluded location. But you’re nei- 4½ hours); it returns on Sunday at noon arriv- ther close to the rock itself nor to Kinpun’s ing in Yangon, in theory, at 4.25pm. The air-­ restaurants, so it’s not very convenient. It’s conditioned carriages are eventually destined to normally closed for most of the rainy season be used on the Yangon Circle Line, once station (April to September). platforms on that route have been upgraded. 5 Eating Tickets for relatively comfortable Win Express buses can be purchased in Kinpun across from Sea Sar Hotel and restaurant. The ticket price includes the transfer by pick-up to Kyaikto. Kinpun has a number of restaurants on the main street with standard Chinese and Bur- mese menus. At the summit of the moun- Mawlamyine ေမာ္လႃမိုင္ tain, there are many basic restaurants and POP C 253,730 / % 057 food stalls. With a ridge of stupa-capped hills on one side, the Thanlwin River on the other and a centre filled with crumbling colonial-era Yin Yin Pyone BURMESE $ buildings, churches and mosques, Maw- (Kinpun; mains from K3000; h5am-8.30pm; E) On the main street in Kinpun, this amiable, lamyine is a unique combination of land- Mon-run place cooks up a big selection of scape, beauty and melancholy. The setting reliable curries – fish, chicken, pork and mut- inspired both George Orwell and Rudyard ton – for lunch, as well as offering Chinese-­ Kipling, two of the English-language writ- influenced dishes. ers most associated with Myanmar. Kipling penned his famous poem ‘Mandalay’ after 88 Information visiting, while Orwell, whose mother was born here, used Mawlamyine as the back- There are no internet cafes in Kinpun, but all the drop for the stories ‘Shooting an Elephant’ guesthouses and hotels offer wi-fi connections and ‘A Hanging’. Not that much has changed of varying quality. since the days when Orwell and Kipling

110 Mawlamyine e# 0 500 m 0 0.25 miles A B C D Gaungse Kyun D Boats to Gaungse 1 (Shampoo Island; 400m) f#Kyun (Shampoo Island) 1 ThRainvlewrin # (Former) Mawlamyine Hotel 8 ÿ# 21 ú# 2 ÿ#Lower Main Rd#ì North Bogyoke Rd 2 CB10 KBZ Bank Bank 3 Bilu Kyun #ì 4 (Ogre Island; 0.7mi) New £# D Market ÿ# 12 Thaton Tar Par2S5t#þ 5 þ# 26 Strand Rd Strand Rd Upper Main Rd 6 ›# Bus to Thanbyuzayat So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r GMeaotwntlSi antmgaytTeihneer e & Away & Kyaikkami 3 Si Bin Thar Yat St 2 Mahamuni Prison Ú# (Bahaman) 17 Paya ú#MainK ha Lay Kyaung St Kyaik Than Lan Phayar St 1 Kyaikthanlan Shwe Taung St Ú# Paya Aung Ú# Ú# 5 Theikdi Zedi 4 19 ú# #ï Breeze Baho Rd Ú# 6 ›# Mye Ni Gone Guest House Bus Station Wut Gyi Phayar St ÿ# 15 ñ# ÿ# 14 Ta9daÿ#r St Myoma Ú# 7 5 66#Myanmar National Airlines Office 13 ÿ# Dawei Jâ#ett4y Rd ÿ# Kyaikthoke 3 Ü# Paya Rd 6622ú# 11 23 ú# 6 24 û# 16 Upper Main Rd ú# 7 Lower Main Rd 7 A D ú# 20 D Zay Gyo ú# 18 ›# (800m) B C

1 Sights 111 Mawlamyine oKyaikthanlan Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE æ Top Sights (က်ိဳကသ္ လံ နဘ္ ရု ား; Kyaik Than Lan Phayar St; 1 Kyaikthanlan Paya ...............................C4 hdaylight hours) F Rudyard Kipling’s 2 Mahamuni (Bahaman) Paya...............C3 visit to Myanmar spanned just three days, but it resulted in a few lines that turned æ Sights Burma into an Oriental fantasy: ‘By the old 3 First Baptist Church ............................B6 Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ lazy at the sea…’ 4 Mon Cultural Museum.........................B6 The ‘Moulmein Pagoda’ cited in his poem 5 Seindon Mibaya Kyaung .....................C4 ‘Mandalay’ was most likely Kyaikthanlan 6 U Khanti Paya ......................................C4 Paya, the city’s tallest stupa. 7 U Zina Paya ..........................................C5 It’s a great spot for views over the city and for watching the sunset. To reach it, ÿ Sleeping approach via the long covered walkway that 8 Attran Hotel .........................................A2 extends from Kyaik Than Lan Phayar St. 9 Cinderella Hotel ...................................B5 This walkway also had an impact on 10 Mawlamyaing Strand Hotel ................A2 Kipling, who was later to comment of it: ‘I 11 Ngwe Moe Hotel ..................................A6 should better remember what the pagoda So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMiaogwnhtlSastmayt ei n e 12 OK Hotel ...............................................A3 was like had I not fallen deeply and irrevo- 13 Pann Su Wai .........................................A5 cably in love with a Burmese girl at the foot 14 Sandalwood Hotel ...............................A5 of the first flight of steps. Only the fact of the 15 Shwe Myint Mo Tun Hotel...................D4 steamer starting next noon prevented me from staying at Moulmein forever...’ ú Eating 16 BBQ Garden .........................................A6 oMahamuni 17 Bone Gyi ...............................................A3 18 Daw Yee................................................ B7 (Bahaman) Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE 19 Grandfather & Grandmother Restaurant ........................................A4 (မဟာမနု (ိ ျဗဟာၼ )ဘုရား; hdaylight hours) F 20 Maw Shan.............................................B7 Directly north of Kyaikthanlan Paya and 21 Mi Cho Restaurant...............................B2 linked by a covered walkway, this is the 22 Mya Thanlwin Restaurant ...................A6 largest temple complex in Mawlamyine and 23 YKKO ....................................................A6 easily the most beautiful. It’s built in the typ- ical Mon style with covered brick walkways û Drinking & Nightlife linking various shrines. The highlight is the 24 Olala......................................................A6 Bahaman Paya itself, a jewel-box chamber shimmering with mirrors, rubies and dia- þ Shopping monds, and containing a century-old replica 25 Myine Yadanar Zei...............................B3 of its namesake in Mandalay. 26 Zeigyi ....................................................A3 Mon Cultural Museum MUSEUM were here and if you’ve ever wondered what life was like during the Raj, Mawlamyine is (မနြ ယ္ ဥေ္ က်းမျႈ ပတကုိ ;္ cnr Baho & Dawei Jetty about as close as it gets. Rds; K5000; h9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun) Unlike most of Myanmar’s regional museums, Maw- But it’s not all about history; the area lamyine’s is actually worth a visit, even if the around Mawlamyine has enough attrac- collection here is not huge. It’s dedicated to tions, ranging from beaches to caves, to keep the Mon history of the region and the ex- a visitor happy for several days. hibits include stelae with Mon inscriptions, 100-year-old wooden sculptures depicting old History age and sickness (used as dhamma-teaching devices in monasteries), ceramics, silver betel Known to the British as Moulmein, Maw- boxes, royal funerary urns and Mon musical lamyine served as the first capital of British instruments, with most exhibits accompa- Burma from 1826 to 1852, during which time nied by English-­language descriptions. it developed as a major teak port and saw a major influx of immigrants from India. A U Zina Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE fair amount of coastal shipping still goes on, although Yangon and Pathein have super- (ဥးီ ဇိနဘရု ား; hdaylight hours) F On the seded Mawlamyine as Myanmar’s most im- southern spur of the ridge overlooking portant ports. The city is composed roughly Mawlamyine, this pagoda was named after of 75% Mon, plus Kayin (Karen), Bamar, In- a former monk who dreamed of finding dian, Chinese and other ethnic groups.

112 gems here, then dug them up and used the elusive. Hotels cluster either in the centre of proceeds to build a temple on the same site. town close to the riverfront or, less conven- One of the shrine buildings contains a very iently, near the train and Mye Ni Gone bus curvy, sensual-looking reclining buddha; station. there are also statues depicting Gautama Buddha’s meeting with a sick man, an old Pann Su Wai GUESTHOUSE $ man, a dead man and an ascetic – encoun- (%057-22921; 333A Lower Main Rd; r K13,000- ters that encouraged him to seek the mean- 26,000; aW) None of the rooms are huge – ing behind human suffering. the singles are tight – and they don’t get a lot of natural light, but they are clean and come with OK bathrooms, making them a Seindon Mibaya Kyaung BUDDHIST TEMPLE reasonable deal for the money. The owner (စနိ ္တုံးမဖိ ုရားေက်ာင္း; Kyaik Thank Lan Phayar speaks English. There’s no kitchen here, so St; hdaylight hours) F This 100-year-old no breakfast. monastery is famed for being the place where King Mindon’s Mon queen, Seindon, Shwe Myint Mo Tun Hotel HOTEL $ sought refuge after Myanmar’s last mon- (%057-27347; r incl breakfast US$35-45; aWs) arch, King Thibaw, took power. The pool here is the highlight, because the So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMlaoewnelpSaitnmagyt ei n e U Khanti Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE rooms, located in four-room bungalows or a (ဥးီ ခႏီၱဘုရား; hdaylight hours) F This tem- two-storey poolside structure, are plain and ple was built to commemorate U Khanti, the not big. The location outside the city centre hermit architect of Mandalay Hill fame. U on a busy road close to the train station and Khanti supposedly spent some time on this the Mye Ni Gone bus station is inconven- hill as well. It’s a rustic, airy sort of place ient, unless you’re just passing through for centred on a large buddha image. the night. Gaungse Kyun (Shampoo Island) ISLAND OK Hotel HOTEL $ (ေခါင္းေဆးကြၽနး္ ; hdaylight hours) This pictur- (%057-25097; www.okhotel-mlm.com; cnr Strand esque little isle just off Mawlamyine’s north- Rd & Thaton Tar Par St; s/d incl breakfast US$12/24; ern end is so named because, during the Ava aW) As the name suggests, this is an OK period, the yearly royal hair-washing cer- budget option, although the old-fashioned emony customarily used water taken from rooms aren’t big and you’ll get some street a spring on the island. Peace rather than noise from the nearby market area as well. sights is the reason for venturing out here. The cheapest singles are fan-only and very You can hire a boat (return K3000; hday- small indeed. light hours) out here from the pier at the north end of town, not far from the former Sandalwood Hotel HOTEL $ Mawlamyine Hotel, for K3000 return. (%057-27253; 278 Myoma Tadar St; r incl breakfast K25,000-30,000; aW) The tile-walled rooms If you’re in the mood to explore, you can here are spacious and spotless, if a tad in- visit Sandawshin Paya, a whitewash-and-­ stitutional and wholly unremarkable. The silver zedi (stupa) said to contain Buddha staff are pleasant and can arrange cars for hair relics, and a nearby Buddhist medita- day trips. tion centre. Many nuns, with a menagerie of pet dogs, live on the island. oCinderella Hotel HOTEL $$ (%057-24411; www.cinderellahotel.com; 21 Baho First Baptist Church CHURCH Rd; s/d/tr incl breakfast US$25/55/70; aW) Ig- nore the shocking purple exterior because (cnr Upper Main & Dawei Jetty Rds; hdaylight hours) inside the rooms are comfortable, spotless, F Founded by American Adoniram Jud- tastefully decorated and well equipped, the son in 1827, this was the country’s first Baptist staff solicitous and the breakfast one of the church. In addition to this place of worship, best in Myanmar. The one single here books Judson’s legacy also includes being the first out fast, as do all the rooms in high season. person to translate the Bible into Burmese. As a result of his work, today Myanmar has the third-highest population of Baptists in the world, after the United States and India. oNgwe Moe Hotel HOTEL $$ (%057-24703; www.ngwemoehotel.com; cnr Kyaik- 4 Sleeping thoke Paya & Strand Rds; r incl breakfast US$45-60; aW) The spacious, modern rooms here are Mawlamyine’s accommodation options have excellent value with very comfortable beds, improved, but decent budget places remain

#7 Si Bin Thar Yat St Upper Main Rd 113 #8 #4 Prison Strand Rd Main Kha Lay KyaungSt Thanlwin River #6 Kyaik Than Lan Phayar St #5 Shwe Taung St Baho Rd #2 #3 So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMlaoewnelpSaitnmagyt ei n e 66Wut Gyi Phayar St Baho Rd Upper Main Rd '€ Myoma Tadar St Lower Main Rd #1 e# 0 500 m 0 0.25 miles 66&~ 22Walking Tour Colonial Mawlamyine Continue north on Upper Main Rd. If you 66START BAHO RD haven’t already been, turn east on Kyaik Than FINISH STRAND RD Lan Phayar St and ascend the covered stair- LENGTH 2.5 MILES; TWO TO THREE HOURS way to 4Kyaikthanlan Paya (p111) – Between 1826 and 1852, Mawlamyine served as the first capital of British Burma. An abun- the inspiration for Kipling’s famous poem dance of British residents – from colonial officials to Anglo-Burmese – led to the city ‘Mandalay’. From here you’ll also have a great being known as ‘Little England’, a legacy still palpable in Mawlamyine’s architecture. view of Mawlamyine’s prison, built in 1908 Start your walk near the 1park on Baho and probably the setting for George Orwell’s Rd, formerly known as Dalhousie St (after lesser-known 1931 short story ‘A Hanging’. a Scottish administrator of British India). Head west on Kyaik Than Lan Phayar St, Head north, turning east on 2Shwe Taung veering south into any of the atmospheric side St (look for the corner with the motorcycle taxi drivers), an atmospheric strip of brightly streets and taking in the tiny mosques and co- coloured, low-slung houses home to the de- scendants of Indian civil servants originally lonial-era homes in this predominately Muslim brought to Mawlamyine by the British. neighbourhood of 5Shwe Taung Quarter. Cross Upper Main Rd to 3St Patrick’s Emerge on 6Lower Main Rd, Mawlamyine’s Cathedral, founded by the De La Salle main commercial strip, home to many old brothers in 1829. At the back of the church compound is an overgrown graveyard with multistorey shophouses. Continue north until headstones, many with British names, some dating back to the mid-19th century. you reach 7Surtee Sunni Jamae Masjid, a mosque built in 1846 to serve the Muslim officers and civil servants of British Burma. Then turn west on Phat Tan St. You’re now on the riverside 8Strand Rd, where, head- ing south, you’ll pass the former grand man- sions, shipping company offices and theatres from Mawlamyine’s former role as a wealthy trading port.

114 the staff are keen and helpful, and the expan- Maw Shan SHAN $ sive breakfast buffet sets you up for a day of (Strand Rd; noodles from K1000; h7.30am- sightseeing. The more expensive rooms have 6.30pm) Maw Shan is a sound spot for a decent river views. There are KBZ Bank and breakfast or lunch of authentic Shan noo- CB Bank ATMs outside the lobby. dles; be sure to try the fried tofu as well. No English spoken, but you can point at what Mawlamyaing Strand Hotel HOTEL $$ other people are eating. (%057-25624; www.mawlamyaingstrandhotel.com; Strand Rd; r incl breakfast US$110-130; aiWs) Mawlamyine’s biggest and flashiest hotel BBQ Garden BURMESE $ has four storeys of spacious and modern (58 Strand Rd; barbecue from K300, mains from rooms that are on par with business-­class K2500; h4-10pm; E) A barn-like space – rooms just about anywhere else – with the with a big screen for watching the football – added benefit of great views over the town that serves decent barbecue as well as Chi- and river. A swimming pool was under con- nese-influenced dishes and seafood. It’s struction at the time of research. pricer than the streetside barbecue places, but more upmarket and the grilled pork leg (K2500) is great. Choose from the proteins Attran Hotel HOTEL $$ and veggies on display in the refrigerators. So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r EMaaotwni nlSagtmayt ei n e (%057-25764; [email protected]; Strand Rd; r incl breakfast US$58-90; aW) Looking its age a bit now, the Attran has a prime river- Mi Cho Restaurant BURMESE $ front location but the rooms, while comfort- (North Bogyoke Rd; meals from K2500; h9am- able enough, are plain and dull. The more 9pm) This busy hole-in-the-wall place serves expensive are housed in bungalows and are excellent Muslim-style Burmese cuisine; in large with river views; the cheaper ones are particular, a rich biryani and a delicious considerably smaller. The outside bar is a dhal soup. Look for the tiny green English-­ passable spot for an evening libation. language sign and get here early: the biryani goes quickly. 5 Eating Mya Thanlwin Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $ (Strand Rd; mains from K3000; h9am-11pm; oDaw Yee BURMESE $ E) Standard Burmese-influenced Chinese (U Ze Na Pagoda St; curries from K2500; h11am- dishes are available here, but it’s as much a 10pm) Humble Daw Yee does some of the place to drink as it is to eat, and the riverside best Burmese food we’ve come across. It setting and draught beer draw in the locals has a great selection of curries, including each night. an insanely fatty prawn curry. Be sure to or- der one of the vegetable side dishes (K500) Bone Gyi CHINESE, BURMESE $$ (cnr Strand Rd & Main Kha Lay Kyaung St; mains from that change daily. It’s off the southern end K3000; h9am-9pm; E) There’s a huge menu of Strand Rd, about 10 minutes’ walk south of the Ngwe Moe Hotel; look for the English here, mostly featuring Chinese-i­nspired dishes but also including a few Thai ones sign. and even some spicy Rakhine State–style Grandfather & soups. It’s especially good for fish, grilled Grandmother Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $ or steamed. There’s a big outside area, effi- (Strand Rd; mains from K2500; h7am-9pm; E) cient service and it’s determinedly foreigner-­ The money raised at this restaurant goes to friendly, so a little pricier than other restau- a charity helping the town’s elderly. No alco- rants of its type. hol is served, but they do have decent fruit shakes, reasonable Chinese-Burmese dishes 6 Drinking & Nightlife and a riverside location. The sign is written in Burmese only; look for the silhouettes of Olala BAR old people walking with canes. (383 Strand Rd; h2-10pm) Mawlamyine’s only genuine bar, Olala serves up reasonable cocktails, as well as local and foreign beers, YKKO BURMESE $ in a laidback atmosphere and also offers (Strand Rd; mains from K3500; h9am-9pm; E) This chain can be found across Myanmar a menu of snack-sized Chinese, Thai and Western food. There’s outdoor seating and now and is popular both with richer locals this is where you will find Mawlamyine’s and foreigners seeking reliable and clean food. There’s a wide range of noodle and rice tiny community of foreign residents of an evening. options, as well as soups and fruit juices.

