HEADING TO SOUTH MYANMAR – MAWLAMYINE AND HPA-AN

THE DREADED DICE ROLL

After spending a few days in Nyaungshwe I decided to roll the dice on whether I should see out my visa in Myanmar or whether I should head onto pastures new.

The dice decided that I should continue to see out my time in Myanmar and also condemned me to a 23 hour bus journey down South, to the town of Maylamyine.

If you want to see the suffering, check out the video below:

2 NIGHTS IN MAWLAMYINE

As you can see, the journey itself was pretty hellish, but fortunately I didn’t have too much planned in Mawlamyine and was able to spend the time resting and catching up on some website work.

There wasn’t much to the town to be honest, so I really wouldn’t recommend it as a place that you should visit if you’re in Myanmar. I was starting to wonder if there was really any point in me staying in the country any longer.

I was under command of the dice though, so I was going to stay for another 9 days, regardless and see what it had in store for me.

 

OPERATION VAPE SHOP

One thing that Maylamyine did offer, was a chance to stock up on liquid for my e-cigarette, but this in istelf was a strange encounter.

There were no official vape shops, but a google search did lead me to a facebook page, which was advertising liquid for sale at an undisclosed location in Mawlamyine. I pinged out a message, where the page promised a response within an hour.

Lo and behold I got a message, asking for my phone number.

Having a foreign SIM card, I didn’t know what my number was, so I asked for this guy’s number instead. He sent back his digits, so I gave him a call.

The guy answered and I was happy to hear that he spoke decent English. The conversation was short, but the guy explained that the shop was in downtown and he would send me the latitude and longitude coordinates.

I hung up and seconds later, the coordinates were sent through to me.

Feeling like a secret agent, I copied and pasted them into Google maps and set a waypoint on my phone.

As I made my way over, I received another message saying that he wouldn’t be in the shop, but his cousins would be. This all seemed very strange, but I wasn’t put off; keen to see how this would turn out.

I headed closer to the point on my map and couldn’t see anything that resembled a shop that would sell this liquid, until…. I saw a wedding photography studio.

This was the place. A photo studio. With a little cabinet with a few bottles of the elusive liquid!

I stocked up. A surreal encounter.

 

HEADING TO HPA AN

After two days in Maylamyine, I was making my way further North to Hpa An and was hoping to find somewhere which had more to offer a traveller.

Not deterred too much by my journey down here, I got myself another bus. This one would only be a couple of hours though, fortunately!

There was the option of a boat ride, but this was more expensive and took a lot longer. As I was situated just around the corner from the bus station, it made sense that this was the way to go.

 

I was to stay in Hpa An for 3 nights and immediately upon arrival I got the feeling that this was a place with much more to offer.

I was staying very close to the banks of the Thanlyin river and was able to sit out, have a bite to eat and watch the sunset here:

 

DAY EXCURSION IN HPA AN

On my final full day in Hpa An, I decided to get out and see some of the sights of the neighbouring countryside.

I’d heard about plenty of different places that were worth visiting nearby, but they were all quite spread out and certainly not walkable.

The hotel I was staying in – Soe Brothers Guesthouse – offered a full day’s excursion, with a tuk tuk driver who would take guests to several sites in exchange for 5,000 Kyat per person (approx. £3). Seemed like one not to pass up!

 

FIRST STOP – YATHET PYAN CAVE

The tuk tuk drove us away from the centre of Hpa An for a few minutes, before we stopped at the location of this cave.

There was an initial hike up to the cave entrance, which was difficult in the intense heat that was already present in the early part of the day.

The cave walls were lined with dozens of impressive Buddha statues

Including this one which was obviously in need of a little help

We had 30 minutes exploring this cave, which was plenty of time and then headed back onto the tuk-tuk to take us to the next destination.

 

SECOND STOP – KAW-GOON CAVE

Only a few minutes drive and we stopped at the next destination of Kaw-Goon cave.

Before entering the cave area though, we were greeted by dozens of monkeys, which congregate around the rock outside. Not quite as much of a spectacle as in Lopburi, but still pretty awesome to see these guys roaming around and poaching food from the visitors.

