lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

241

MYITKYINA & THE UPPER AYEYARWADY

8

NORTHERN MYANMAR

8

NORTHERN MYANMAR

AROUND MYITKYINA

Boat
The daily express boat, TO Sinbo, departs
around 8.30am (local/foreigner K4000/8000,
fi ve hours) from Talawgyi pier. That’s a 20-min-
ute, K5000 three-wheeler ride from town. In
Sinbo you’ll usually need to stay the night in the
ultra simple guesthouse before continuing next
morning to Bhamo. For more information on
boat travel, see p 239.

Bus
The only bus route open to foreigners is the My-
itkyina–Bhamo route (K12,000, six hours) leav-
ing Myitkyina at 7.30am from a dusty bus stand,
just north of the centre off Tha Khin Net Phay Rd.
Before getting aboard it’s essential to prepare
fi ve photocopies of the visa and ID pages from
your passport to hand out at the various check-
points en route. Attractive scenery.

Train
There are three daily trains to Mandalay (or-
dinary/upper/sleeper $10/27/30). Fast train
‘38 Down’ departing 4.30am should arrive in
Mandalay at 8.30pm. The slower ‘56 Down’
(departs 9.45am) and 58 Down (departs 1.45pm)
stop at Naba (for Katha, ordinary/upper $4/11,
9½ hours) and Hopin (ordinary/upper $2/6, 4½
hours) where you could hop out for a few days
to make the very off -beat excursion to Indawgyi
Lake (see boxed text). All three trains stop in
Shwebo (Mandalay fares apply). Ordinary class is

designed for sardine wannabes. Bring a blanket

for the cold nights, and motion sickness pills for

the incredible bouncing over warped rails.

8 Getting Around

Motorised three-wheelers (called thonbeecars:

thoun means ‘three’, bein means ‘wheel’) carry-

ing up to four people charge K3000 to/from the

airport, K6000 to the boat jetty for Sinbo.

Staff at the Xing Xian Hotel rent two bicycles

to guests. The YMCA can show you a nearby stall

that rents motorcycles for K10,000 per day.

Around Myitkyina

MYIT-SON & JAW BUM

̈mc'z®u

About 27 miles north of Myitkyina, Myit-

Son marks the point where the Mayhka and

Malikha Rivers come together to form the

Ayeyarwady. It’s considered a local ‘beauty

spot’, though ‘intriguing’ describes the rav-

aged scene better than ‘beautiful’. The con-

fl uence point is distantly overlooked by a

series of rough snack- and teahouses, a big

dumpling-shaped golden pagoda and a tra-

ditional Kachin longhouse rebuilt as a ‘cul-

tural emblem’. However, more interesting is

the nearby purgatory of gold-panning outfi ts

INDAWGYI LAKE

About 110 miles southwest of Myitkyina, placid Indawgyi is the largest natural lake in

Myanmar. The lakeshore is ringed by rarely visited Shan villages, and the surrounding In-

dawgyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary provides a habitat for more than 120 species of birds,

including shelducks, pintails, kingfi shers, herons, egrets and the Myanmar peacock.

The serene Shwe Myitsu Pagoda, on an island off Nam Tay village, seems to fl oat

on the surface of the lake. The central, gilded stupa was constructed in 1869 to enshrine

Buddha relics transported here from Yangon. Pilgrims visit in droves for the Shwe Myitsu

Pwe, held during the week before the full moon of Tabaung (March), at which time the

lake waters are low enough for a walk along a seasonal causeway to the pagoda.

During festival time you might be allowed to camp or bed down at Nam Tay mon-

astery. At other times, however, the only licensed guesthouses are 12 miles away in

Lonton. Both are pretty basic. Indawa 2 (per person $10) has three rooms with attached

bathroom and is owned by a military family. Indawmaha (per person K7000) has eight

rooms in a stilt building right at the water’s edge but is even more simple. Boat drivers

want around K70,000 for day trips around the lake, or K20,000 for a return trip to the

pagoda. Land-based tours around the lake shore are much cheaper.

Two of the daily Myitkyina–Mandalay trains stop in Hopin, which is roughly halfway

between Myitkyina and Katha. From Hopin, overloaded pick-ups leave very occasionally for

the excruciatingly uncomfortable 28-mile trip to Lonton (K3000, 3½ hours). The alternative,

chartering a 4WD for a three-day, two-night trip from Myitkyina (return or dropping you in

Katha), will likely cost several hundred dollars. There’s a very rough road that continues all

the way to Khamti via the casino-fi lled jade-mining boom town of Hpakant (Pakkan) but

foreigners can’t go anywhere beyond Nyaung Bin without very hard-to-score permits.