7 Shopping 115 Mawlamyine has a number of busy markets flight a week to Kawthoung (US$161, Monday). So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMhaoownplSpatimnaytgei n e including the riverside Zeigyi (Lower Main Rd; Both these flights are prone to cancellation. h6am-6pm) and the biggest of all, Myine Yadanar Market (Thaton Tar Par St; h6am- There are no public ferries to Hpa-an, but 2pm). Though locals distinguish between all private boats can be chartered (up to 14 people) of them, you probably won’t as they virtually at K10,000 per person for the two-hour trip; meld into one another and you’ll be too en- enquire at Breeze Guest House. grossed in the melange of smells, sights and tastes to care anyway. Buses for destinations north of Mawlamyine use the Mye Ni Gone bus station, located near 88 Information the train station; a motorcycle taxi to/from the centre should cost K500. For routes south of Mawlamyine has branches of the CB Bank Mawlamyine, head to the Zay Gyo bus station, a (Strand Rd; h 9.30am-3pm) and KBZ Bank couple miles south of the city centre; a motorcy- (Upper Main Rd; h 9.30am-3pm), with both cle taxi to/from here should cost K1000. Vans foreign exchange and ATMs available. There are (actually share taxis) to Myawaddy (K10,000, a number of other ATMs around town too. four to six hours, frequent 6am to 4pm) depart from opposite the entrance to Zay Gyo bus sta- Though we’d recommend skipping the ba- tion. Vans to Ye (K3000, four hours) frequently sic accommodation at Breeze Guest House depart between 6am and 1.30pm. (% 057-22919, 057-21450; breeze.guesthouse@ gmail.com; 6 Strand Rd), the staff can arrange Mawlamyine’s train station is 1.5km east of the reliable guides and trips to Bilu Kyun, as well as city centre, a K500 ride on a motorcycle taxi. At renting bicycles (K2000 per day) and motorbikes the time of writing, trains were not running south (K10,000 per day), and chartering boats for the of Dawei. trip to Hpa-an by river (K10,000 per person). 88 Getting Around 88 Getting There & Away Motorcycle taxis are found on just about every At the time of research, Myanmar National Air- corner in Mawlamyine (short trips K500; longer lines (% 057-21500, 09 871 8220; www.flymna. journeys from K1000). com; h9am-3pm) was the only domestic airline flying out of Mawlamyine, operating just one For destinations outside of town, you’ll want a flight a week to Yangon (US$91, Monday) and one driver. This can be arranged at any hotel. Count on K50,000 to K60,000 for a full day hire. You can also call Ko Min Naing (% 057-22247, % 09 2558 42830), a reliable driver who speaks some English. MAWLAMYINE TRANSPORT CONNECTIONS DESTINATION BUS TRAIN Bago K6000; 5hr; daily 8.30am, 9am, 1pm, 2pm, 7pm, 8.30pm, 9pm & midnight K1660/K3150 (ordinary/upper Dawei K11,000-12,000; 8-9hr; 6am, 5.30pm & 6.30pm class); 7hr; daily 8am, 7.30pm & 9pm Hpa-an K1000; 2hr; hourly 6am-4pm K2950/K5900 (ordinary/upper Kawthoung K40,000-45,000; 25hr; daily 6am, 5.30pm & 6.30pm class); 16hr; daily 4.30am Kyaikto (for Mt K3000; 4hr; daily 8.30am, 11am, 8pm & 8.30pm Kyaiktiyo) N/A Mandalay K15,500; 13hr; daily 6pm & 7pm Myeik K18,000-20,000; 16hr; daily 6am, 5.30pm & 6.30pm N/A Nay Pyi Taw K10,500; 8hr; daily 6pm K1300/K2250 (ordinary/upper Pyin Oo Lwin K17,000; 17hr; daily 5pm class); daily 8am, 7.30pm & 9pm Yangon K6000-10,000; 7hr; daily 8.30am, 9am, 1pm, 2pm, 7pm, 9pm, 8.30pm & midnight N/A Ye K3000; 4hr; daily 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm & 4pm N/A K3400/K6750 (ordinary/upper class); 15hr; daily 6.15am N/A K2150/K4250 (ordinary/upper class); 10hr; daily 8am, 7.30pm & 9pm K1100/K2200; 6hr; daily 4.30am

116 So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SMA irogonhutSnstdatMeaw l amy i n e Around Mawlamyine just wait till you get a load of this one. Draped across a couple of green hillsides at If you’re finding Mawlamyine a bit too sleepy, Yadana Taung, around 15 miles southwest of you’ll be delighted to find that the town func- Mawlamyine, and surrounded by a forest of tions as a great base for a variety of easy and other pagodas and shrines, is this 560ft-long worthwhile day trips. Visits to Bilu Kyun, a reclining buddha. It’s easily one of the larg- nearby island with handicraft workshops, and est such images in the world. to the Buddhist sites south and east of Maw- lamyine are the most popular excursions. Many other stupas and standing buddhas dot the area, including 500 statues lining the Many people save themselves time and road to the Win Sein Taw Ya. Aside from in- hassle by hiring a car (K60,000 per day) flated buddhas, the area affords some gentle and guide (US$20 per day) in order to ex- walks with wonderful panoramas. plore fully. All the hotels can organise this, although the best guides can be found at Every year around the first couple of Breeze Guest House (p115), where Mr An- days of February a festival takes place here tony and Mr Khaing are both informative to celebrate the birthday of the monk who and entertaining. constructed the buddha. As well as a host of itinerant traders, monks and nuns, magic South of Mawlamyine men and the odd hermit or two, the festival often hosts a major kickboxing tournament, 1 Sights which leads to the slightly surreal sight of hundreds of cheering monks baying for blood in the ring! Pa-Auk-Taw-Ya Kyauktalon Taung BUDDHIST TEMPLE Monastery BUDDHIST MONASTERY (ေက်ာကတ္ စလ္ းံု ေတာင;္ hdaylight hours) F (ဖားေအာက္ေတာရဘုနး္ ၾကးီ ေက်ာင္း; %057- Kyauktalon Taung is a strangely shaped, 22853; www.paaukforestmonastery.org) F Only 8.5 miles south of Mawlamyine, the sheer-sided crag rising out of the surround- ing agricultural land and crowned with monastery teaches satipatthana vipassana stupas. It’s a sticky 20-minute climb to the (insight-awareness meditation) and, at 500 acres, is one of the largest meditation cen- summit. On the opposite side of the road is a similar but smaller outcropping surmounted tres in Myanmar. Foreigners can visit for the by a Hindu temple. Kyauktalon Taung is 40- night or several days; sleeping and eating is free but you’re up at 3am every day. odd minutes south of Mawlamyine, on the road to Thanbyuzayat. Win Sein Taw Ya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Kandawgyi LAKE (ဝင္းစိန္ေတာရ; hdaylight hours) F If you (ကန္ေတာ္ႀကးီ ; hdaylight hours) F This thought you’d seen some big old buddhas, lake formed by Azin Dam (a water storage NWA-LA-BO PAGODA A local pilgrimage site, Nwa-la-bo Pagoda (ႏြားလသဘ႔ုိ ုရား; hdaylight hours) F is still relatively unknown outside Mon State and, currently, very few foreigners make it out here. This is surprising because the pagoda is a smaller but, geologically at least, far more astonishing version of Kyaiktiyo. Unlike at that shrine, where just one huge boulder perches on the cliff ledge, Nwa-la-bo consists of three sausage-shaped gold boulders piled precariously atop one another and surmounted by a stupa. Nwa-la-bo can’t be reached during the rainy season (approximately June to Octo- ber) and is at its best on a weekend when pilgrims will add more flair to the scene and transport is a little more regular. From Mawlamyine you’ll have to wait at the roundabout before the bridge for a northbound bus or pick-up to Kyonka village (K1000), around 12 miles north of town. From here clamber into the back of one of the pick-up trucks that crawl slowly up to the summit of the mountain (K2000 return) in 45 minutes. Allow plenty of time as the trucks don’t leave until beyond full, and don’t leave your descent too late in the day as transport becomes scarcer after 3pm. Alternatively, motorcycle taxis will do the trip to Kyonka for K8000.

117 BILU KYUN (OGRE ISLAND) So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r AGMreootntuSinntdgatMTeahwe rleam&yAiwn eay Not quite as scary as it sounds, Bilu Kyun (ဘလီ းူ ကြၽနး္ ) is a beautiful Mon island directly west of Mawlamyine. Roughly the size of Singapore, Bilu Kyun comprises 78 villages that are home to more than 200,000 people. It’s a green, fecund place, with palm-studded rice fields and fruit plantations, and has the vibe of a tropical island, only without the beaches. Some of Bilu Kyun’s villages are associated with the production of various handicrafts and household items, from coconut-fibre mats to slate tablets, although the number of workshops has declined in recent years and many of those remaining are now more geared to tourists than anything else. There’s public transport to Bilu Kyun, but the boats run a confusing schedule from a variety of piers. The local authorities also require notice to visit Bilu Kyun. That may change once a new bridge linking the island to the mainland is completed in 2017, but until then the best way to approach the island is via a day tour. Mr Antony or Mr Khaing at Breeze Guest House (p115) lead informative tours, which typically run from 9am to 5pm, circling the island, stopping in at various craft workshops and tacking on a swim stop. The K18,000 fee per person covers transport and lunch. At research time, foreigners were not allowed to stay overnight on Bilu Kyun. and flood-control facility that’s also used to around this simple memorial, maintained irrigate local rubber plantations) also boasts by the Commonwealth War Graves Com- a tidy recreation area and is a favourite pic- mission, reading the heart-rending words nic spot with locals. Don’t miss the tasty inscribed on the gravestones, it’s impossible buthi kyaw (deep-fried gourd) sold here. At not to be moved to the brink of tears. the northern end of the lake stands the gild- ed stupa of Kandawgyi Paya. The lake is Death Railway Museum MUSEUM around 18.5 miles southeast of Mawlamyine. (ေသမငး္ တမန္မီးရထားလမး္ ျပတကုိ ;္ %09 9716 88 Getting There & Away 84627; Thanbyuzayat; K5000; h8am-5pm) This modest new museum in Thanbyuzayat is Hop on a Mudon-bound bus from Mawlamyine’s located at the actual western terminus of Zay Gyo bus station and ask to be dropped at the World War II’s infamous death railway, junctions for any of the southern sights (K800 which connected Myanmar to Thailand and to K2000, 45 minutes, hourly from 6am to 4pm). was built under appalling conditions by Alternatively, a return-trip motorcycle taxi from Asian labourers and Japanese-held Allied Mawlamyine to any of the sights will run K8000 prisoners of war. A short stretch of railway to K10,000. track and a Japanese WWII-era locomotive lead to the museum, which has a collection of photos and a dramatic 3D painting de- Thanbyuzayat & Around picting a scene from the railway’s route but 1 Sights little else on display. The museum is located about a mile south of Thanbyuzayat’s clock tower on the road to Thanbyuzayat HISTORIC SITE (သံျဖဴဇရပ;္ hdaylight hours) F Than- Ye. Officially there is a K5000 fee to visit the byuzayat, 40 miles south of Mawlamyine, museum, but it wasn’t being charged at the was the western terminus of the infamous time of research. Burma–­Siam Railway, dubbed the ‘Death Railway’ by the thousands of Allied pris- Kyaikkami VILLAGE oners of war (POWs) and Asian labourers (က်ိဳကမၠ )ီ Located 15 miles northwest of Thanbyuzayat, Kyaikkami was a small who were forced by the Japanese military coastal resort and missionary centre known to build it. Half a mile west of town lies the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, containing as Amherst during the British era. The town is an atmospheric seaside destina- 3771 graves of Allied POWs who died build- tion, although you’ll probably not do any ing the railway. Most of those buried here were British, swimming at the rocky and rather muddy beach. Instead, the main focus is Yele Paya but there are also markers for American, (ေရလယ္ဘုရား), a metal-roofed Buddhist Australian and Dutch soldiers. As you walk

So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r AGMreootntuSinntdgatMTeahwe rleam&yAiwn eay118 THE DEATH RAILWAY The strategic objective of the Burma–Siam Railway was to secure an alternative supply route for the Japanese conquest of Myanmar and other Asian countries to the west. Construction on the railway began on 16 September 1942 at existing terminals in Thanbyuzayat and Nong Pladuk, Thailand. At the time, Japanese engineers estimated that it would take five years to link Thailand and Burma by rail, but the Japanese army forced the Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and Asian labourers to complete the 260-mile, 3.3ft-gauge railway in 13 months. Much of the railway was built in difficult terrain that required high bridges and deep mountain cuttings. The rails were finally joined 23 miles south of the town of Payathonzu (Three Pagodas Pass); a Japanese brothel train inaugu- rated the line. The railway was in use for 21 months before the Allies bombed it in 1945. An estimated 16,000 POWs died as a result of brutal treatment by their captors, a story chronicled by Pierre Boulle’s book The Bridge on the River Kwai and popularised by the movie based on the book. Only one POW is known to have escaped, a Briton who took refuge among pro-British Kayin guerrillas. Although the statistics of the number of POWs who died during the Japanese occupa- tion are horrifying, the figures for the labourers, most from Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, are even worse. It is thought that 80,000 Asians, 6540 British, 2830 Dutch, 2710 Australians and 356 Americans died in the area. shrine complex perched over the sea and miles southwest of Mawlamyine, is a very said to house 11 Buddha hair relics. wide, brown-sand strip. The beach is lined with waving casuarina trees and has been a The shrine chamber beneath Yele Paya popular spot for outings since colonial times. reportedly contains a buddha image that Though a few locals stop by for a swim, al- supposedly floated here on a raft from Sri most no foreigners visit this area and facili- Lanka in ancient times. A display of 21 ties are minimal. Mandalay-­style buddha statues sits over the spot where the Sinhalese image is buried. At low tide you can walk along the beach Note that women are not allowed into the to the small temple on the rocks at the main shrine here. One oddity here is that northern end. pilgrims standing at the water’s edge place clay pots of flowers and milk into the sea in You can stay at the privately owned Shwe order to ‘feed’ the spirits. Moe Guesthouse (%09 870 3283; Setse; r US$30-60; a), which has spacious but run- Adoniram Judson (1788–1850), an Amer- down beach bungalows. A few modest res- ican missionary and linguist who has prac- taurants offer fresh seafood, including the tically attained sainthood among Myanmar Pyay Son Oo Restaurant, which is very Baptists, was sailing to India with his wife close to the hotel. when their ship was blown off course, forcing them to land at Kyaikkami. Judson stayed on 88 Getting There & Away and established his first mission here; the original site is now a Catholic school on a The same bus runs first to Thanbyuzayat (K1000, small lane off the main road. two hours, 6am to 4pm) and then Kyaikkami (K1000, three hours, 6am to 4pm). Buses leave The only accommodation in town is Ka- from a stall (Lower Main Rd) near Zeigyi market. day Kywe Guest Villa (%09 4253 36347, 057- 75019; Bogyoke Rd, Kyaikkami; r fan-only/air-con During the first half of the day there are regu- K10,000/50,000; aW), a short walk from lar pick-up trucks from Thanbyuzayat to Kyaik- Yele Paya. There’s a basic restaurant directly kami (K500) and Setse (K500). The last return across the street. departure for both is about 4pm. Setse Beach BEACH East of Mawlamyine (စကစ္ ကဲ မး္ ေျခ) This is not a picture-­postcard 1 Sights beach by any stretch of the imagination, but as the grime of travel washes away, Kyaikmaraw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE you probably won’t care. This low-key Gulf (က်ဳိ က္မေရာဘုရား; Kyaikmaraw; hdaylight of Mottama (Martaban) beach, around 50 hours) F The small town of Kyaikmaraw

119 (က်ဳိ က္မေရာ), 15 miles southeast of Maw- tree-lined lake at its heart and the Ye River So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r GYMeotnt Si ntgatTeh e r e & Away lamyine, is the site of Kyaikmaraw Paya, a running through it, Ye is a compact town of temple of serene, white-faced buddhas built traditional wooden houses, a hectic, big mar- by Queen Shin Saw Pu in 1455. Among the ket and friendly, curious locals. It’s a great temple’s many outstanding features are mul- place to kick back for a few days and expe- ticoloured glass windows set in the outside rience small-town Myanmar life, while it’s walls, an inner colonnade decorated in mir- also the ideal base for excursions into the sur- rored tiles, and beautiful ceramic tile floors. rounding countryside, where you’ll find Mon and Kayin villages that rarely see foreigners. Covered brick walkways lead up to and around the main square sanctuary in typi- 1 Sights cal 15th-century Mon style. The huge main buddha image sits in a ‘European pose’, Most of the sights are outside Ye and you’ll with the legs hanging down as if sitting need a motorbike to reach them. If you don’t on a chair, rather than in the much more want to drive yourself, Starlight Guesthouse common cross-legged manner. A number of (p120) can arrange an English-speaking smaller cross-legged buddhas surround the guide and driver for K25,000 to K30,000 main image, and behind it are two reclining per day. We cover some of the highlights, buddhas. Another impressive feature is the but you could easily spend a week exploring carved and painted wooden ceiling. the area. Perhaps as impressive as the temple is the Kyaing Ywar VILLAGE route there, which passes through bright- green rice fields studded with sugar palms (က်ိဳင္းရြာ) You approach this mixed Mon and and picturesque villages. Kayin village of wooden stilt houses perched over the Ye River along a road that winds through betel nut, rubber and pineapple Kha-Yon Caves CAVE plantations, interspersed with golden pago- (ခရံဂု ;ူ hdaylight hours) F Spirited away in das half-hidden by trees. The journey is sce- the back of the little-known, dark and dank Kha-Yon Caves are rows of ghostly buddha nic enough, but the real reason to come here is to hire a longtail boat (K10,000 return) statues and wall paintings that come lurch- and head upriver Apocalypse Now–style. ing out of the dark as the light from a torch catches them. Close by is another, smaller, After 15 minutes, you’ll see a statue of Buddha on a pillar that rises high above cave system with an open cavern and a the river. The pillar is the cue to stop and small cave-dwelling stupa. Bring a torch or buy candles from the stall near the entrance. climb the stairs to Kyaing Lakoiw Paya, a small pagoda funded by the local villagers. The caves are northeast of Mawlamyine, 30 You can continue on along the river to oth- minutes by bus along the road to Hpa-an. er villages (the longer the journey, the more 88 Getting There & Away you’ll pay the boat captain). Kyaing Ywar is about 8 miles east of Ye, a 40-minute ride on Pick-ups to Kyaikmaraw (K500, one hour, hourly a motorcycle. from 6am to 4pm) leave from just south of a roundabout close to Zay Gyo bus station: all Ko Yin Lay BUDDHIST SITE motorcycle taxi drivers know the place. (ကရုိ ငေ္ လး; off Ye-Mawlamyine Rd; hdaylight For Kha-Yon Caves, head to Mawlamyine’s hours) F Known to the locals as ‘Banana Mye Ni Gone bus station, take any bus towards Mountain’, there’s no hill to climb here. In- Hpa-an and ask to be dropped at the junction for stead, it’s an expanding Buddhist complex of the caves (K1000, 30 minutes, hourly from 6am shrines and an attractive monastery, all dom- to 4pm). inated by four vast sitting Buddhas grouped around a tower. You can climb the nine-­ storey tower for great views. The monastery Ye ေရးျမိဳ႕ offers a free and tasty vegetarian lunch (a do- nation to the monastery is appreciated). Ko POP C 34,430 / % 057 Yin Lay is around five miles north of Ye, off the main Ye–Mawlamyine Rd. Charming Ye, pronounced ‘yay’, has long been The complex came into being 20 years off travellers’ maps. Until recently, govern- ago, after villagers noted how a devout ment restrictions prevented foreigners from novice monk spent weeks alone meditating moving south of Mawlamyine by road, which here. At that time, the area was jungle and left Ye, roughly halfway between Mawlamy- ine and Dawei, isolated. With an attractive,