The entrance to the cave, apparently dated back to around 1,300 AD, was lined with myriad buddha statues and terracotta tablets.

Further outside the cave, there was a small area where you could climb up to see a few further statues. Only if you were a man though!

Asking the locals the reason why, it seemed to me that any reasoning had just been forgotten. Responses of, “they’re just not allowed” didn’t seem right, and to me just showed the craziness of traditions blindly followed ‘just because’.

 

THIRD STOP – KYAUK KALAP

Back in the tuk tuk and after a short drive, we arrived at Kyauk Kalap – a unique pagoda that’s set at the top of this strange rock formation in the middle of a man made lake. Quite a sight.

Before heading to this pagoda, however, I checked out this temple, which was nearby.

There wasn’t much to see here, apart from a few buddha statues and shrines, so I made my way over to the pagoda.

I was perturbed at the idea of climbing to the top, as it looked precarious, but once I got there I realised that you couldn’t actually climb to the top.

Maybe the monks do actually climb to the top, up the wooden ladders that you can see from the outside, but tourists were spared this opportunity. Probably for the best!

I’d recommend visiting to take photos and see the sight, but climbing half way up was quite pointless.

Before leaving, and heading back to the tuk tuk, I saw this guy with a cool ‘tache shooting a music video outside the temple:

Off we went to the next stop!

 

FOURTH STOP – LUMBINI GARDEN

A few miles further down the road and we arrived at Lumbini garden. This was quite a surreal sight. An open garden, overlooked by Mount Zwegabin and home to hundreds of buddha statues.

FIFTH STOP – SADDAN CAVE

Quite a rough ride to the fifth stop on the tour. We spent at least 30 minutes in the tuk-tuk; driving down some really bumpy dirt tracks. Clouds of dust would kick up and it was impossible to not breathe this in. I now understand why Asians wear face masks!

I was relieved when we finally made it to this stop.

When we got here I was greeted by this guy, who I paid my entrance fee to. He was possibly the oldest guy that has ever lived!

The entrance to Saddan cave opens up to a gigantic cavern filled with pagodas and buddha statues:

Hiking through the cave leads through an intricate path surrounded by stalactites, stalagmites and many little cave pools. It was quite dark, but there was the reprieve of a well lit walkway at one point.

There were thousands of bats within the cave, which you could catch glimpses of and hear their squawking all around.

Upon reaching the end of the cave, the view opened out to that of a lake below

I descended down and once I got there I realised that you needed to take a boat across the lake and through a subterranean passage which leads back to the other side of the cave.

A short hike through some countryside and we were back to the tuk tuk.

One final stop to go.

SIXTH STOP – KAW KA THAWNG CAVE

Fortunately only a short ride to go and we arrived at the entrance to Kaw Ka Thawng Cave.

At this point I was feeling really quite sick, so I didn’t venture into the cave, but I did get chance to see this row of hundreds of monk statues which led on for hundreds of metres:

Moments after taking this photo I threw up in a toilet just around the corner.

I was so relieved that this was the last stop on the journey. We hopped back in the tuk tuk and I was sick from the back of it, being careful not to catch scooter drivers who were following closely behind.

I went straight back to my room and got in the shower. Sick again.

This was going to be a rough night.

I was up all night, getting up frequently to be sick and was really concerned about the impending 7 hour bus journey that I had to Yangon the next day! I would have postponed it, but I had a flight to catch!

Fortunately the sickness subsided first thing in the morning and it was looking as though I would be able to get through the journey.

Despite the sickness, the day’s excursion was a great way to see the surrounding areas of Hpa An and I really enjoyed it.

VIDEO DIARY

Here’s a video diary of the day, in all its glory, if you want to see a bit more about it!

Don’t worry, there’s no vomit.

LEAVING MYANMAR

My time in Myanmar was coming to a close. Still feeling a bit rough, I made my way back to Yangon, on another 7 hour bus ride and checked into the hostel I’d stayed previoulsy – the Little Monkey hostel.

I had just one night here, revisiting my favourite restaurant that I’d been to when I was here previously and getting a good rest before my flight the next day.

I was heading back to Thailand and flying first to Chiang Mai!

So long Myanmar. It’s been a blast! Let the journey continue…..