242
NORTHERN MYANMAR
MYITKYINA & THE UPPER AYEYARWADY
churning up the muddy stream in accompa-
nying Tang Phray village using semi-mech-
anised bamboo-tower conveyor belts. You’ll
have to hurry to see any of this. A vast dam
project will eventually put the whole area
under water, pagoda, village and all. The sur-
really neat Aung Nge Tang ‘model village’,
11km south of Myit-Son, is being built to re-
house the displaced villagers but so far looks
far from big enough to help all those aff ected.
The road north of Myitkyina (bound
eventually for Putao) has been newly re-
built as far as the dam construction site,
but the last 11km to Myit-Son are horren-
dously bumpy. You’ll need a photocopy of
your passport and visa to hand to a police
checkpoint en route. A motorbike/taxi from
Myitkyina costs around K15,000/50,000 re-
turn (1½ hours each way). For a token extra
fee you can detour 1 mile off the main road
at Nawng Nang village to comically named
Jaw Bum. Its name translates as ‘praying
mountain’ but it’s really only a fairly modest
hill, a sacred site for Kachin and Lisu Bap-
tists. In spite of its religious connections,
most visitors here are amorous local couples
who climb a repulsively ugly six-storey con-
crete viewing tower to observe and drop lit-
ter on a sweep of rural scenery.Myitkyina to Bhamo
Travelling by boat, the fi rst day is through low
lying scenery that is not immediately memo-
rable but has the bonus of a forced stay in
appealing Sinbo, a village that’s wonderfully
unspoilt apart from the piles of riverside rub-
bish that mar almost every habitable area
along the route. The Sinbo to Bhamo section,
on smaller (25 plank-seat) longboats, spends
most of the route traversing the Ayeyarwady’s
First Defi le where the river cuts through hills
shaggy with forest-bamboo mix, the boat
stopping at isolated sandbanks to pick up
gold-panners, rattan harvesters and cantile-
ver fi shermen. In the dry season the access
into Bhamo can be complicated by weaving
through a maze of very shallow sandbars.SINBO
POP C1700
Taking the river route between Myitkyina
and Bhamo you’ll be forced to spend a night
in this delightfully car-less riverside village.
Though conditions aren’t luxurious, the stop
is actually a blessing in disguise – for some
travellers one of the highlights of the river
trip. Founded as a teak station for the Scot-tish fi rm Steel Brothers, Sinbo is a neat grid
of unpaved streets, the mostly wood and part-
timber houses set amid coconut and toddy
palms. There are no must-see sights but river
views are mesmerising from the muddy lane
that climbs between the trio of old stupas
and the 1919 British Offi cers’ Bungalow (now
fenced and out of bounds for military use) at
the south end of town. On arrival from Myit-
kyina, boats are usually met by Hla Tun, the
manager of the one ultrasimple guesthouse
(bed/dinner/breakfast K3000/2000/1500). It has
eight hardboard-separated sleeping spaces
over a party dining room featuring portraits
of Buddha, Jesus and Avril Lavigne. Deli-
cious dinners are cooked by Hla Tun’s wife
on a simple wood-stove out back.Bhamo (Banmaw)
bn'"em;'
%074 / POP C25,000
For most travellers, Bhamo (‘ba-more’; Ban-
maw), is just a staging post on the river
journey to Myitkyina or Mandalay. However,
it’s an attractive little town that rewards at
least one day’s rest-stop. The bustling central
riverfront (Kannar Rd) features several old
stained-teak houses and is overhung with
magnifi cent mature ‘rain trees’, so named be-
cause their lovely pink fl owers bloom in the
monsoon season. At the southern end of this
riverfront are dealerships selling great stacks
of clay-pots including simple water carriers
from Shwegu and giant glazed amphorae
from Kyaukmyaung. Two short blocks east
then one north on Lammataw Rd brings
you to the main market (Thiri Yadana) from
which Sinbyushin St leading west becomes
the main road to Myitkyina and China. It
quickly passes Post Offi ce St (for Grand Ho-
tel, turn right after one block), the pre-dawn
vegetable market and Letwet Thondaya Rd
(for the Friendship Hotel, turn left after the
second block). Around 500m further is the
large, photogenic complex of Theindawgyi
Paya featuring an elongated golden bell-
shaped gilded stupa. It’s best admired from
the southeast across a pond lined with pro-
cessing concrete monk statues.
About 3 miles north of town, beyond the
military enclave, the much more historic
Shwe Kyina Pagoda has two gold-topped
stupas and marks the site of the 5th-centu-
ry Shan city of Sampanago (Bhamo Myo
Haung, Old Bhamo). Almost nothing remains
of the old city, though locals remember nu-