120 Mya Myint Mo Hotel HOTEL $ the locals swear the now-landscaped site did (%057-50527; [email protected]; 26- look like a ‘banana mountain’ back then. 28 Duya St; r incl breakfast K30,000; aW) On Shwemawdaw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE a residential street close to the market, the (ေရႊေမာ္ေတာဘရု ား; Kyaing Ywar village; hday- Mya Myint Mo has compact but modern, light hours) F Thirty white-faced standing golden Buddhas rise up the steep track that well-equipped rooms with decent beds and OK bathrooms. There are good views over leads to this peaceful temple, with its own, Ye from the top floor. smaller version of Mt Kyaiktiyo’s famous golden rock and a golden zedi. Best of all 5 Eating & Drinking are the stunning views over the surrounding countryside and the Ye River. The temple is For a small town, Ye has some decent res- at the opposite end of Kyaing Ywar village to taurants, the most atmospheric of which the riverfront. surround the lake. Many serve the Burmese take on Thai food, a consequence of so many Market MARKET locals going to nearby Thailand to work in resorts and restaurants. (ေစ်း; Strand Rd; h6am-6pm) Ye is a centre of betel nut production, as well as retailing a lot There are teahouses and beer stations in So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SYMeloene pSitnagt e of fish, and the town’s busy market features the centre of town. One peculiarity of Ye is that both products, as well as lots of produce, the restaurants around the lake don’t serve al- clothes and imported goods from Thailand. cohol because the lake is considered holy. There are also food stalls here. The market sprawls down Strand Rd, running parallel Rot Sar THAI $ (Lakeside; dishes K600-2500; h10am-10pm; E) with the Ye River, occupying many blocks. Rot Sar offers the most authentic take on Shwesandaw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Thai food in Ye – there’s a limited English menu – and you get to eat overlooking the (ရွေဆတံ ော်ဘုရား; Main Rd; hdaylight hours) lake. It’s on the far side of the lake, close to F Ye’s principal shrine sits close to both the lake and the market, its golden pagoda the monastery. easily visible. There are two main prayer Jasmine Cool THAI, BURMESE $ halls, both in the Mon Style; one containing a golden Buddha and the other featuring 20 (Lakeside; mains from K1500; h7am-10pm) Per- haps the most popular teahouse in Ye, the white-faced Buddhas surrounding six cen- exotically named Jasmine Cool does basic tral Buddhas. Thai dishes, as well as standard Chinese-­ Burmese ones, in a lakeside setting. It’s busy Gold Market MARKET from the time it opens and is close to the (ေရေႊ စ်း; Bo Yint Nawng St; h7am-5pm) Ye’s Starlight Guesthouse. small gold market – just to the east of the main market – features mostly jewellery, rather than gold leaf or gold bars. It is worth Dream BEER GARDEN a stroll and a chat with the vendors, mostly (Ba Nyar Yan Toe Chae St; beers from K2000; h10am-midnight) An unusually sophisticated smiley middle-aged ladies who conduct busi- beer garden for provincial Myanmar, Dream ness perched on raised platforms behind metal grilles. has foreign beers – Thai and Western – as well as Myanmar lager, and a small selection 4 Sleeping of vodka, gin and whisky. It does reasona- ble Chinese-Burmese dishes too. It’s in the oStarlight Guesthouse GUESTHOUSE $ south of town, about 10 minutes’ walk from (%09 2557 13253, 09 2500 88616; www.star light-guesthouse.com; 13 Yan Gyi Aung Rd; r incl Shwesandaw Paya. breakfast K21,000-26,000; aW) Run by laid- 88 Information back American David and his cheerful Mon wife Winnie, the Starlight is a travel- There’s a branch of KBZ Bank (Main Rd; ler-friendly guesthouse perched by the lake h 9.30am-3pm), with ATM, where you can ex- in the heart of Ye. The six rooms here aren’t change money. There are a couple of other ATMs big, but they are clean and comfortable and around town that take foreign cards too. some have lake views. Motorcycles can be 88 Getting There & Away rented (K7000 per day) and knowledgeable English-speaking guides arranged. Buses depart from outside the bus ticket offices that can be found along Main Rd, close to the

121 Shwesandaw Paya (p120). There are five buses plore the Buddhist caves, sacred mountains daily to Yangon (K8300 to K10,300, 11 hours, and rivers and lakes of the surrounding 7.30am to 6pm) and seven daily to Mawlamyine countryside. (K3000, four hours, 6am to 2.15pm). There’s also a daily bus to Dawei at 7am (K6000, four 1 Sights & Activities hours), which leaves from the market area close to the riverfront. Khiri Travel (http://khiri.com) offers kayak- ing excursions through the wetlands around Ye’s rustic train station is in the west of town. Hpa-an with Kayin guides leading; check its There’s a daily train to Yangon at 2.30pm (or- website for more details. There’s also some dinary/upper class K3250/K6450, 16 hours), good climbing to be found in the area, al- two trains daily to Mawlamyine at 4am and though not for beginners. Myanmar Rock 2.30pm (ordinary/upper class K850 to K1100/ Community, based in Yangon, run climbs here. K2200, six hours) and one train daily to Dawei at Contact Andrew Riley at andrewkyleriley 9.30am (ordinary/upper class K1900/K2800, @gmail.com for more information. 10 hours). 88 Getting Around Shweyinhmyaw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Ye is a compact place, but motorcycle taxis hop (ေရႊရင္ေမွာ္ဘုရား; off Thida St; hdaylight hours) around town for K500 a trip. Drivers congregate F Close to the waterfront, this golden pa- by the market and outside Shwesandaw Paya on goda is a popular hang-out around sunset, So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r KHG aepyatti-nai nSgtaAtreo u n d Main Rd. as well as an easy place to watch the world go by during the day. Motorcycles can be rented at Starlight Guest- house (p120) for K7000 per day. Morning Market MARKET KAYIN STATE ကရင္ျပညန္ ယ္ (off Thitsar St; h5am-11am) Hpa-an’s vibrant morning market is good for a wander and a The combination of fantastic scenery – chat with the locals. tree-covered limestone hills rising above luminous green paddy fields – and a fas- Clock Tower MONUMENT cinating ethnic mix, makes Kayin State a Myanmar highlight. That’s despite the fact (Bo Gyoke St) Now digitised, but not always that significant parts of the state remain off-­ accurate, Hpa-an’s clock tower is lit up at limits to foreign visitors, thanks to ongoing night like a gaudy lollipop. tensions caused by what is thought to be the world’s longest-running internal conflict. 4 Sleeping Almost from the moment Myanmar at- Accommodation in Hpa-an is a game of two tained its independence in 1948, the Karen, halves, with budget and most midrange op- the main ethnic group in Kayin State, start- tions located in town, while upmarket plac- ed their battle for autonomy. Since 2012 a es sit outside the city. Unless you have your fragile ceasefire has been in place between own transport, staying outside Hpa-an will the largest insurgent body, the Karen Na- leave you stranded in your hotel. tional Union (KNU), and the Burmese gov- ernment. That has resulted in the welcome Galaxy Motel GUESTHOUSE $ opening of the border with Thailand at (%09 566 1863, 058-21347; cnr Thitsar & Thida Myawaddy. But the KNU’s military compo- Sts; r US$22; aW) The Galaxy is the sort of nent, the Karen National Liberation Army guesthouse Myanmar needs more of: tidy (KNLA), continues to control parts of the and clean with spacious rooms that feature north and east of the state and foreigners air-con, wi-fi and modern bathrooms. The are barred from visiting those areas. friendly owner speaks good English and can organise tickets and trips, as well as bicycle (K2000 per day) and motorbike (K7000 per day) hire. Hpa-an ဘားအံ Soe Brothers II Guesthouse GUESTHOUSE $ POP C 75,140 / % 058 (%058-22748, 09 7924 98664; soebrothers [email protected]; 4/820 Engyin St; r incl Hpa-an, Kayin State’s scruffy riverside cap- breakfast US$15-40; aW) More upmarket ital, isn’t going to inspire many postcards than their original guesthouse (p122), the home. But the people are friendly and the latest addition to the Soe Brothers fami- city is the logical base from which to ex- ly features modern, fresh rooms in pastel pink. The cheaper singles aren’t huge and

122 e# 0 400 m 0 0.2 miles Hpa-an BC D A Mt Hpan Pu 1 (0.9mi) D 1 Ú# 3 Boats To f# ÿ# 5 Mt Hpan Pu Thida St ÿ# 4 Thanlwin River Kannar St Ohn Taw St Thitsar St yint Lay St Pa Don Mar St M Mosque # #æ # 2 Monastery ñ# 2 2 16 ›# Bo Gyoke St ú# 8 Grand Hill 3 KB7Zú#BZaanydka#ìn St D 14 ÿ# 6 Paya St DHotel D 66 ›# # 15 Monastery # (1.6mi) Soe BrothersSo u th e as te rn M ya n m a r SKHlapeyaei-napniSntgat e Bo Gyoke St 9 ú# 3 Guesthouse (0.6mi) ú# ò# D ü# ú# 10 11 66Hotel AnglesLand 12 1317›#›# (700m) A 1 ð# #á Aung Seven Internet Cafe Hotel Gabbana D (100m) B C Hpa-an as ever. The riverside location means it is a 20-minute walk to the centre of town. æ Sights 1 Clock Tower .........................................C3 Hotel Angles Land HOTEL $ 2 Morning Market ...................................C2 (%058-21256; [email protected]; Padauk 3 Shweyinhmyaw Paya .......................... B1 Rd; r incl breakfast US$40-45; aW) This new- ish hotel boasts 22 big, well-maintained and ÿ Sleeping well-equipped rooms, all with equally large 4 Galaxy Motel ........................................ C1 bathrooms. It’s located about 1 mile south of 5 Golden Sky Guesthouse...................... B1 town, near Hpa-an’s City Hall and close to 6 Soe Brothers Guesthouse ..................C2 the river. ú Eating Golden Sky Guesthouse GUESTHOUSE $ 7 Khit Thit Restaurant ............................C2 (%058-21510; Thida St; r incl breakfast 8 Lucky 1..................................................C2 K20,000-­K25,000; aW) This rough-and-ready, 9 San Ma Tau Myanmar Restaurant .....D3 old-school Myanmar guesthouse comes with slightly eccentric owners and an OK com- 10 White ....................................................C3 munal area. Its biggest rooms, which come 11 Yadanar 2 .............................................C3 with air-con, are acceptable. Trips to the sur- rounding area can be arranged here. û Drinking & Nightlife 12 New Day ...............................................B3 ï Transport Soe Brothers Guesthouse HOSTEL $ 13 Bus Ticket Stalls ..................................C3 (%058-21372, 09 4977 1823; soebrothers 14 Buses to Mawlamyine .........................C2 [email protected]; 2/146 Thitsar St; r US$6-25; 15 Good Luck Motorbike Rent.................C2 aW) A long-standing backpackers’ crash 16 Pick-Ups To Eindu ...............................C2 pad, the rooms here are basic but the family 17 'Vans' (Share Taxis) to that runs the place is tuned in to travellers’ Myawaddy .........................................C3 needs and can arrange many hassle-free ex- cursions. The cheapest rooms are fan-only are fan-only, but there’s a nice roof terrace and share bathrooms; the more expensive for breakfast and the staff are as solicitous ones offer some space. They have another

123 newer, more sophisticated place (p121) close serves a vast selection of rich curries, hearty to the river. soups and tart salads, all accompanied by platters of fresh veggies and herbs and an Grand Hill Hotel HOTEL $ overwhelming 10 types of local-style dips to (%058-22286; [email protected]; Sin eat them with. Phyushin St; r incl breakfast US$30-50; aW) A suburban compound with plain and old-fashioned rooms in the main building Yadanar 2 SHAN $ (Paya St; dishes from K800; h7am-8pm; E) The and a strip of attached bungalows. None are Hpa-an branch of a famous restaurant in huge, but the more expensive include air- Taunggyi, Shan State, Yadanar 2 serves up con, TV and fridge. The cheaper rooms lack tasty Shan noodles, as well as noodle soups, windows and are a tight fit. The location, dumplings and a nice lemon fish dish. about 2 miles east of the clock tower, isn’t convenient. Khit Thit Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $ (2/247 Zaydan St; mains from K3500; h8am- 10pm; vE) Chinese-inspired dishes fill the Hotel Gabbana HOTEL $$ menu at this friendly, clean place that also (%058-22425; www.hpa-anhotelgabbana.com; Basic Education High School 1 St; r incl breakfast shows the soccer. The English-language US$45-70; aW) The best of the midrange menu has many options, including plenty options in Hpa-an itself. Rooms aren’t huge, of vegetarian ones, or it’s OK just for a beer. So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r EKHaaptyai-nagnS tat e but they are comfortable with modern bath- rooms and some come with decent views of Lucky 1 CHINESE, BURMESE $ (Zaydan St; mains from K3500, beers from K700; Mt Zwegabin. Efficient, English-speaking h8am-11pm; E) This popular place is the staff and a reasonably central location 10 minutes’ walk from the central clock tower. closest thing Hpa-an has to a bar – with Kirin and Myanmar lager on tap – and also serves reasonable Chinese-style dishes. Hotel Zwekabin HOTEL $$ (%058-22556; Hpa-an–Mawlamyine Rd; r incl breakfast US$70-90; aW) This hotel boasts White TEAHOUSE $ (cnr Thitsar & Bo Gyoke Sts; tea & snacks from a park-like atmosphere at the foot of lime- K250; h5am-8pm) It’s rather grungy but stone karsts opposite Mt Zwegabin. The best rooms are the vast duplex bungalows this teahouse serves decent tea and freshly baked naan – great for breakfast. It’s just with balconies taking in the view; the still-­ north of the clock tower. spacious ‘Premier’ and ‘Superior’ rooms are in a two-storey condo-like bloc. Located 4 6 Drinking & Nightlife miles outside of town, it’s not a very conven- ient place to stay if you don’t have your own New Day CAFE wheels. (3/624 Bo Gyoke St; drinks from K600; h8am- 4pm) This modern cafe features real coffee, oHpa-an Lodge tasty fruit shakes and a variety of baked HOTEL $$$ (%09 2533 07774; www.hpa-an-lodge.com; base of Mt Zwegabin; r US$200-350; aWs) Set around goods, although its hours are often irregular. an attractive, spacious garden with Mt Zwe- 88 Information gabin looming overhead, the Hpa-an Lodge is the swishest place in the area. French-run, Slow internet is available at the Aung Seven it features 18 bungalow-style rooms. All are Internet Cafe (Bo Gyoke St; per hour K500; big – the two family rooms are two-storey h10am-8pm), just east of the clock tower. All houses – and very comfortable and superbly guesthouses and hotels have wi-fi. maintained. You’ll need to book well in ad- vance here, even in the rainy season. Money can be exchanged at the KBZ Bank (Zay- dan St; h9.30am-3pm), which also has an ATM. 5 Eating 88 Getting There & Around oSan Ma Tau Myanmar BOAT There is no official ferry between Hpa-an and Restaurant BURMESE $ Mawlamyine, but private boats that carry 10 (1/290 Bo Gyoke St; curries from K2000; h11am- to 14 people can be chartered for K10,000 per 9pm; E) This local institution is one of our person. Galaxy Motel (p121) and Soe Brothers favourite Burmese restaurants anywhere in Guesthouse (p122) can arrange this. the country. The friendly and popular place

