221MANDALAY8MANDALAY & AROUND8MANDALAYGETTING THERE & AWAY(^)
Buy tickets one day ahead from Shwe Eyama
(%09 680 0243; Strand Rd). The booth’s sign
is in Burmese, but a second sign above it says
Panlon Co Ltd in English. Nearby, MGRG also ad-
vertise a Mandalay–Katha–Bhamo service, but
that wasn’t operating at the time of research.
SHWEI KENNERY Higher-standard express
boat aimed at the tourist market. Enquire for
schedules and prices at Sun Far Travel & Tours
(Map p 204 ; %69712; No H, 30th St, 77/78;
h9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat & Sun).
CRUISES Several of the Bagan cruise operators
(p 214 ) also do occasional Bhamo–Mandalay trips.
MINGUN
Boats start at 9am from Mayan Chan Jetty.
See p 231.
PYAY
Government ferries (deck/cabin $10/20; see
p 21 ) depart Tuesday and Saturday at 5.30am
taking around four days. Bring mat and sleep-
ing gear. Tickets sold on board at departure.
Double check schedules with IWT (Map p 202 ;
%36035; 35th St).
Bus & Shared Taxi
Two of Mandalay’s three highway bus stations are
infuriatingly distant from the city centre. Shared
taxis, where available, aren’t quite as expensive
as they might seem at fi rst glance because most
off er door-to-door (or at least centre-to-centre)
service, saving expensive taxi rides to/from bus
stations at either end of your journey.
BAGAN
Journey time is around eight hours from the
main bus station. Choice is limited.
Shwe Mann Thu (Map p 206 ; %22365; 32nd St,
82/83) has buses at 8am (K9000) and 4.30pm
(K8000), with ‘ferries’ to the bus station depart-
ing their offi ce at 7am and 3pm.
Nyuang U Mann has buses without air-con at
8.30am and 9pm (K8500, eight hours) as a last
resort.
HSIPAW, LASHIO & MU-SE
BUS Buses use the Pyi Gyi Myat Shin bus
station (off Map p 202 ; 60th St 35/37), with
central agencies clustered on 83rd St, 22/23,
but relatively few companies will accept foreign-
ers on buses bound for Lashio or beyond. Most
buses leave between 5.30am and 6.30am, but if
you sleep in, there are still two Hsipaw-specifi c
buses departing at 3pm operated by Ye Shin
and Duhtawadi (Map p 206 ; %61938; 31st St,
81/82). Duhtawadi ticket holders can get a con-
necting transfer from the city centre offi ce to the
bus station 1½ hours before bus departure time.
SHARED TAXI Duhtawadi also organises
shared taxis to Hsipaw (K15,000, fi ve to six
hours), departing from their city offi ce most
days around 8.30am. If there is no Hsipaw car,
take one bound for Lashio, operated by Shwe Li
Oo (Map p 206 ; %33280; 32nd St, 81/80) back/
front seat K15,000/17,000 at 6.30am, 8am and
9am and Shwe Li Shan (Map p 206 ; 84th St,
22/23) back/front K18,000/21,000 when full.
WHICH MANDALAY BUS STATION?
Mandalay has three bus stations:
» Thiri Mandalar bus station (Map p 202 ; 89th St, 22/24) Relatively central. Buses for
Monywa, Shwebo and Bhamo (though foreigners can’t use the latter).
» Pyi Gyi Myat Shin bus station (off Map p 202 ; 60th St 35/37) Two miles east of centre.
Buses for Hsipaw, Lashio and Mu-se.
» Main (Kwe Se Kan) bus station Six miles south of centre, this serves all other major
destinations, including Yangon, Bagan, Kalaw and Taunggyi. Allow 45 minutes for the
K3000/5000 motorbike/blue-taxi ride to get to the bus station from downtown and
plenty more time to find the right bus in the mayhem.
Buying Tickets
Pre-booking long-distance bus tickets is wise. The easiest way to do that is through your
hotel, but check how much commission is charged (typically K350 to K1500). Bus compa-
nies each have their own city-centre ticket offi ce: booking there saves you going all the way
to the bus station twice. If you’re trying to save money, this will be the best deal, especially
if you use a company that provides a ‘ferry’ (minibus transfer to the bus station), saving you
the taxi/motorbike fare. But double-check ferry conditions – some will leave you far too
much (or occasionally too little) connecting time to justify the fi nancial saving. Many such
agents are on 32nd St. Shwe Mann Thu (Map p 206 ; %22365; 32nd St, 82/83) has a particularly
wide choice of destinations and has several ‘ferries’ costing K500 per head (last at 3.30pm).