243MYITKYINA & THE UPPER AYEYARWADYTOURSNORTHERN MYANMARTOURSNORTHERN MYANMARBHAMO (BANMAW)merous remnant bricks and posts remaining
into the 1950s. If you know what you’re look-
ing for you can still make out a section of 10ft-
high mud rampart where the lane around
the monastery cuts through it to the east, but
you’ll probably need a guide and the site is
hardly memorable. Far more impressive is the
awesome seasonal bamboo bridge (return toll
with bicycle K300) that allows you to make your
precarious way across the wide Tapin River. A
nice cycle ride is to continue over the bridge
for half an hour west through timeless Sinkin
village and on to a brickworks from which a
10-minute stairway climb takes you up Thein-
pa Hill past a meditation hall to a stupa with
very attractive panoramas.
T To ur s
Sein Win (%in China 0086-692 927 8557) This
English-speaking guide (K15,000 per day
without transport) is an eccentric septua-
genarian. His front room is dominated by
the helicopter he designed and built but
never flew for want of a sufficiently pow-
erful engine. At least not yet.
4 Sleeping
Only two options accept foreigners. Both are
central.
oFriendship Hotel HOTEL $
(%50095, in China 0086-692 687 6670; Letwet
Thondaya Rd; s/d/tr with shared bathroom $7/14/21,
s/d with air-con $20/25; ai) This large, com-
fortable Chinese-style hotel is truly excellent
value for money with plenty of little extras
including in-room coff ee, free water fi ll-ups,
satellite TV and a basket of complimentary
toiletries. Even the basic rooms are well
maintained, better ones have good linens and
decent mattresses and all qualify you for the
excellent buff et breakfast served in an ap-
pealing rooftop cafe. Helpful manager Moe
Naing speaks fl uent English. There’s an in-
ternet room but don’t count on a connection.
Grand Hotel HOTEL $$
(%50317, in China 0086-692 688 1816; Post Offi ce
Rd; s/d $15/20; a) Grand indeed is its modern
lobby and blue-glass facade but the rooms
are altogether more down-to-earth, and
while reasonably well equipped, they are let
down by their musty bathrooms.
5 Eating
There’s a great new place for Burmese curry-
spreads (K2000) directly beside Friendship
Hotel (south) while on the short diagonal
street cutting behind that hotel (northeast)
you’ll fi nd a busy cafe, a popular beer-station
and barbecue place and a servery for pre-
cooked Muslim-Indian curries.Sein Sein CHINESE $
(Kannar Rd; veg/nonveg dishes K1500/2000, rice
K300; E) The old-fashioned dining room,
rough round tables and beer-poster decor
promises little. However, the reliable Chi-
nese food is widely considered the best in
town, there’s a menu in English (no prices)
and there’s Dagon beer on draught (K600).
It’s near the IWT offi ce, and tantalisingly
close to the river but without views.Arthan TEAHOUSE $
(Kannar Rd; snacks K200; h5.30am-7pm) Just
south of the riverbank pot-sellers’ stalls,
this very basic teahouse is the only one with
views of the Ayeyarwady.8 Information
Free town maps are available for guests at the
Friendship Hotel. They are extremely useful, if
misleadingly out of scale towards the edges.
The prefi x %0086-692 denotes ‘China num-
bers’, which should be dialled from another
China-line phones (0086-692 numbers) to avoid
paying international call rates.8 Getting There & Away
Air
Theoretically the clunky government aircraft of
Myanma Airways (%50269; Kantawgyi St) fl y
to Yangon ($120) via Mandalay ($45) on Thurs-
day and Sunday. Ticket sales are only possible
from 8am to 9.30am and 1pm to 4pm, one day
before fl ying. Their offi ce is three blocks east of
the market, up Sinbyushin St then half a block
south. Boat IWT FERRIES Pre-purchase tickets at IWT
(%50117; Strand Rd; h9am-5pm), the wooden
mansion with brick-columned overhang that’s
set back opposite the Sikh Temple, just north of
the central riverfront area. Departures (7am on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday) are from a jetty
2½ miles south of central Bhamo. Don’t forget
mats and bedding (see boxed text, p 239 ). Costs
and very approximate timings (southbound, dry
season):
Shwegu ($2, five hours)
Katha ($4, 10 to 12 hours)
Kyaukmyaung ($9, 22 to 30 hours).
Mandalay (deck/cabin $9/54, 30 to 50 hours)