124 Emerging at the cave’s far side, the won- ders only increase and the burst of sunlight BUS & PICK-UP TRUCK reveals an idyllic secret lake full of ducks Hpa-an’s bus station is located about 4 miles and flowering lilies hidden in a bowl of crag- east of town, but tickets can be bought and gy peaks. There is another cave on the far buses boarded at the ticket stalls (Bo Gyoke side of the lake that is actually half flooded, St; h 6am-9pm) near the clock tower. Buses to but local fishers occasionally paddle through Mawlamyine also stop here and at other spots the cave for 10 minutes to yet another lake. around town. All hotels and guesthouses can You may be able to persuade one to take you arrange tickets. along. Vans (share taxis) to Myawaddy (K8000 to Saddan Cave can be traversed only par- 10,000, four to six hours) depart from a stall (Bo tially during the rainy season. Come here Gyoke St; K9000; h hourly 6am-9am) near the during the dry season (around November clock tower intersection. to April) for the full experience. The cave is 17 miles from Hpa-an along the road to So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r KSA iragyohiuntnsSdt&HaAtpceat- ai vni t i e s DESTINATION BUS Eindu. To get here, take a pick-up to Eindu Bago K5000; 6hr; daily 6am-9pm (K1000). From the village take a motorbike Kyaikto K5000; 4hr; daily 6am-9pm taxi (K2000) for the remaining 2 miles to Mandalay K15,000; 12hr; daily 5pm & 6pm the cave. Mawlamyine K1000; 1½hr; hourly 6am-4pm Yangon K5000; 7-8hr; daily 6am-9pm Mt Hpan Pu HIKING (ဖားပုေတာင)္ Mt Hpan Pu is a craggy, pagoda-t­opped peak that can be scaled in Around Hpa-an one sweaty morning. To get here, hop on a boat across the Thanlwin River (K500, every The real highlights of Hpa-an are all scattered 30 minutes from 6am to 6pm) from the in- about the divine countryside out of town. formal jetty (K500; h6am-6pm, every 30min) While many of these sights are potentially near Shweyinhmyaw Paya. After reaching accessible by public transport, you’d need to the other side, you’ll walk through a quiet devote several days to them and be prepared village before the steep but relatively short to give your leg muscles a workout. There- ascent to the top. fore, almost everyone takes a motorbike (or thoun bein; motorised trishaw) tour that cir- The views of the river, the surrounding cumnavigates Mt Zwegabin, stopping at all of rice fields and limestone cliffs (including Mt the main sights. A full-day tour costs K30,000 Zwegabin) are astounding. per vehicle (up to six passengers) or K5000 per person, while a half-day tour, hitting des- Kyauk Kalap BUDDHIST MONASTERY tinations of your choice, runs from K15,000 (ေက်ာကက္ လပ;္ hdaylight hours) F to K20,000. Soe Brothers Guesthouse (p122), Standing proud in the middle of a small, ar- Galaxy Motel (p121) and Golden Sky Guest- tificial lake is Kyauk Kalap, a tall finger of house (p122) all organise tours. sheer rock mounted by one of the most un- likely pagodas in Myanmar. The rock offers 1 Sights & Activities great views of the surrounding countryside oSaddan Cave CAVE and nearby Mt Zwegabin, and is allegedly the best place to see the sunset over this (ဆဒၵန္ဂ;ူ hdaylight hours) F This football-­ mountain. stadium-sized cave is simply breathtaking, its entrance dominated by dozens of bud- A round-trip by motorcycle taxi from Hpa- dhas statues, a couple of pagodas and some an will cost K6000, or K10,000 by thoun newer clay wall carvings. bein. In absolute darkness (bring a torch; oth- The compound is a working monastery erwise for a donation of K3000, they’ll turn and is closed every day from noon to 1pm to on the lights for you), you can scramble for allow the monks to meditate. 15 minutes through black chambers as high The monastery is also where the high- as a cathedral, truck-sized stalactites and, in ly respected monk U Winaya, whose solid support of democracy leader Aung San Suu places, walls of crystal. Kyi is well known in Myanmar, first resid- Adding to the general atmosphere, thou- ed. U Winaya passed away several years ago and his body was entombed in a glass case sands of bats cling to the cave roof. The at Thamanyat Kyaung, another monastery squealing from them is deafening in places; watch out for bat excrement.

125 MT ZWEGABIN So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r KGA raeyottiuninnSdgtHaTtpheae-raen & Away The tallest of the limestone mountains that ring Hpa-an is Mt Zwegabin (ဇဲြကပငေ္ တာင)္ , about 7 miles south of town, which as well as being a respectable 2372ft, is also home to spirits and saintly souls. The two-hour hike to the summit is demanding – up many steps and with aggressive monkeys as constant adversaries – but once at the top the rewards are plentiful. The summit takes in staggering views, a small monastery and a stupa containing, yes, you guessed it, another hair from the Buddha. If you arrive at the top before noon you can take advantage of a complimentary lunch (rice, orange and tea) and the 11am mon- key feeding – different primates, different menus. The descent down the east side of the mountain takes around 1½ hours. At the time of writing, there was talk of a cable car being constructed in the near future. You can go to the mountain on a tour from a guesthouse. Alternatively, motorcycle taxis do the return trip for K5000, while a thoun bein is K10,000. The hike starts with a 15-minute walk through a village to the base of the mountain on the west side past hun- dreds (1150 to be precise – don’t believe us? Get counting!) of identical Buddha statues lined up row after row. It is possible to stay at the monastery overnight for a K5000 donation, but sleeping conditions are very simple. about 25 miles southeast of Hpa-an. On one two of which are generally open to the pub- night in April 2007, the monk’s body was lic. Kaw Ka Thawng is the first cave you’ll stolen (allegedly by soldiers) and has never come to and has been gentrified with slip- been recovered. pery tile floors and numerous buddha stat- ues. Continuing along a path, you’ll pass the Kawgun Cave & Yathaypyan Cave CAVE stairway to another cave that’s not normally (ေကာဂနြ း္ ဂ|ူ ရေသျ့ ပနဂ္ ;ူ Kawgun Cave K3000, open. Near the end of the path, you’ll reach camera fee K500, Yathaypyan Cave free; hdaylight an inviting spring-fed swimming hole and hours) The 7th-century artwork of the Kaw- another water-filled cave that also serves as gun Cave consists of thousands of tiny clay a swimming hole. buddhas and carvings plastered all over the walls and roof of this open cavern. Just over a Splitting from the path before the first mile away is the Yathaypyan Cave, which con- cave, a long bridge leads to Lakkana Vil- tains several pagodas as well as a few more lage, a picturesque Kayin village, the back- clay wall carvings. Both caves are partially drop to which includes Mt Zwegabin, and inaccessible during the rainy season (June to which has been featured in numerous My- October). A return-trip by motorcycle taxi is anmar films and videos. K6000; a thoun bein will cost K10,000. The countryside here is drop-dead gor- Kawgun was constructed by King Manu- geous and you could easily spend a day aha after he was defeated in battle and had walking and swimming. to take sanctuary in these caves. Impressive as it is today, you can only imagine what it Kaw Ka Thawng Cave is about 7 miles was like a few years back, before a cement from Hpa-an along the road to Eindu. From factory, in its quest for limestone, started dy- the stall on Zaydan St in Hpa-an, hop on a namiting the nearby peaks – the vibrations pick-up truck to Eindu (K1000; h7am-3pm) caused great chunks of the art to crash to and ask to be dropped off at Kaw Ka Thawng the floor and shatter. Cave. A round-trip by motorcycle taxi will cost K6000, or by thoun bein it is K10,000. If you have a torch you can traverse Ya- thaypyan Cave, which takes about 10 min- 88 Getting There & Away utes, after which you’ll emerge at a viewpoint. Some of the closer attractions can also be Kaw Ka Thawng Cave CAVE reached by bicycle. Bikes (K2000 per day) and motorcycles (K7000 per day) can be rented at (ေကာကေသာငဂ္ ;ူ hdaylight hours) F This the guesthouses or at Good Luck Motorbike area actually consists of three caves, only Rent (Thitsar St; h 8am-8pm).

126 Myawaddy ျမဝတီ a noted Buddhist temple, called Wat Don POP C 113,155 / %058 Jarakhe in Thai, and named for its gaudy, crocodile-shaped sanctuary. The temple is For decades, Myawaddy, located on the Moei an easy walk from the Friendship Bridge. River opposite the Thai city of Mae Sot, al- ternated between dodgy border town and 4 Sleeping & Eating intermittent battleground. But with the fighting between the Myanmar army and Restaurants – Burmese and Thai – can be various Karen insurgent groups now largely found along AH1, Myawaddy’s main drag. over, and the 2013 opening of the frontier Myawaddy Hotel HOTEL $ (%058-50519; cnr AH1 & Nat Shin Naung St; r incl paving the way for Asian Highway 1 (AH1) breakfast US$22-30; aW) Conveniently locat- to be Southeast Asia’s first real transnational conduit, Myawaddy is now a booming trad- ed 0.3 miles from the border, the Myawaddy Hotel has small but clean and well-equipped ing post. For travellers it remains a transit (air-con, TV, fridge) rooms. point and of little intrinsic interest. 1 Sights 88 Getting There & Away So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r MSK iaygyahiwntasSdtdayt e Shwe Muay Wan Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE DESTINATION VAN (SHARE TAXI) Hpa-an (ေရႊေမွာဝ္ နး္ ဘရု ား; Dar Tu Kalair St; hdaylight Mawlamyine K9000; 6hr; hourly 6am-9am hours) F Within walking distance of the Friendship Bridge, Shwe Muay Wan Paya is Yangon K10,000; 4-6hr; frequent Myawaddy’s most important temple, a tradi- 6am-4pm tional bell-shaped stupa gilded with pounds of gold and topped by more than 1600 pre- K25,000; 14hr; frequent 6am-5pm cious and semiprecious gems. The daily bus to Yangon (K15,000, 16 hours, 5am) departs from a small office on Pattamyar St. Myikyaungon Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE White vans (share taxis) wait on the corner (ေျမေက်ာင္းကနု ဘ္ ုရား; Nat Shin Naung St; of AH1 and Pattamyar St, a short walk from the hdaylight hours) F Myikyaungon Paya is border. GETTING TO THAILAND: MYAWADDY TO MAE SOT You can enter and exit Myanmar to/from Thailand via the Friendship Bridge linking Myawaddy and Mae Sot in northern Thailand’s Tak Province. Note that Myanmar visas are not available at the border: they must be obtained in advance. If you have an e-visa, you are able to enter and exit Myanmar here. Getting to the border Vans (share taxis) and buses linking Myawaddy with Hpa-an, Mawlamyine and Yangon terminate a short walk from the Friendship Bridge. At the border The Myanmar immigration office (%058-50100; AH1, Myawaddy; h6am-6pm) is at the foot of the Friendship Bridge. After walking across the 0.25 mile bridge, if you don’t already have a visa, the Thai Immigration office (%+066 55 56 3004; AH1, Mae Sot; h6.30am-6.30pm) will grant you permission to stay in Thailand up to 15 days, or 30 days if you hold a passport from one of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States or the United Kingdom). If you’re crossing from Thailand and don’t already have a Myanmar visa, it’s possible to cross for the day, paying a fee of US$10 or 500B for a one-day visit and leaving your passport at the border. Then you’re free to wander around Myawaddy as long as you’re back at the bridge by 5.30pm Myanmar time (which is half an hour behind Thai time) to pick up your passport and check out with immigration. Moving on Mae Sot’s bus station is located 2 miles east of the border and has good con- nections to destinations in northern Thailand and Bangkok. Mae Sot’s airport is 2 miles east of the border, from where Nok Air (www.nokair.co.th) operates four daily flights to Bangkok. Both the bus station and airport can be reached by frequent sŏrng·tăa·ou (pick-ups) that run between the Friendship Bridge and Mae Sot from 6am to 6pm (20B). For further information, head to shop.lonelyplanet.com to purchase a downloadable PDF of the Northern Thailand section from Lonely Planet’s Thailand guide.

127 MAUNGMAGAN, NABULE & TEYZIT BEACHES So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r GTDaaenwttieniinthgaTrhyeirRee&g iAownay Dawei’s most accessible beach is Maungmagan, a wide, sandy strip spanning approxi- mately 7 miles along a pretty bay. On weekdays, and outside holiday periods, you’re likely to have it to yourself, save for the occasional fisher. Opposite the beach is a collection of three island groups: Maungmagan, Heinze and Launglon, known collectively in English as the Middle Miscos. Due to a natural profusion of wild boar, barking deer, sambar and swiftlets (sea swallows), these islands belong to a marine sanctuary established by the British in 1927 and are still officially protected. Places to stay at Maungmagan beach include the Burmese/French-run Coconut Guesthouse & Restaurant (%09 42371 3681; www.coconutguesthouse.com; Phaw Taw Oo St, Maungmagan; r incl breakfast US$20-40; aW), near the village a brief walk from the beach, and the waterfront yet bland Maungmagan Beach Resort (%09 42220 1819; Maungmagan; r incl breakfast K35,000-75,0000,; a) at the rocky southern end of the beach. Burmese and European food is available at the former’s restaurant. There is also a string of beachside seafood shacks at the road head – on weekends and holidays this end of the beach draws a crowd – as well as restaurants in Maungmagan village itself. Maungmagan is around 11 miles west of Dawei via a narrow road that winds through villages, rubber plantations and over a high ridge. There’s a daily, very crowded truck (Arzarni Rd) that departs from near Dawei’s Si Pin Tharyar Zei (p129) at around 7am (K1000 per person); otherwise motorcycles go to Maungmagan for K5000, thoun bein for K12,000 and taxis for K25,000. From Maungmagan village, trucks depart for Dawei from the market area when bursting from 7am to 8am (1000K). As well as Maungmagan, there are a number of stunning and very empty white-sand beaches that can be reached on day trips from Dawei or Maungmagan. For now, facilities are virtually non-existent, bar the odd simple restaurant, and the roads leading to the beaches are bad. You could hire a taxi for a day in Dawei (K60,000) to reach them. But the few travellers who do venture here normally do so on motorbikes that can be hired at Coconut Guesthouse & Restaurant in Maungmagan. About 13 miles north of Maungmagan is Nabule, a lovely strip of sand with a golden pagoda at the north end of the beach. Access is via a bad road; count on a three-hour motorbike ride from Dawei or two hours from Maungmagan. Around 25 miles south of Dawei is Teyzit, a wide white-sand beach that is perhaps the prettiest in the area. There’s a small fishing village here, where you can find food, but the last stretch of the road to the beach is poor; allow three hours to get here. TANINTHARYI REGION known under British rule. These days, Tanin- တနသၤာရီတုိင္း tharyi’s proximity to Thailand means that there is a constant movement of both goods The deep south of Myanmar, known today and people across the border, with many lo- as Tanintharyi Region, is a beach bum’s cals going to Thailand as migrant workers. dream. The coastline consists of long, sandy beaches fronting a vast archipelago of more Dawei than 800 largely uninhabited islands, most of which have seen very few visitors. Away POP C 80,120 / % 059 from the beaches, the few significant towns here are all ports, which have centuries of The area near the mouth of the Dawei Riv- history behind them as trading posts with er has been inhabited for five centuries or both the East and West. more, mostly by Mon and Thai mariners. The present town dates from 1751 when it Trade brought foreigners to Tanintharyi was a minor port for the Ayuthaya empire as far back as 1545, when a Portuguese ex- in Thailand (then Siam). From this point, it peditionary chronicle refers to Tanancarim, bounced back and forth between Burmese somewhere along the northwest coast of the and Siamese rule until the British took over Thai–Malay Peninsula. That Portuguese ren- in 1826. dering became Tenasserim in later European records, the name by which the region was Dawei remains a sleepy seaside town, despite being the administrative capital of

128 e#0 200 m 0 0.1 miles Dawei B C D A Payagyi Shwethalyaung Daw Mu & Shinmokhti Paya (6mi) D (370m) D Ye Rd 1 Bus Ticket 1 Vendors 8 ›# ü# 12 Hse Yone St 11 #ú KBZ #ì # Air Neik Ban St 9 ú# #ú Bank KBZ Pakaukukyaung St 5 ÿ# Myotedwin St ÿ# 6 ú# 10 U Kyaw Yin Rd Ye Yeik Thar St Bogyoke Rd 2 ÿ# 2 4 ñ# 7 So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TSDaiagnwhietnisthary i R e g i o n Dawei Ye Yeiktha Rd River Ye Rd ÿ# (400m) 3 Truck to 1 D MaungmaganStrand Rd 3 #æ ›# Arzarni Rd æ# 2 3 66#æ ABCD Dawei ing rights abuses such as forced land confis- cations and concerns over the environmen- æ Sights tal impact. The first phase of the project is 1 Division Development expected to be finished in 2018. Committee ........................................C3 2 Office of Tanintharyi Division .............C3 1 Sights 3 Si Pin Tharyar Zei ................................B3 For a relatively small town, Dawei has a ÿ Sleeping disproportionate amount of interesting ar- 4 Garden Hotel........................................C2 chitecture, with many old wooden houses in 5 Golden Guest Hotel .............................A2 the two-storey vernacular, with hipped roof 6 Hotel Zayar Htet San...........................C2 lines and plenty of temple-like carved wood 7 Shwe Moung Than Hotel.....................D2 ornamentation. Mixed in are more modest thatch-roofed bungalows and colonial-era ú Eating brick-and-stucco mansions, shophouses 8 Hla Hla Hnan ........................................ B1 and offices, including the pale green, almost 9 Meik Hswe ............................................ B1 church-like 1941 Division Development 10 Pearl Princess Restaurant ..................D2 Committee (Arzarni Rd) and the impos- 11 Tha Hto Daw San Family Rice ing 1928 Office of Tanintharyi Division & Curry Shop .................................... C1 (Arzarni Rd). û Drinking & Nightlife Payagyi BUDDHIST TEMPLE 12 Forty Five Bakery................................. C1 (ဘုရားႀကးီ ; Payar Rd; hdaylight hours) F Tanintharyi Region. That will change in the The main Buddhist monastery in town, col- next few years as work on the long-delayed loquially referred to as Payagyi (Big Pagoda), Dawei Project, consisting of a deep-sea port is an expansive glittering, Disneyland-like set to rival Singapore’s and the largest indus- compound centred on Shwe Taung Za trial zone in Southeast Asia, gets going prop- Paya, an immense gilded stupa. erly. Part-funded by Thailand and Japan, the A sculpture of Dharani, the earth god- project is controversial, with many locals cit- dess, standing in the corner of one of the compound’s main thein is a much-venerated

129 object of worship among the people of Da- mystery, but it’s most likely linked to a sim- wei, who rub her breasts, thighs and shoul- ilar custom brought by Indian immigrants ders for good luck. many decades ago. Shwethalyaung Daw 4 Sleeping Mu & Shinmokhti Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Garden Hotel HOTEL $ (ေရႊသာေလ်ာငး္ ေတာ္မူဘုရားၾကးီ ႏွင့္ရွင္မုတိၳ (%059-22116; www.gardenhoteldawei.blogspot. ဘုရား; hdaylight hours) F Completed in 1931 and measuring 240ft long and 69ft com; 88 Ye Rd; r US$20-43; aW) An attractive, spacious 1940s-era building encompassing high, Shwethalyaung Daw Mu is the largest both fan-cooled cheapies and several larg- reclining Buddha in the country. A couple of miles up the road is Shinmokhti Paya, dat- er, well-equipped, if old-fashioned, air-con rooms. All rooms are well maintained and ing back to 1438 and one of four shrines in the staff are helpful. the country housing a Sinhalese Buddha im- age supposedly incorporating pieces of the original Bodhi tree. Shwe Moung Than Hotel HOTEL $ (%059-23764; [email protected]; Shinmokhti Paya is located about 6 miles 665 Pakaukukyang St; r incl breakfast K20,000- from Dawei; a round trip thoun bein stop- ping off at both temples should cost K10,000. 37,000; aW) The Shwe Moung Than Hotel So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TDF aeasnwtieniivtahlasry& iERveegnitosn is a bright-pink edifice that looks new, even if the rooms feel less fresh. But they’re big, Si Pin Tharyar Zei MARKET clean and comfortable enough. The cheap- (Arzani Rd; h5am-6pm) Dawei’s main mar- est top-floor rooms (no lift) are a good deal, ket has the usual selection of food produce, clothes and household goods. but have cold-water showers and no TV. z Festivals & Events oHotel Zayar Htet San HOTEL $$ (%059-23902; [email protected]; 566 Ye Yeik Thar St; r incl breakfast US$40-60; aW) Thingyan Festival CULTURAL (hApr) During the annual Thingyan festival This eye-catching hotel is easily the most in April, Dawei’s male residents don huge, 13ft-high bamboo-frame effigies and dance stylish and contemporary accommodation in Dawei, as well as the best value. Rooms down the streets to the beat of the kalakod- are decent sized, well equipped and feature aun, an Indian long drum. The origin of this custom, peculiar to Dawei, seems to be a the most comfortable beds in southern My- anmar. Good breakfast and helpful staff. GETTING TO THAILAND: HTEE KHEE TO PHU NAM RON The border crossing from Htee Khee to Phu Nam Ron is the most remote and least-used of Myanmar’s open land borders with Thailand. Note that Myanmar visas are not avail- able at the border and that if you have an e-visa, you cannot cross this frontier in either direction. Getting to the border From Dawei, minivans (K20,000, five hours, 6am and 7am) make the run to the tiny outpost of Htee Khee daily in the morning. Coming from the Thai side, the nearest big town is Kanchanaburi, from where buses go to the Thai border town of Phu Nam Ron (70B, two hours, 10.30am, 11.30am and 12.30pm). It’s best to be on the 10.30am bus, as transport on the Myanmar side is scarce in the afternoon. At the border After being stamped out of Myanmar, catch the shuttle bus (50B) or take a motorcycle taxi (100B) across the six miles of no-man’s land that separates the Myanmar border post from the Thai one. On the Thai side, the authorities will issue you permission to stay in Thailand for up to 15 days – 30 days if you hold a passport from a G7 country – or you can enter with a Thai visa obtained overseas. If you’re coming from Thailand, you must already have a Myanmar visa, in which case you’ll be given permis- sion to enter Myanmar for 28 days. Moving on From Htee Khee, minivans make the bumpy five-hour journey to Dawei along a partly unsealed road and charge K30,000 or 800B. From Phu Nam Ron, there are four buses daily to Kanchanaburi, from where there are frequent daily buses to Bangkok (120B, 2½ hours).

130 Golden Guest Hotel HOTEL $$ and steamed and grilled fish at reasonable (%059-21351; [email protected]; prices. You eat on raised platforms under a 59 Myotedwin St; r incl breakfast US$40-65; aW) bamboo roof. It’s a few hundred metres east The single rooms at this new-ish place are of Maungmagan Beach Resort. tight, but the doubles are spacious and com- fortable with decent bathrooms. The rooftop Pearl Princess restaurant offers great views over Dawei. Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $$ (572 Ye Yeik Thar St; mains K4500-8000; h7am- Competent staff. Popular with tour groups. 9.30pm; E) We’d recommend avoiding the 5 Eating & Drinking same-named hotel, but the attached restau- rant offers a decent take on Chinese-style Hla Hla Hnan BURMESE $ dishes, as well as more pricey seafood, and (Neik Ban St; dishes from K200; hnoon-9pm) In addition to selling the requisite ingredients it’s one of the more popular restaurants in town at both lunch and dinner. for leq·p’eq thouq (Burmese tea-leaf salad) this vendor also serves a selection of other equally delicious Burmese-style salads in- Forty Five Bakery CAFE cluding ginger, tomato, pennywort (a type of (Hse Yone St; drinks from K700; h8am-9pm) This hole-in-the-wall cafe does proper coffee, as So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r EDTaatnwienigth&arDyr i nRkeignigo n herb) and shauq·thi (a type of citrus fruit). well as Thai-style iced green teas. There’s a There’s no English-language menu, but or- small selection of cakes and sandwiches too. ders can be made by pointing to the raw ingredients. 88 Information Tha Hto Daw San Family Currency exchange and an international ATM are available at KBZ Bank (Neik Ban St; h 9.30am- Rice & Curry Shop BURMESE $ 3pm Mon-Sat). (506 Hse Yone St; curries from K1500; h10am- 9pm) Daw San has been serving tasty Bur- mese curry dishes to the people of Dawei 88 Getting There & Away for over 40 years. Be sure to add a vegetable dish (K500) to your curry order. Air KBZ (% in Dawei 059-23833, in Yangon 01-372 977; www.airkbz.com; Neik Ban St; Meik Hswe BURMESE $ h 9am-5.30pm), Myanmar National Airlines (Neik Ban St; snacks from K300, noodles K1200; (www.flymna.com) and Apex Airlines (www. h5am-5pm) In addition to good snacks and apexairline.com) operate daily flights to Myeik, frothy tea, this friendly and popular Muslim Kawthoung and Yangon out of Dawei’s airport. teashop does tasty noodles and, on Thursdays, hearty biryani dishes (K2000). It’s next door Three companies run speedboats from Dawei, to a mosque: look for the small English sign. with boats bound for Myeik and Kawthoung. Boats depart daily at 4.30am, but the ocean pier Esso Seafood Restaurant SEAFOOD $$ is 20 miles downstream from Dawei, so you’ll (%09-2507 34865; Maungmagan Beach; mains be picked up from your hotel at midnight for the K6000-10,500; h7am-9.30pm; E) Many of ferry transfer. Tickets are sold at various loca- the beachside restaurants at Maungmagan tions near the main market on Arzani Rd, Si Pin close during the week. This place stays open Tharyar Zei, and near the bus ticket vendors on and offers good baked crab, prawn dishes Ye St. Hotels can also book tickets. Note that the boats mostly don’t run in the rainy season. Dawei’s bus station is inconveniently located a couple miles northeast of the city centre, but DAWEI TRANSPORT CONNECTIONS DESTINATION AIR (DAILY) BOAT BUS Htee Khee (for N/A N/A K20,000 (minivan); 5hr; daily 6am & 7am Thailand) Kawthoung from US$75; 80min US$70; 12hr; 4.30am K30,000-35,000; 22hr; 5am Mawlamyine N/A Myeik from US$47; 35min N/A K12,000-13,000; 8hr; 5am, 1pm & 5pm Yangon from US$105; 70min US$30; 4hr; 4.30am K8000-10,000; 8hr; 5am Ye N/A N/A K15,000; 14hr; 5am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 5pm N/A K6000-8000; 4hr; 5am, 1pm & 5pm

131 tickets can be purchased in advance from the port Mergui, eventually re-occupied Myeik So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r MTGaeyntetiinki nthgaArryoi uRnedg i o n various vendors near the canal on Ye Rd (al- following the First Anglo-Burmese War in though you’ll still have to board your bus at the 1826, so that along with Sittwe, Myeik be- station). Minivans depart from their offices on Ye came one of the first cities in Myanmar to St, or will pick you up at your hotel. become part of British India. The city con- tinued to retain its international roots into It is possible to catch a minivan from Dawei to the 20th century, as this 1901 British census Htee Khee, where you can cross the border to of Myeik indicates: Thailand. A considerable proportion of the popu- Dawei has a train station, but at the time of lation in the town and mines is Baba or writing, trains were not running south of the city. half-Chinese, the men retaining the pig- tail but talking Burmese or Siamese […] 88 Getting Around Of the Musalmans [Muslims], between 2000 and 3000 are Malays and the The centre of Dawei is accessible on foot. To hire rest nearly all Zarbadis. Living in boats a taxi for a day (K50,000 to K60,000, depending among the island in a very low stage of on where you are going), ask at your hotel. civilisation is a wild people of obscure origin, called by the Burmese Salon, by Dawei’s airport is about 2 miles northeast of the Malays Orang Basin, by the Siamese town; a motorcycle taxi there should run about Chaunam (waterfolk), and by them- K2000. Dawei’s bus station is located northeast selves Maw Ken (drowned in the sea). of the airport; a thoun bein to/from will cost about K3000. Myeik မြိတ် The Japanese invaded in 1941, but by 1945 POP C 115,140 / % 059 Myeik was back in British hands, until inde- Myeik sits on a peninsula that juts into the pendence was achieved in 1948. Andaman Sea. With a location roughly half- Sights 1way between the Middle East and China, not to mention the safe harbour offered by the With a temple-topped hill at its back, a wide peninsula and facing islands, Myeik became harbour at its breast, and a hilly island oppo- an important international port over 500 site, Myeik is one of Myanmar’s more hand- years ago. some towns. The town’s long trading history The legacy of that long trading history is a means that even today there are still distinct multicultural population, with the descend- Muslim, Chinese and Catholic quarters. ants of Chinese and Indian Muslim traders Despite a 1989 fire that destroyed as many joined by Bamar, Mon and Moken (sea gyp- as 3900 buildings, Myeik is still home to sies) people. Myeik’s intriguing past is also some beautiful classic architecture, much reflected in its buildings, with grand Sino-­ of it allegedly haunted. Crumbling Chinese-­ Portuguese houses jostling with mosques, style godowns (warehouses) line parts of churches, traditional wooden homes and Strand Rd, several grand shophouses can be colonial-era mansions to create a kaleido- found in the blocks that surround the Sake scope of architectural styles. Myeik is still a Nge Zei market, and some beautiful old Sino-­ bustling port today. It’s home to a large fish- Portuguese mansions can be found along ing fleet, as well as being the centre of Myan- SHS (2) St, east of Assumption Church. mar’s pearl industry, and, along with the port of Kawthoung, is the gateway to the 800-odd oTheindawgyi Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE islands of the Myeik Archipelago. (သိမ္ေတာ္ႀကီးဘုရား; off Bo Gyoke Rd; hday- light hours) F Myeik’s most venerated History Buddhist temple, Theindawgyi Paya sits on a ridge overlooking the city and harbour. The Portuguese were allegedly the first Eu- A beautiful, Mon-style ordination hall of ropeans to visit Myeik, while the Siamese wood, brick and stucco contains an impres- (Thais), who ruled the area during the 17th sive painted and carved ceiling, a ‘Europe- century, installed Englishman Samuel White an pose’ buddha towards the front entry, 28 as harbourmaster. White proceeded to plun- smaller buddhas along its two sides, a large der visiting ships at will and to tax the lo- meditation buddha in the centre and a size­ cal population for every shilling he could able reclining buddha at the back. A tall gilded squeeze out of them, exploits described in stupa stands on a broad platform, allowing Maurice Collis’ 1936 biography of the man, excellent views of the city and harbour. Siamese White. The British, who called the

132 Myeik e# 0 200 m A 0 0.1 miles B C DD Andaman Strand Rd SHS (1) St Zan Pya (150m); Sea 6 ÿ# Eain Taw Phyu 11 Hotel (0.7 mi); Pataw Padet #ú 9 15 8 #ú Dolphin Guest House (1mi); 1 Kyun (700m) #æ Nar K5aÿ#nphyar Rd 1 3 ›# ú# Palé Mon Hotel (1.7mi); f# #– (2.3mi); Speedboat Yi Shin Clock Gen#eral Ticket Vendors Tower Aung San Highway ›# (2.5 mi) (B) St St # YTohnmeaStta Sa Ga War St Monument 14 ›#ZBaaytTSa#æut ng4 D Theindawgyi # 13 Paya ñ# Ú# 1 Pyi Taw Thar St f# Jf#SetatkyeRNdge#ú12 2 Sake Nge Bo Gyoke Rd #ì KBZ Bank 2 Jetty #ì AGD Bank Independence # Monument So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TSMaiygnehiitnksthary i R e g i o n TYGaaaNedaTarweSiYntaSt Assumption Ü# SHS (2) St Church Ú# 2 3 3 ÿ# 7 44 # Mosque ú# 10 ABCD Kadan Island ISLAND for its two prominent hills. There’s no swim- ming on the island. Instead, it’s a short walk (ကဒနက္ ၽြန္း) If you want to see an island of from the boat landing to a large, hollow the Myeik Archipelago without taking an reclining buddha, Atula Shwethalyaung, expensive yacht tour, catch the ferry from which lies at the foot of rocky, jungle-­covered Sake Nge Jetty (p134) to Kadan Island, 45 Padet Hill to the south. At 66m it’s the third-­ minutes away from Myeik. Don’t expect to longest reclining buddha in Myanmar – find any beaches: Kadan is mostly forest and but with a twist: it’s a hollow cement form mangrove swamps (good for bird-watching). with an interior walkway lined with comic- But the locals are friendly and you’ll get a strip-like stories of the Buddha’s past lives. taste of island life. The ferry docks in Kyun- su, the ‘capital’ of Kadan, where there are Boats can be chartered from the small restaurants and shops, and you can hire jetty (Strand Rd) at the west end of Pyi Taw motorbikes (K6000 per day). Note that for- Thar St (return trip K3000 to K5000, de- eigners are not allowed to stay overnight here, pending on your bargaining skills). although that may change in the future. There are three ferries a day to Kadan (K1000, 45 Myeik Harbour LANDMARK minutes, 8am, 11am and 3pm). The last ferry (Strand Rd) Myeik’s vast harbourfront is worth a stroll to watch stevedores loading back to Myeik returns at 3.30pm. and offloading cargo from ships and the Pataw Padet Kyun ISLAND fishing boats preparing to go to sea. At (ပေတာပတတ္ကြ်နး္ ) Located directly oppo- night, it’s pretty when the boats have their site Myeik’s harbour, this island is named lights on.

133 Myeik The most popular destinations include So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TMAacynteiivnkitthi ae sry i R e g i o n Turtle Egg Island and Dome Island (p135), æ Top Sights which offer white-sand beaches and snor- 1 Theindawgyi Paya................................B2 kelling, and Mergui Island, where you can hike in the jungly interior. Prices include æ Sights food, snorkelling equipment and a guide. It’s 2 Bu Paya Zedi ........................................A3 possible to sleep overnight on some islands 3 Myeik Harbour ..................................... A1 in tents, although most people sleep aboard 4 Sake Nyein Zei ..................................... B1 the boat. Ø Activities, Courses & Tours 4 Sleeping Life Seeing Tours..........................(see 5) Myeik’s accommodation scene has improved ÿ Sleeping dramatically in the last couple of years, al- 5 Hotel Grand Jade................................. B1 though foreign visitors are relatively scarce 6 Sun Guest House................................. C1 compared to elsewhere in Myanmar. Most 7 White Pearl Guesthouse .....................A3 hotels and guesthouses are located close to the harbour and seafront. The cheapest ú Eating places along Strand Rd aren’t licensed to ac- 8 G Apparao Restaurant ........................ C1 cept foreigners. 9 G-Naidu ................................................ B1 10 Kaq Kyi Kaiq .........................................B4 White Pearl Guesthouse GUESTHOUSE $ 11 Karaweik............................................... C1 (%09 2528 88812; whitepearlhotelmyeik@gmail. 12 Shwe Mon.............................................A2 com; 97/98 Middle Strand Rd; r incl breakfast US$14-45; aW) The rooms are compact at ï Information this new place, especially the cheapest ones, 13 Sun Far .................................................B2 which are fan-only and share bathrooms, but the price is right and the more expen- ï Transport sive rooms offer a small harbour view. The 14 Bus & Minivan Ticket Offices..............A2 15 Bus Ticket Offices ............................... C1 English-speaking owner is around in the mornings and is knowledgeable and help- Bu Paya Zedi BUDDHIST TEMPLE ful, though other staff less so. Motorbikes (ဗူးဘရု ားေစတ;ီ off Bo Gyoke Rd; hdaylight hours) can be hired (K9000 per day) and boat trips F One of Myeik’s many hilltop temples with views over the harbour and town, Bu arranged. Paya Zedi also has an appealingly abandoned Sun Guest House GUESTHOUSE $ (%059-41745; 1 SHS (1) St; r incl breakfast US$25- feel and an abundance of mouldy, crumbling 40; aW) This guesthouse offers 22 decent-­ statues. sized and comfortable, if old-fashioned, Sake Nyein Zei MARKET rooms looked after by two charmingly over- (စိတၿ္ ငမိ း္ ေစ်း; Bo Gyoke Rd; h6am-6pm) Mye- bearing middle-aged ladies who don’t speak ik’s municipal market is a colourful collec- tion of enclosed stalls covering an entire city much English. A good local-style breakfast is served. block. Dolphin Guest House GUESTHOUSE $ 2 Activities (%059-42868; 139 Kanphyar Rd; r incl breakfast K25,000-35,000; aW) Dolphin Guest House Life Seeing Tours CRUISE is set in a vast cream-coloured villa hous- (%09 7809 80607; www.lifeseeingtours.com; Ho- ing equally spacious and clean rooms – the tel Grand Jade, 28-30 Kanphyar Rd; h9am-6pm) Kawthoung is the main Myanmar-based double rooms nearly echo – with wooden floors. It’s inconveniently located a mile or starting point for tours of the Myeik Archi- so northeast of the town centre. You won’t pelago, but there are a few travel companies in Myeik who arrange boat tours and they hear much English here. are normally cheaper than the ones in Ka- oEain Taw Phyu Hotel HOTEL $$ wthoung. This reputable operator offers day tours to outlying islands (US$120 per per- (%059-42055; [email protected]; 42 Kanphyar Rd; r incl breakfast US$65-150; aWs) son), as well as three-day cruises (US$360) Eain Taw Phyu is hands-down the best hotel and seven-day ones (US$1130). in Myeik and one of the better ones in all

134 southern Myanmar. Its 38 rooms come with Kaq Kyi Kaiq BURMESE $ their own mini-terraces and are modern, (dishes from K500; h6am-5pm) This hole-in- comfortable, spacious and tastefully deco- the-wall noodle vendor specialises in kaq kyi rated. Even the cheapest ones are a reasona- kaiq: scissor-cut noodles fried with seafood ble size. There’s a small swimming pool and or chicken in a wok over a wood fire. The efficient, English-speaking staff. shop is in the Muslim quarter (no roman-­ script sign), just down the road from a large Hotel Grand Jade HOTEL $$ blue mosque: you’ll see people gathered (%059-41906; www.hotelgrandjade.com; 28-30 Kanphyar Rd; r incl breakfast US$40-70; aW) around the wok. This new, Chinese-owned hotel is pro- G Apparao Restaurant BURMESE $ fessional, if anonymous, and good value. (Kanphyar Rd; tea & snacks from K300, noodles Rooms aren’t massive, but they are modern from K800; h24hr) This Muslim teashop and well appointed, and have decent beds. serves good tea and a variety of freshly made The more expensive have views of the har- snacks, as well as simple rice and noodle bour and Theindawgyi Paya. Tickets and dishes. It never closes. boat tours can be booked here and there’s a rooftop restaurant serving Chinese and G-Naidu INDIAN $ Thai food. (Kanphyar Rd; mains from K1200; h5am-8pm; E) So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TEMaytneiinkgthary i R e g i o n This teashop-restaurant sells tasty and cheap 5 Eating Southern Indian–style curries, biryanis and dosai. Look for the small English sign. You’d expect to find a plethora of seafood restaurants in central Myeik. Sadly that is 88 Information not the case, although the food stalls that spring up nightly along Strand Rd grill You can change money at KBZ Bank (Bo Gyoke prawns, fish and squid. Rd; h 9.30am-3pm), which also has an interna- tional ATM, as does the nearby AGD Bank (Bo One local speciality is kaq kyi kaiq (scissor-­ Gyoke Rd; h 9.30am-3pm). cut noodles): rice noodles that have been cut into short strips and stir-fried with egg and 88 Getting There & Away seafood – a lot like phat Thai. Try them at the friendly vendor near the mosque in the Air and bus tickets can be bought at Sun Far Muslim quarter. (% 059-21110; Pyi Taw Thar St; h 8.30am-5pm) travel agency. oShwe Mon BURMESE $ AIR (Sake Nge Jetty Rd; curries from K1000; h10am- Air KBZ (www.airkbz.com) and Myanmar Na- 9pm) This Bamar restaurant serves what is tional Airlines (www.flymna.com) link Myeik with one of the richest, tastiest chicken curries Kawthoung (from US$47, 45 minutes, twice we’ve come across yet, as well as a yummy daily) and Yangon (from US$109, two hours, prawn curry. Be sure to order one of the veg- twice daily), the latter via a stop in Dawei (from etable side dishes that change daily. US$47, 35 minutes, twice daily). Karaweik BURMESE $ BOAT (Kanphyar Rd; mains from K1500; h11am-10pm; Three companies operate speedboats from My- E) Myeik institution that serves immense eik, departing from Sake Nge Jetty (Strand Rd) bowls of kyè òu and other noodle and rice and bound north to Dawei (US$25, five hours, dishes to hordes of locals. Look for the 11am) and south to Kawthoung (US$40, seven big white villa and the small English sign. hours, 8am). Tickets are sold from various ven- There’s outdoor seating and an English dors (Sake Nge Jetty Rd; h 6am-7pm) opposite menu, but no alcohol is served. Sake Nge Jetty. Note that the boats mostly don’t run in the rainy season (May to October). Zan Pya BURMESE $ (Kanphyar Rd; mains from K1800; h7.30am- BUS & MINIVANS 6.30pm) Zan Pya is a small place serving Bus tickets for Yangon (K21,000, 22 hours, heaped plates of delicious chicken biryani 3am, 5pm and 6pm) can be bought from the that often sell out early. Look for the large bus ticket offices (h7am-6pm) on Kanphyar aluminum pots a couple doors down from Rd. Tickets to other destinations need to be OK Mobile (there’s no roman-script sign). purchased from the ticket offices (h 6am-7pm) on Pyi Taw Thar St. Destinations include Dawei

135 (K10,000, eight hours, 6am, noon and 4pm), Ka- others are home to Burmese and, some- wthoung (K20,000, 14 hours, 5pm), Mawlamy- times, small Moken communities. ine (K18,000, 16 hours, 3am, 5pm and 6pm) and Ye (K16,000, 12 hours, 3am, 5pm and 6pm). The more noteworthy islands and diving spots include the following (from north to Buses depart from Myeik’s bus station, 2½ south). miles from the town centre close to the Myeik Golf Course. A motorcycle taxi to the bus station Daung Kyun (Dome Island) ISLAND will cost K2000. (ေဒါင္းကၽြန္း) The islands close to Myeik tend Minivans leave from Pyi Taw Thar St just south to be less spectacular than the ones grouped of the jetty. Buy tickets here too. Destinations near Kawthoung. Dome Island is the excep- include Dawei (K12,000, six hours, daily morning tion, with fine white-sand beaches and good and afternoon) and Kawthoung (K25,000, 13 snorkelling. It’s three hours by speedboat hours, daily morning and afternoon). from Myeik. 88 Getting Around Kanmaw Kyun (Kisseraing Island) ISLAND So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TGMaeyntetiinki nt(hgMaeArrygoiuuRine) dgAirocnh i p e l ag o (ကံေမာက္ ၽြန္း) One of the larger islands (158 Most destinations in central Myeik are walkable, sq miles) in the Myeik Archipelago and but motorcycles taxis do short hops for K500. A home to Bamar, Karen and Moken villages, motorcycle taxi to Myeik’s airport or bus station as well as big rubber plantations. will cost K2000. Black Rock ISLAND Myeik (Mergui) (ဘလကေ္ ရာ့ကၽြန္း) One of the Myeik Archi- Archipelago pelago’s premier diving sites. This rocky, remote outpost is home to clear water and The beautiful islands of the Myeik Archipel- rich sea life, including manta rays (typically ago (also known as the Mergui Archipelago) around March). lie off the Tanintharyi coast in the extreme south of Myanmar. While pearls and marine Lampi Kyun (Sullivan’s Island) ISLAND products from the region are sought after, it is the huge untapped potential of the archi- (လန္ပိကၽြန္း; www.lampipark.org) Home to pelago as a beach and ecotourist destination Lampi Island Marine National Park, that could really transform the area’s econ- the only marine park in Myanmar, and omy. So far, though, Myanmar has resisted thought to be one of the least disturbed is- taking advantage of some of its most beauti- land habitats in Southeast Asia. There are ful assets, although there is talk of opening Bamar and Moken villages here, and at the up a few of the islands in the near future. time of research there were plans to open But most of the islands are uninhabited a guesthouse; check the website for the lat- (and they are much smaller than Thailand’s est information. islands), making tourism a challenge. For now, the few islands that do have people Bo Cho Kyun (Eyles Island) ISLAND remain home to tiny villages with hardly any infrastructure and mixed populations of (ဘခို ်ိဳကၽြနး္ , Pu Nala) This island is a spiritual Burmese and the semi-nomadic Moken, so- home of the Moken, who call it Pu Nala. The called ‘sea gypsies’ who move from island to island is designated as a Moken resettle- island and live by fishing. ment zone, and there is a permanent Moken presence here. The Islands Rocky 1 ISLAND The Burmese used to say there were more than 4000 islands in the Myeik Archipelago, A rocky outcrop, approximately 10m above although British surveyors recognised only water, drawing lots of sea life and home to 804. The British took the liberty of naming one of the Myeik Archipelago’s largest ane­ many of the islands, although some are also mone fields. interchangeably known by their Burmese and sometimes Moken names (some is- Three Islets ISLAND lands are even known by old Thai or Arabic names). Most are uninhabited – some little Home to three notable diving sites: Shark more than rocky outcrops – some have Navy Cave, an underwater canyon with sharks and Army stations and are off-limits, while and rich coral; In Through The Out Door, an underwater passage with several species of coral; and OK Rock, supposedly a good destination for diving at any time. The islets are a few miles north of Kyun Philar (Great Swinton Island).

136 e# 0 #\\ 50 km 0 20 miles Myeik (Mergui) Archipelago #\\ Palauk Mali Kyaukpa #\\ Phetchaburi ^# Kyun \\# Palaw THAILAND Tanintharyi RiverANDSAEMA AN So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TMahyneeiiInkstl(hMaanerdrysgiuRie) gAirocnh i p e l ag o Cha-am #\\ Kadan Kyun #\\ Lutlut Hua Hin #\\ (King Island) Thayawthadangyi Myeik #\\ #– #\\ Pran Kyun Buri Daung Kyun Pyingyi \\# (Dome Island) \\# Tenasserim \\# Kui Buri Thameye \\# Theinkun#\\ Prachuap Pyinzabu Kanmaw Kyun \\# Khiri Khan Kyun (Kisseraing Pan Island) MYANMAR #\\ Black Rock Daung Lampon #\\ Ban Nong Kyun Hin \\# Thap Sakae #\\ Lenya Gulf of Ka Mar Atwin Thailand Kyun Bokpyin Myeik Archipelago (Owen \\# Island) Hangapru #\\ Kyun Philar Lampi Kyun (Great Swinton (Sullivan's Island) Island) Myauk Taw Win p# Three Bo Cho Kyun Kyun (North Islets (Eyles Island) Twin Island) Jar Nyaung Ban \\# Chumphon Taung Taw Win Lann Wee Kyun \\# Thapli #\\ Ban Hat Kyun \\# Kra Buri Kyun (South Twin Island) Bo Wei Kyun (Stewart Island) Zadetgale Sai Ri Kho Yinn Khwa Kyun Kyun (Macleod Island) Western Z(SatdeMtgayttihKeywu'snThKayhutnay#\\+##–Ka\\#wRthaonuonngg \\#Lang Suan Rocky p# Island) Taung Kyun (Christie Island) Ko Phayam Kyun Philar (Great Swinton Island) ISLAND High Rock ISLAND (ကၽြနး္ ဖီလာကၽြန္း) Home to a freshwater spring where passing boats fill up and a From the surface it’s little more than a tree- small Burmese/Moken village. There’s de- topped limestone outcropping, but High cent snorkelling here and the surrounding Rock is home to an abundance of marine islands offer good diving. life, including at least five types of nudi- branch, making it a lauded dive site. Nyaung Wee Kyun ISLAND Taung Taw Win Kyun (South (ေညာင္ဝီးကၽြန္း) A seasonal home for the Twin Island)/Myauk Taw Win Moken, this island has beaches, clear water Kyun (North Twin Island) ISLAND and wildlife, making it a popular stopover Home to at least three good dive sites in- for boat tours. Nearby 115 Island sees a lot cluding Pinnacle, north of Myauk Taw Win of tour groups too and has fine beaches and Kyun, a known manta ray gathering site snorkelling. during February/March. Taung Taw Win Kyun has clear blue water and fan coral.

137 Bo Wei Kyun (Stewart Island) ISLAND a swim-through cave, and the Three Islets (p135), where there’s an underwater canyon. (ဗလို ္ရြဲကၽြနး္ ) South of this island is a rocky Divers can expect to see various species of outcrop with above-ground and underwater sharks, manta rays and sea turtles, as well caves. Nearby Maccarthy Rock has a beau- as rarer smaller fish like seahorses, frog fish tiful limestone cliff more than 30m high and scorpion fish. The coral in the archipel- and good diving. Close-by Cavern Rock is ago is also famed. another good dive site. Recommended outfits operating out of Kho Yinn Khwa Kyun Ranong include the following: (Macleod Island) ISLAND (ခရငး္ ဂြကၽြန္း) This horseshoe-shaped island A One Diving Team DIVING 40 nautical miles from Kawthoung is home to Myanmar Andaman Resort (p138), the (%in Thailand +66 81891 5510; www.a-one-diving. com; Ranong, Thailand; dive trip 30,900-32,900B) only real beach accommodation in the en- This long-standing dive operation is based tire Myeik Archipelago. There are at least 20 out of Ranong, with English-, French- and known dive sites around the island, includ- German-speaking divemasters. They run ing North Rock, where sea snakes and sea six- and seven-day trips to the Myeik Archi- turtles are often sighted. pelago and also Burma Banks, a renowned dive area 80 miles west of Kawthoung. So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r AMTacynteiivnkitt(hMi aeesrrygiuRie) gAirocnh i p e l ag o Western Rocky ISLAND An underwater cave that has been known to Andaman International Dive Center DIVING draw sharks makes this arguably the Myeik (%in Thailand +66 89814 1092, +66 77 834 824; Archipelago’s finest dive site. www.aidcdive.com; 97/21 Th Phetkasem, Ranong; dive trip 33,000-46,000B) Six- and eight-day Thahtay Kyun ISLAND dive trips to the Myeik Archipelago from Thailand. (သူေဌးကၽြန္း) Opposite Kawthoung, this beach-free island, known in Moken as Pulau Ru, is home to Andaman Club (p138). The resort offers trips to beaches on Zadetgale Smiling Seahorse DIVING Kyun and Zadetgyi Kyun (St Matthew’s (%in Thailand +66 86011 0614, +66 84452 4413; www.thesmilingseahorse.com; 170 Th Ruangrat, Ra- Island), each about 45-minutes away by nong; dive trip 32,000-53,000B; h9am-6pm) Six- speedboat. to eight-day liveaboard diving trips around the Myeik Archipelago, departing from Ra- 2 Activities nong in Thailand. The vast expanse of the Myeik Archipelago Thailand Dive & Sail DIVING coupled with the area’s almost total lack of infrastructure means that to explore the (%in Thailand +66 76 485 518; www.thailanddive area, you’ll have to sign on to a multiday andsail.com; Khao Lak, Thailand; dive trips from live-aboard diving tour or a boat trip, nei- 86,896B) Recommended dive operator based ther of which come particularly cheap. in Khao Lak, Thailand, offering high-end dive trips around the Myeik Archipelago. Diving Mergui Princess DIVING Many visitors approach Myeik Archipelago via diving tours, all of which are based out (%in Yangon 09 42110 7472, 01-401 261; www. of Ranong in Thailand. The various outfits merguiprincess.com) Sailing from Kawthoung, run four- to eight-day excursions generally Mergui Princess runs liveaboard dive cruis- to sites south of Black Rock. Fees for a six- es in the Myeik Archipelago. Trips range day trip can range from around US$850 to from three to seven days on a variety of dif- US$1500, which includes accommodation ferent boats and yachts. and meals, but generally not the Myeik Ar- chipelago entrance fee (excursions south of Boating Black Rock are US$100 per person for the If you’d rather stay above water, various out- first five days; excursions north of Black fits conduct multiday island-hopping excur- Rock are US$140 per person for the first five sions, which offer visits to Moken villages, days plus US$20 per additional day). snorkelling, kayaking and beach-bumming, among other activities. Fees for all-inclusive Diving conditions are best November five- to nine-day cruises range from around to May. The premier dive sites are Black US$1100 to US$5000. As well as Life Seeing Rock (p135), where giant manta rays can Tours (p133) in Myeik, companies include be found, Western Rocky, which features the following.

138 Burma Boating CRUISE takes the form of eight beachfront and spa- cious but unstylish ‘Suite’ bungalows and 14 (%in Thailand +66 21 070 445; www.burmaboat smaller ‘Superior’ bungalows. Activities in- ing.com; boat cruise US$2600-4950) Six- and clude hiking, kayaking and diving (there’s an eight-day cruises in the Myeik Archipelago attached dive centre). from November to May in well-maintained yachts – including the SY Meta IV, a beau- Rates include the 1½-hour private trans- tiful vintage Thai teak sailboat – departing fer to/from Kawthoung every Wednesday from Kawthoung. and Saturday (from the island at 7am; from Kawthoung at noon). The resort is open Sailing Charter Phuket CRUISE from October to April. (%inThailand +66 81365 5681; www.sailing-phuket. com; per person per day from US$650) Cruises on a catamaran, departing from Phuket in Andaman Club RESORT $$$ (%in Thailand +66 2287 3031, in Yangon 01-572 Thailand. You charter the whole boat and so 535; www.andamanclub.com; Thahtay Kyun; r incl decide on the itinerary. breakfast US$107-382; Ws) This 205-room luxury resort is located on Thahtay Kyun, Mergui Islands Safari CRUISE an 1800-acre private island directly south of (%in Kawthoung 09 509 1672, in Yangon 01-380 Kawthoung. There’s no beach on the island, 382; www.islandsafarimergui.com; boat cruise So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TSKalaneweitnphti nohguarn&ygEi aRteignigo n US$1110-1530) Mergui Islands Safari runs but there is an 18-hole golf course, spas, pool and gym, while diving trips and excursions five- and seven-day cruises aboard the MV to other islands can be arranged. Andaman Sea Gypsy, departing from Kawthoung. The Sea Gypsy isn’t a luxury boat – no private Club can be reached by boat from Ranong’s Saphan Pla Pier or by an hourly shuttle boat cabins and shared bathrooms – so it’s cheap- from Kawthoung (250B). er than other cruises. Intrepid CRUISE 88 Getting There & Away (www.intrepidtravel.com; cruise from US$2165) Access to the Myeik Archipelago is by boat tours Very reliable operator that offers a nine-day from Myeik and Kawthoung in Myanmar, or from cruise around the Myeik Archipelago de- Ranong in Thailand. The majority of boat tours parting from Phuket in Thailand. departing from Myanmar leave from Kawthoung, which is closer to the prettiest islands and the 4 Sleeping & Eating best dive sites, although a few operators run out of Myeik. There’s long been talk of tourism develop- ment in the Myeik Archipelago, yet among There are rumours of ferry services being the 800-plus islands and hundreds of miles introduced to certain islands in the future, but at of coastline, there are still only a couple of the time of research nothing had been confirmed. places to stay. Kawthoung and Myeik both have airports with At the time of research, though, there daily flights to Yangon. were plans to open a guesthouse on Lampi Island, a national marine park that is home Kawthoung ေကာ့ေသာင္း to both Bamar and Moken people, as part of a community-based tourism project; check POP C 57,950 / % 059 the website (www.lampipark.org) for the lat- est details. This small port at the very end of Tanin- tharyi Region – the southernmost point of There are no restaurants that we know of mainland Myanmar (500 miles from Yangon on the islands, outside of the two hotels. You and 1200 miles from the country’s northern eat on board your yacht, or on whichever tip) – is separated from Thailand by a broad beach you’re anchored off. estuary in the Pagyan River. It was known as Victoria Point to the British, and to the Thais Myanmar Andaman Resort RESORT $$$ it’s known as Ko Song (Second Island). The (%in Kawthoung 059-51046, in Yangon 09 7976 Burmese name, Kawthoung (also spelt Kaw- 27627; www.myanmarandamanresort.com; Kho thaung), is a mispronunciation of the latter. Yinn Khwa Kyun (Macleod Island); r incl breakfast & dinner US$150-360; aW) This self-professed Kawthoung was one of the earliest British ‘eco resort’ has a picture-postcard location possessions in Myanmar, obtained after the in a beautiful horseshoe-shaped bay on Kho First Anglo-Burmese War in 1826. Today the Yinn Khwa Kyun (Macleod Island), 40 nauti- town is a scrappy border post and jumping-­ cal miles from Kawthoung. Accommodation off point for boating and diving excursions to the Myeik Archipelago.

1 Sights 139 Kawthaung Hotel HOTEL $ (%059-51474; Bosonpat St; r incl breakfast US$20- Cape Bayint Naung PARK 45; aW) Kawthaung Hotel’s deluxe rooms (ဘရု င်န့ ောင်အင;ူ Strand Rd; h24hr) F At have sea views and are in reasonable con- the southern end of the harbour lies this modest park, named for King Bayinnaung, dition, while the cheaper rooms are a bit beaten up, with unimpressive beds and a Burmese monarch who invaded Thai- bathrooms. It’s located about half a mile land several times between 1548 and 1569. A bronze statue of Bayinnaung, outfitted west of the jetty. in full battle gear and brandishing a sword Garden Hotel HOTEL $ pointed at Thailand – not exactly a welcom- ing sight for visiting Thais – stands at the (%059-51731; www.gardenhotelmm.com; Shwe Minwon Rd; r incl breakfast US$30-40; aW) crest of a hill on the cape. Though it’s looking its age a little now, the Anandar Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Garden Hotel is still a reasonable deal, with decent-sized and comfortable-enough (အာနႏာၵ ဘုရား; hdaylight hours) F Tow- rooms. There’s a CB Bank ATM in the lobby. ering over Kawthoung is this hilltop temple with great views of the city. One downside is that the hotel is located an uphill hike about 1 mile north of the jetty 4 Sleeping & Eating (K1000 on a motorcycle taxi). So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r STKaiagnwhittnhstohuarnygi R e g i o n A knot of food stalls and restaurants serving Penguin Hotel GUESTHOUSE $ standard Chinese-Burmese dishes can be (%09 2605 66762; [email protected]; found at the southern end of Strand Rd, op- 339 Sabel St; r incl breakfast US$20-35; aW) It’s posite the park at Cape Bayint Naung. not the friendliest guesthouse in Myanmar, GETTING TO THAILAND: KAWTHOUNG TO RANONG Kawthoung (also known as Victoria Point), at the far southern end of Tanintharyi Region, is an open border for foreigners to cross to/from Thailand. If you are coming to Myanmar and plan on moving on from Kawthoung, you must obtain a visa in advance: they are not available at the border. If you have an e-visa, you can enter/exit Myanmar here. Getting to the border The bright green Myanmar border post (Strand Rd; h7am- 4pm) is located a few steps from Kawthoung’s jetty. If crossing from Thailand, the Thai border post (Saphan Pla Pier, Ranong; h7.30pm- 4.30pm) is at Saphan Pla Pier, located about 6 miles, a 60B motorcycle taxi ride or 20B sŏrng·tăa·ou (pick-up) ride from Ranong. At the border If you’ve arrived in Kawthoung from elsewhere in Myanmar, you’re free to exit the country here. After clearing Myanmar immigration, you’ll be herded to a boat (100B per person) for the 20-minute ride to Ranong. On the Thai side, the authorities will issue you permission to stay in Thailand for up to 15 days – 30 days if you hold a pass- port from a G7 country – or you can enter with a Thai visa obtained overseas. If approaching from Thailand, after passing Thai immigration, board a waiting boat (125B per person) for the 20-minute ride to Kawthoung. Upon arriving at the Myanmar immigration office, you may be greeted by an English-speaking tout who insists on ‘help- ing’ by translating and making photocopies in return for an exorbitant fee; you can ignore this. If you haven’t already obtained a Myanmar visa, you’ll need to pay US$10 for a bor- der pass, which will allow you to stay in a 24-mile radius of Kawthoung for up to 14 days; your passport will be kept at the border. If you already possess a Myanmar visa, you’ll be allowed to enter but may be required to show or purchase tickets for onward travel. Moving on Ranong is a 60B motorcycle taxi ride or 20B sŏrng·tăa·ou (pick-up) ride from Saphan Pla Pier. Nok Air (%in Thailand 1318; www.nokair.com) offers daily flights between Ranong and Bangkok (from 1814B, 1½ hours to 1¾ hours, two departures daily), while major bus destinations include Bangkok (445B to 692B, 10 hours), Hat Yai (420B, five hours) and Phuket (250B, five to six hours). If you’re bound for points elsewhere in My- anmar, you can move on by bus, boat or plane.

140 It’s on the road opposite the jetty, halfway be- but the smallish rooms are adequate for a tween the jetty and the clock tower. night and this is the best deal in town for the price (though with cold-water showers AIR only). Good wi-fi connection. It’s located a Air KBZ (% in Kawthoung 09 4306 9018, in couple of blocks west of the jetty, behind the Yangon 01-372 977; www.airkbz.com; Bosonpat market. St; h7.30am-5pm), Myanmar National Airlines (www.flymna.com) and Apex Airlines (www. Honey Bear Hotel HOTEL $ apexairline.com; 214B Bosonpat Rd; h8am- (%059-51352; Strand Rd; r incl breakfast 840B; 5pm) link Kawthoung with Yangon (from aW) Overlooking the jetty, the Honey Bear US$105, three hours, daily) via stops in Myeik consists of 39 relatively modern but simple (from US$47, 45 minutes, daily) and/or Dawei rooms equipped with TV, air-con, saggy beds (from US$81, 80 minutes, daily). and cold-water showers. BOAT Daw Moe BURMESE $ Three companies run speedboats, departing (Neikban St; curries from K2000; h10am-9pm) daily at 3am for Myeik (US$45, seven hours) This tin-roofed restaurant (no roman-script and Dawei (US$65, 12 hours). The boats mostly sign) serves up a big spread of Burmese cur- don’t run in the rainy season (May to October). So u th e as te rn M ya n m a r TKI naafnwoitnrhmtohauatrni oygni R e g i o n ries, as well as good vegetable side dishes. Located on the uphill portion of Neikban St, BUS & MINIVAN about a mile from the pier (K500 on a mo- Buses depart from the main highway through torcycle taxi). Most locals can point you in town (motorcycle taxis charge K1000 to the the right direction. departure point). Destinations include Yangon (K49,000, 40 hours, 2pm), Dawei (K35,000, 24 88 Information hours, 2pm) and Myeik (K25,000, 15 hours, 2pm). Prices in Kawthoung are often quoted in Thai Minivans go to the same destinations a couple baht, as well as kyat and US dollars. of hours quicker and for similar or slightly higher fares. They leave at 5pm and will pick you up at You can change money at KBZ Bank (Boson- your hotel. Tickets can be bought at a number of pat Rd; h 9.30am-3pm), which has an ATM that offices around town, or your hotel can get them takes foreign cards. There are also moneychang- for you. ers in the market on Strand Rd. 88 Getting Around All hotels offer wi-fi. Most places are a brief walk from the market and 88 Getting There & Away harbour. Kawthoung’s airport is approximately 8 miles from the jetty; a thoun bein will cost Sunfar Travels & Tours (off Strand Rd; K5000 and a motorcycle taxi K3000. h 8.30am-5pm) sells air, bus and boat tickets.

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Bagan & Central Myanmar Includes  Why Go? Taungoo (Toungoo). . 143 This heartland of the Bamar people has been the location of Nay Pyi Taw. . . . . . . . . 146 three former Burmese capitals – Bagan, Pyay and Taungoo – Meiktila . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 plus the latest surreal one, Nay Pyi Taw. Of this quartet, it’s Pyay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Bagan with its wondrous vista of pagodas and stupas, many Bagan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 dating to the 12th century, that’s the star attraction. The tall- Nyaung U. . . . . . . . . . . 158 est and most majestic of Bagan’s temples, built of brick, dec- Old Bagan . . . . . . . . . . 164 orated inside with beautiful frescoes and topped with gilded New Bagan hti pinnacles, mix Hindu and Buddhist images with locally (Bagan Myothit). . . . . 167 brewed nat (spirits) in nooks and crannies. Mt Popa. . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Salay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Most visitors fly directly to Bagan, but central Myanmar Monywa. . . . . . . . . . . . 176 also provides scenic rewards for adventurous travellers. It may be known as the ‘dry zone’, but the region is far from Best Places to Eat a desert. Beside highways and rickety train tracks amble ox carts through rice fields and rolling plains, all rimmed by ¨¨Black Bamboo (p162) the Shan Mountains to the east and the snaking Ayeyar- ¨¨Weather Spoon’s Bagan wady (Irrawaddy) River to the west, creating scenes that (p161) hark back centuries. ¨¨Be Kind to Animals the Moon (p166) When to Go Rainfall inches/mm ¨¨Pleasant Island (p177) 20/500 Bagan Best Places to Sleep °C/°F Temp ¨¨Blue Bird Hotel (p170) 50/122 ¨¨Ostello Bello (p168) ¨¨Lei Thar Gone (p155) 40/104 16/400 ¨¨Myanmar Beauty Guest House II (p144) 30/86 12/300 ¨¨Win Unity (p176) 20/68 8/200 10/50 4/100 0/32 JF MAM J J A S OND 0 Nov–Feb Most Mar–May Hot Jun–Oct Rainy visitors come in season, when season; the land- ‘winter’, when daytime tempera- scape is lush and temperatures are tures boil at up to hotel rates are at moderately ‘cool’ 100°F (40°C) and their lowest. at around 86°F. higher.

142 Alon Budalin Shwebo Madaya Hsipaw Monywa Kyaukka Sadaung Taungbyone (68mi) Chin State Hpo Win Thanboddhay Pyin Oo Lwin (31mi) Daung Paya Myitnge River A Myint Bodhi Tataung Mandalay Chaung U MyinmuSagaing Amarapura Chindwinn River SAGAING Inwa Paleik REGION Mandalay Airport Myine Yesagyo Kyaukse Pauk Yebya Myingyan Nwa-htou Gyi 0 40 km 0 20 miles Pakokku Myittha Lawksawk Taungtha Ayeyarwady MANDALAY Taunggyi River REGION Nyaung U Old Bagan PlMayiinngyan 1 Gonkor New Bagan Saman River SHAN STATE Bagan Seikpyu Chauk Mt Popa Meiktila Thazi Salay (2418ft) Kyaukpadaung AyeyRarivweardy 4 Sinbyugyun 2 Yangon -Mandalay Expressway Pyawbwe Kalaw Aungban Salin Yenan-gyoung Yamethin Inle MAGWE 2 Lake REGION Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r & C e ntr a l M ya nm a r H i g h l i g hts Sagu Minbu Magwe Tatkon Pinlon 2 Taungdwingyi Beikthano YangHowny-Bagan NAY PYI TAW Nay Pyi Taw Train Station Pyinmana Lewe Tayet Myayde Sittoung River 2 1 KAYIN Yedashe STATE BAGO RAKHINE REGION Than STATE Daung Gyi Paukkhaung Taungoo Pyay Thayekhittaya Bago (106mi); Oktwin Shwedaung Yangon (155mi) Bagan & Central Myanmar Highlights 1 Bagan (p156) Clambering 3 Mt Popa (p172) Paying 5 Bodhi Tataung (p179) up the steps to the top of an respects to Myanmar’s 37 Pondering what the Buddha ancient pagoda for a jaw- nat at their spiritual home, would have felt to see his dropping view over the temple- the monkey-tastic volcanic likeness fashioned as a studded plain of Bagan. mountaintop temple at Mt Popa. 30-storey concrete statue. 2 Ayeyarwady River (p165) 4 Than Daung Gyi (p145) 6 Nay Pyi Taw (p146) Taking a sunset boat ride Exploring the peaceful Kayin Discovering Myanmar’s surreal from Old Bagan, enjoying the village of Than Daung Gyi near 21st-century capital. peaceful rhythms of life along Taungoo that has only recently the waterfront. opened to visitors.

143 History drives but both provide access to a couple of places of interest en route to the north, Conquering armies led by various peoples, including the former capital of Taungoo and including the Pyu, the Mon and the Burmese, the modern-day ‘royal capital’ of Nay Pyi have marauded across this central plain, the Taw, a visit to which plunges you into the ‘heart of Myanmar’, over the centuries. The deepest depths of the bizarre. area around Pyay served as the Pyu capital from the 5th to 9th centuries AD and some Taungoo (Toungoo) ေတာင္ငူ Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r GTYaeuntntgigonnogo–TM(hTaeonrudena&gl aoAyow)Haiyg h way historians consider the Pyu to be founders of Myanmar’s ‘first empire’, although little is POP C 120,000 / % 054 known of this vanished group. A busy highway town, Taungoo is a popular Bagan’s burst of spiritual creativity lasted overnight stop for both tourists and truck- 2½ centuries, beginning in 1047 and ending ers. Sporting several interesting temples, as the pounding footfall of Kublai Khan’s a lively central market and a pretty lake, it raiders approached in 1287. The latest em- has more places of interest than any other pire to lodge in the area is the military junta, town on the Yangon–M­ andalay Hwy, but which founded the new capital of Nay Pyi then there’s not a lot of competition. A great Taw in 2005. guesthouse on the town’s outskirts makes it easy to stay an extra day, and can also be While the military still lingers in the used as a base for visiting elephant camps in background, today Nobel Prize–winner and the hills to the west. peace advocate Aung Sang Suu Kyi is run- ning things in Nay Pyi Taw. The sweeping The Karen hills to the east are famed for victory of her party, the National League for their vegetables and coffee. The area is also Democracy, in 2015 is helping to revitalise known for its numerous areca (betel) palms. much of Myanmar, including Bagan, which In Myanmar, when someone receives unex- may receive Unesco World Heritage status in pected good fortune, they are likened to a the years to come. betel-lover receiving a paid trip to Taungoo. 88 Getting There & Away A dry-weather road continues east all the way to Loikaw, though it’s a rough and slow Bagan is the main entry point to the region for journey. visitors arriving by air, although Mandalay is also convenient for northern destinations such as History Monywa. Yangon is a convenient international entry point for more southerly destinations such King Mingyinyo founded his capital here in as Pyay or Taungoo. Nyaung U is the principal 1510, and his dynasty ruled the country for gateway to Bagan, with a train station, a jetty the next 150 years. However, WWII bomb- and the airport. ing wrecked most of Mingyinyo’s Katumadi Palace (only sections of the old walls and Most visitors by boat come downriver from moat can still be seen). In celebration of the Mandalay on a fast boat or a slower, luxury cruise. town’s 500th anniversary in 2010, a couple of impressive new gates were built, as well The majority of long-haul bus routes (eg as a massive statue of the king, unmissable Yangon–Mandalay) miss Bagan, but there are on the old Yangon–Mandalay road, east of a few direct bus links between Bagan and Yan- the palace walls. gon, Mandalay and Inle Lake, including some luxurious sleeper options. Trains to the Bagan 1 Sights area are slow and impractical, with the exception of the Yangon–Bagan sleeper trains. The more Apart from visiting the sights, it’s fun to hire interesting road route from Yangon to Bagan is a bike and spend half a day pedalling around via Pyay and Magwe. the town’s sights and into the countryside. YANGON–MANDALAY Shwesandaw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE HIGHWAY (ေရဆႊ ေံ တာဘ္ ရု ား) Taungoo’s grandest pil- There are two routes that buses and cars ply grimage spot is situated in the centre of town, between Yangon and Mandalay: the pot-holed around 500m west of the main road. The old Hwy No 1, which some call the ‘high road’ central stupa, a standard-issue bell shape, is (though it runs west of the Shan Hills); and gilded and dates from 1597; local legend says the new Yangon–Mandalay Hwy, dubbed the an earlier stupa on the site was built centu- ‘big road’. Neither are particularly gorgeous ries before and contains sacred-hair relics. Entering from the north, to your right is a

144 aW) This 33-room bungalow complex right display of Taungoo kings (and a rather busty on the highway has clean, well-equipped, queen), and a round building housing a re- hotel-style rooms with 24-hour electricity, clining buddha surrounded by devas (celes- flat-screen satellite TV, minifridges, wood- tial beings) and monastic disciples. en floors and muted earth-toned colour Nearby, on the western side of the stupa, schemes. Rooms in back overlook a small there’s a 12ft bronze, Mandalay-style sitting garden. Front rooms are rather noisy. buddha, given to the paya in 1912 by a retired civil servant who donated his body weight in There’s also a decent restaurant (mains bronze and silver for the casting of the image. K2500 to K10,000) on-site. He died three years after the casting at age 72; his ashes are interred behind the image. Myanmar Beauty I GUESTHOUSE $ On another side (go down one flight of (%09 535 5555; Bo Muu Pho Kun Rd; s/d/tr the north stairs and turn right), there’s a US$20/25/30, s/d without bathroom US$8/12; scruffy garden with a shrine to Thurathati – aW) If you’re looking for an economical op- a goddess borrowed by Buddhists from Hin- tion in the thick of town, this 34-room place dus – atop a mythical hintha (the golden is a good choice, with decent rooms within Swan of Burmese legend). Fine-arts students walking distance of eateries and the market. come to pray to her before exams. ‘Economic class’ rooms are clean but bare (fan-only). Pricier ‘superior’ rooms across the street have tile floors, big TVs and desks Myasigon Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE (ျမစညး္ ခံဘု ရု ား) About 820ft south of Shwe- (plus air-con and hot water). sandaw (p143), off Pagoda St, this lovely modern pagoda features a gold zedi (stupa) oMyanmar Beauty Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r TYSal uenengpgoinono–gM( Taonudna gl aoyo)H i g h way and many glass mosaics. On the north side, Guest House II GUESTHOUSE $$ (%09 78404 0402; Pauk Hla Gyi St; s US$20-40, an open building has a faded mural of Taun- d US$25-50, tr US$40-60; aW) This 20-room goo kings. A nearby squat white building is actually rural complex at the edge of town is reason enough to stop in Taungoo. The Beauty has a a museum (to have it opened, ask in the pago- pick-and-mix of rustic, all-wood, bungalow-­ da). The dusty interior contains bronze images of Erawan (the three-headed elephant who style rooms. Staff are super, and have good recommendations for activities and outings serves as Indra’s mount) and assorted buddha (ask about visiting nearby villages). Another images, but is more interesting for its random secular collection of British colonial-era mem- highlight is the wildly local breakfast, with an enormous spread of samosas, sticky rice orabilia, including an ancient Kodak camera, and exotic fruits. 80-year-old plates and an old cognac bottle. The best rooms are upstairs and open on Kandawgyi Lake LAKE, PARK to a breezy balcony overlooking the fields; (ကန္ေတာ္ႀကီး) This pretty ornamental lake cheaper rooms are in the lower level and dates from the days when Taungoo (then have garden views. Plans are underway to known as Katumadi) was capital and Bayin Naung ruled. Strolling or cycling around its add an organic garden (with produce used in the restaurant), and offer cooking classes. perimeter, lined with shady trees, is a pleas- It’s about 1.5 miles south of the turn-off from ant way to pass an hour or so. On the lake’s western flank, sandwiched the old Yangon–Mandalay Hwy into the cen- tre of Taungoo and is a K2000 trishaw ride between the old palace walls and moat, is from the centre. the Kyet Minn Nyi Naung Amusement Park, built by the firm responsible for the Global Grace HOTEL $$ (%054-26168; www.globalgracehoteltaungoo.com; neighbouring Royal Katumadi Hotel. Apart 20 Mingalar Rd; s US$32-43, d US$35-50; aW) from various places to eat and drink here, you can play snooker or hire the karaoke A good midrange option, Global Grace has well-equipped rooms with kettles and mini- room. There’s a free kids’ playground, but we bars, clean-swept wood floors and hot-water were told the pedal boats on the lake were ‘not for foreigners’. bathrooms. Look for the signed turn-off near the vast playing fields along the Yangon– 4 Sleeping Mandalay Hwy. Mother’s House Hotel HOTEL $ Royal Kaytumadi Hotel HOTEL $$ (%054-24240; [email protected]; 501-502 Yangon-Mandalay Hwy; s/d US$30/35; (%054-24761; www.kmahotels.com; Royal Kaytu- madi St; s US$85-110,d US$85-120,ste US$250-950;

145 THAN DAUNG GYI Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r YTEa utningngognoo– M( Taonudna gl aoyo)H i g h way Once off-limits to foreigners, Than Daung Gyi is a peaceful hillside village with sweeping views over the lush forests surrounding it. While traditional sights are few, the real appeal of visiting this Kayin village is interacting with the locals and exploring vestiges of old colonial days – with a handful of century-old churches, an old boarding school and a few other tucked-away buildings. Unlike Kayin villages further afield, the locals have given up traditional dress; they’re also largely Christian, which is apparent in attractions such as Naw Bu Baw mountain, a Christian pilgrimage site on the edge of town. Here you’ll find a magnificent panorama (when the weather cooperates) from a perch 4800ft above sea level. The summit is reached by 374 steps, and lined with small chapels (including one shaped like two giant hands clasped in prayer) along the way. A good lunch stop is Amazing Traditional Foods (Main Rd, Than Daung Gyi; mains around K2000; h9am-10pm Mon-Sat; v). Located on the main road in Than Daung Gyi, this very welcoming place serves tasty traditional Kayin fare accented with ingredients such as bamboo shoots, fried tofu and spicy fish sauce. You can also buy tea, which is grown in fields nearby. The owners are a good source of info and can advise on walks beyond the village (to hot springs and a waterfall). You can visit for the day, but it’s worth staying overnight in one of the new family-run guesthouses that have opened in recent years. There are four or five basic guesthouses on the main road (with rates starting at around US$10) as well as I Wish (%054-45024; s/d from US$20/30), which is set in a 1912 building tucked down a lane, 100yd from the main road. On the way back from Than Daung Gyi, you can also stop for a swim at Pathi Chaung, a creek with lushly lined banks and large boulders. The turn-off is just off the main road when returning to Taungoo (halfway, around 13 miles from Taungoo). The best way here is by private car, which can be arranged at hotels in Taungoo, including Myanmar Beauty Guest House II (p144). There is a strong military presence here, so bring your passport, which you’ll need when passing through checkpoints in the area. aiWs) Hogging the west side of the lake cup of ‘Taungoo coffee’, which actually comes is Taungoo’s fanciest option, with superbly from the Karen mountains to the east. appointed rooms, striking decorative detail and facilities including a swimming pool and At the night market, which convenes next spa. The property is owned by a businessman to the central market, vendors specialise in with close links to the generals. The same chapatis and meat-stuffed palata (fried flat- businessman also bankrolled the city gates bread). On the old Yangon–M­ andalay Hwy, and giant statue of Mingyinyo erected to cel- particularly to the south, are many Chinese ebrate the city’s 500th anniversary in 2010. and Myanmar restaurants. Stellar Restaurant CHINESE, BURMESE $ (Shwe Kyaung St; mains K2500-5000; h9am- Hotel Amazing Kaytu HOTEL $$ 11pm; vE) Located near the Myasigon Paya, (%054-23977; www.amazing-hotel.com; 8th St Ohtkyauttan; r US$42-58; a) ‘Hotel Amazing’ Stellar is a friendly, buzzing eatery and our and ‘Simply the Best’ are stretching the im- favourite spot in town for a meal. Owner agination, but the owners clearly don’t lack Ko Soe Nyi goes out of his way to make you confidence in their property. Rooms are at- feel at home in his inviting restaurant, and tractively set and have satellite TV and clean can happily guide you through the menu of bathrooms (choose a superior or family chicken, pork and fish dishes – plus ample room for more space and bigger windows). vegetarian choices. It’s just north of the main turn-off from the old Yangon–Mandalay Hwy into the centre Like MYANMAR, CHINESE $ (Bo Hmu Po Kun Rd; mains K1500-5000; h10am- of Taungoo. Amazingly, there’s no wi-fi. 9pm; E) This newish edition to Taungoo 5 Eating serves nicely prepared dishes from a small menu of Chinese and Myanmar classics. It’s Around Taungoo’s tea shops, try asking for an open-sided spot located on busy Bo Hmu yo yo (normal coffee), which should get you a Po Kun Rd across from Royal Lake. It’s a fine

146 Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r INYananfyogProymni a–TtaMiwoannd a l ay H i g h way omy. This aside, it can feel soulless – Canber- spot to watch the game (European football) ra meets Brasilia with a peculiar Orwellian when key matches are under way. twist. 88 Information History Dr Chan Aye (% 054-23270; drchanaye@gmail. In 2005, following the tradition of Burma’s an- com; Myanmar Beauty Guest House II) Runs a cient kings, the military relocated Myanmar’s clinic and speaks good English. capital to a more strategically central location, about 240 miles north of Yangon. At untold 88 Getting There & Around expense (some reports have it at more than US$4 billion), Nay Pyi Taw was built on scrub The narrow but paved 62-mile logging road from ground amid rice paddies, villages and small Oktwin (9 miles south of Taungoo) to Pauk- towns such as Pyinmana on the old Yangon– khaung provides a shortcut to Pyay. There are Mandalay Hwy. Most government ministries no buses between Pyay and Taungoo, but if you and their staff have been relocated here but, have private transport, the road is open to travel with a couple of exceptions, the diplomatic (permits no longer required). community have dug in their heels in Yangon. BUS 1 Sights & Activities Most buses leaving Taungoo originate elsewhere. Generally stops are at private bus-company You don’t come to Nay Pyi Taw for the sights offices scattered along the old Yangon–Mandalay so much as for its surreal atmosphere. Be- Hwy, just south of the turn-off to the ‘centre’. It’s sides, the city is very much a work in progress. easiest to have your hotel arrange a seat. Nay Pyi Taw (K3000, three hours, frequent) When approaching from the Yangon–­ Mandalay (K7500, seven to eight hours, early Mandalay Hwy, visitors enter Nay Pyi Taw morning or early evening) Air-con bus. along the ‘hotel zone’ of Yaza Thingaha Rd. At Yangon (K4500, four to six hours, frequent) the road’s northern end near the Thabyaegone Buses with and without air-con. roundabout (one of the city’s several gigantic, grassy road hubs) is the Maniyadanar Kyauk BICYCLE Sein Khanma convention centre. This is the Bikes can be rented from some guesthouses, location of the quarterly jade and precious including Myanmar Beauty Guest House II stones fair, Emporium, about the only time (p144) for K2000 a day. Nay Pyi Taw fills with visitors. Next door is the Gems Museum and northeast of the rounda- TRAIN bout is the Water Fountain Garden. Another 3 The Taungoo train station (% 054-23308) miles or so further north (along Yaza Thinga- is located in the centre of town, southeast of ha) is the impressive National Museum. the market. Destinations include Mandalay (ordinary/upper K3500/45000, eight hours, Another of Nay Pyi Taw’s key sights is 3am, 12.20pm, 2pm and 11pm), Nay Pyi Taw the massive gilded pagoda of Uppatasan- (K500/1000, two hours, 1pm, 4.30pm and ti Paya (some 3.7 miles east of the National 9pm), Thazi (K2000/3500, five hours, 12.20pm) Museum). Several other key sights are a long and Yangon (K3000/4000, six hours, 5am, drive northeast of Nay Pyi Taw, including the 10.40am, 2pm and 7pm). curious National Landmark Gardens. Nay Pyi Taw ေနျပည္ေတာ္ National Landmark Gardens GARDENS POP C 925,000 / % 067 (အမ်ဳိ းသားအထမိ ္းအမတွ ္ဥယ်ာဥ;္ www.national landmarkgarden.com; adult/child US$10/5; h8am- Absurdly grandiose in scale, Nay Pyi Taw 5pm) Spread across 400 acres, these gardens (one translation is ‘Royal City of the Sun’) is showcase Myanmar’s grandest sites in min- a sprawling, shoddily constructed city with iature. Hop aboard a golf cart (a one-hour eight-lane highways, 24-hour electricity, and tour is included with admission), and zip zones for shopping, government housing from Kachin State to Mandalay, down to and hotels, ministry buildings and gener- Yangon and beyond, while taking in diminu- als’ homes. Apart from the roadblocks that tive versions of Golden Rock, Inle Lake and protect the roads leading to the generals’ Shwedagon Paya. It’s a fun, but undeniably mansions, ministry buildings and the parlia- kitschy experience, all the more so given the ment, it’s surprisingly open. Visits to some of amusement park rides scattered around – a its sights, including a giant gilded pagoda, Ferris wheel, bumper cars, a shooting range allow you to mingle freely with locals while and a splashy log ride. putting a dollar or two into the private econ-

147 One of the most fascinating exhibitions The gurgling, colourfully lit fountains are lies inside a model of Nay Pyi Taw’s conven- usually turned on at around dusk and add tion centre, which has an impressive mock- to the allure alongside the twinkling fairy up of all of Nay Pyi Taw, including pagodas, lights festooning the (ageing) structures hotels and government buildings (about as scattered around the grounds. close as you’ll get to the gated-off epicentre of power), and a levitating train station. There Teak Spa & Fitness SPA, SWIMMING are also two observation towers (one with a restaurant) offering views over the surround- (%067-810 2067; Shwe Kyar Pin Rd; day pass ing landscape. It’s about 22 miles northeast adult/child US$10/6; h10am-10pm) This of the hotel zone (a 40-minute drive). peaceful spot feels like an oasis from the concrete-loving capital, with a small grassy yard, koi pond and shimmering pool framed by palms. Aside from spending the day bask- National Museum MUSEUM (အမ်ိဳးသားျပတကုိ ;္ Yaza Thingaha Rd; K5000; ing poolside, you could come for a spa treat- h9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun; c) After five years ment or dine at the on-site eatery serving of construction, the massive National Muse- Chinese and Thai dishes (mains K7000 to um opened in 2015, and is well worth vis- K18,000). It’s about 1.2 miles east of Junc- iting if you’re passing through the capital. tion Centre (p148). Though the building and its empty corridors feel much too large for the contents within, 4 Sleeping the museum has some beautifully displayed works, particularly from the Bagan period, Most lodging options are in the hotel zone with lovely 11th-century jewellery, replicas in the south of the city. Thanks to competi- of colourful mural paintings and models of tion, you’ll find some reasonable rates here Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r NYSalaenyegPpoyinni –gTaMwa nd a l ay H i g h way architecturally stunning temples. compared with tourist destinations such as Exhibitions cover a huge swath of history: Yangon and Mandalay. important fossils (such as 40-million-year- Golden Lake Hotel HOTEL $ (%067-434 022; thegoldenlakehotelnpt@gmail. old anthropoid jawbones that lend credence com; 36-37 Yaza Thingaha Rd; r K20,000-80,000; to the theory that human ancestors evolved from primates in Asia rather than Africa); aW) One of the few cheapies in the ho- tel zone, Golden Lake has standard rooms Stone Age tools; small figurines of minstrels with bathrooms outside the room or supe- from Sri-Ksetra (early evidence of musical cul- ture in the region); and intriguing landscape rior en-suite rooms – the best are bunga- low style with parquet floors. Both include paintings and portraits by 20th-c­entury My- similar amenities such as satellite TV and anmar artists. There’s also a hands-on room where kids can tinker with musical instru- fridge. Friendly, English-speaking staff have a wealth of info on the city. There’s also a ments, try out a hand loom and create their restaurant (and 24-hour room service). own hand-drawn artworks. Uppatasanti Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE Hotel Amara HOTEL $$ (%067-422 201; www.thehotelamara.com; 11 Yaza (ဥပါၸ တသႏေၲိ စတ)ီ An act of merit-making by Thingaha Rd; s/d US$50/55, ste US$105; aW) General Than Shwe and his wife, this 321ft tall golden pagoda – 1ft smaller than Yangon’s The welcoming Amara is a favourite with visiting diplomats and NGOs. The 104 exec- Shwedagon Paya – is impressive from afar utive rooms are good value, each with wood (especially when illuminated at night), but up close betrays its hasty construction with or parquet floors, a king-sized bed (in most rooms), modern bathroom and small bal- poor finishing. Nevertheless, the vast interior cony. For a touch more luxury, opt for the is lined with some vivid carved-stone murals depicting the life and legend of Buddha and bungalow-s­ tyle suites. key scenes from Myanmar’s Buddhist history. Royal Lotus HOTEL $$ Water Fountain Garden PARK (%067-810 6170; [email protected]; 38- 39 Yaza Thingaha Rd; d/ste US$38/105; aW) (per person/vehicle K700/500; h8.30am- This large 57-room complex has bright, com- 8.30pm) More or less at the heart of Nay Pyi Taw is this government-built, 165-acre fortable rooms with all the usual touches (minibar, air-con, hot water), plus big win- grassy park boasting ponds, swinging bridg- dows for taking in the surprisingly pastoral es, gardens, fountains, kitschy sculptures, a playground and a massive water slide (if you landscapes out your window. Staff speak a bit of English. have children with you, bring bathing suits).

148 Nay Pyi Taw e# 0 1 km A 0 0.5 miles Myomazay B Bus Station ›# 66D 6Taungnyo Rd CD 1 Yaza Thingaha Rd National Museum (2.3mi); Uppatasanti Paya (4.8mi) Rd 1 Tsin Nay Pyi Taw î# 666Taun÷#gn1yo Rd Hospital Than Ya nMyo Yaza Thingaha Rd Thayay Rd Kyet ú# 5 Zabu 22 ::: 666: : : : ::: :::: Yaza Thingaha Rd : : : :ZABU THIRI Royal Myan:mar : : : D:ISTRICT 663 3 Golf Course ::: :::: DDIPLOMATIC66 Ø#2 HOUSING Bag a n & C e ntr a l M ya n m a r EYNaatnyignPoygni &–TaMDwarni ndkailnagy H i g h way4 ú# ESTATE/QUARTER Capital ì# DEKHINA THIRI Hypermarket DISTRICT 4 Hotel Amara (0.6mi); 4 Nan Waddy Hotel (0.9mi); Golden Lake Hotel (1.2mi); ú# 3 Nay Pyi Taw #– (4.7mi) ABCD Nay Pyi Taw 5 Eating & Drinking æ Sights There are a few places to eat and drink atop 1 Water Fountain Garden....................... C1 what is known as Golden Hill. At the foot of the hill, in the evenings, food and tea stalls set Ø Activities, Courses & Tours up shop. There are also a handful of places to 2 Teak Spa & Fitness..............................D4 eat in the Junction Centre, where you’ll also find a huge Ocean Supermarket and a cinema. ú Eating 3 Café Flight ............................................C4 Tai Kitchen THAI $ 4 Junction Centre ...................................B4 (Yana-Thing; mains K3000-8000; h7am-10pm; 5 Maw Khan Nong...................................C2 vE) One of the capital’s best restaurants not set in a hotel, Tai Kitchen whips up delicious chicken basil, whole steamed fish with lem- Nan Waddy Hotel RESORT $$ on, Shan-style spare ribs and vegetable-filled (%067-419 053; 12 Yaza Thingaha Rd; r US$50, ste US$120; aW) The spacious and sprawling rice cakes among other hits. It has an attrac- tive wood-filled interior and an outdoor deck Nanwaddy has a striking lobby to welcome when the temperatures aren’t too steamy. guests and a series of rooms and bungalows set around a pretty lake full of lotus flowers. Junction Centre FOOD HALL $ (YazaThingahaRd; mainsfromK2000; h10am-9pm; Rooms are reasonable value and include all vE) This large, modern shopping centre mod cons. The suites are pretty impressive for those with the budget and include trans- has many temptations for locals and expats alike, including good restaurants such as fer by golf buggy.