245MYITKYINA & THE UPPER AYEYARWADYSIGHTSNORTHERN MYANMARSIGHTSNORTHERN MYANMARKATHAblock inland from there are the hotels on a
busy new road but behind there is an area
of tree-shaded footpaths and alleys that
forms an intriguing pottery district. Here, in
household compounds, Shwebo’s archetypal
tau ye-u (drinking water pots) and subu
(football-sized piggy banks) are formed and
fi red in kilns of carefully heaped rice-husks.
An Daw Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE
This eye-catching ornate pagoda lies in a ru-
ral mainland fi eld, directly across the river
from Shwe Baw Kyune and around 2 miles
east of central Shwegu. Motorcycles charge
K1000 to get there but fi nding one to come
back can be tricky.
4 Sleeping & Eating
Two guesthouses face each other where
Bhamo–Mandalay buses stop. Mya Myint
Mo (%52134; per person K4000) is the better
deal but given the bureaucratic headache
that hosting foreigners causes the owners,
you shouldn’t expect an over-enthusiastic
welcome. Rooms are basic, but survivable,
turquoise boxes sharing simple bathroom
facilities. It’s 10 minutes’ walk from the jetty
area: walk west, turn left at the roundabout
then right and it’s 50yd beyond the entrance
to Mingala Monastery amid a gaggle of
teahouses and snack stalls.
8 Getting There & Away
Fast boats leave for Bhamo (K7500, 2½ hours)
around 1.30pm and Katha (K9000, four hours)
around 11.30am. Foreigners may not take the
other local village-to-village boat services.
Curiously, Shwegu agents were prepared to sell
us tickets on the normally locals-only Bhamo–
Mandalay bus services that arrive southbound
around 3pm. However, we have no confi rmed
reports of any foreigner successfully completing
the Shwegu–Mandalay trip by road.
8 Getting Around
From a logging jetty 300yd west of An Daw Paya,
an open longboat ferries passengers across to
Shwe Baw Kyune (K500/4000 per person/boat,
four minutes). A much more convenient option is
to charter your own boat directly from Shwegu’s
central jetty taking around 15 minutes each way.
A K10,000 return charter should include several
hours’ wait while you explore the island.
Katha
ks;
%074 / POP C12,000
Literature lovers and boat bums may enjoy
this small but lively Ayeyarwady port town.
It’s a forced stop if you’re travelling the river
in fast-boat hops, a pleasant optional hop-off
if you’re on the IWT ferry, and there’s a rail
link to Mandalay if you’re fed up with the riv-
er altogether. The guesthouses and various
boat ticket sales booths are close together
along three short central blocks of Strand
Rd, the attractive curving riverside road. 1 Sights
In 1926 and 1927, Katha was briefl y home to
British colonial police offi cer Eric Blair. Bet-
ter known by his pen name, George Orwell,
Blair used the outpost as the setting for his
novel Burmese Days. Several Orwell-related
buildings that featured in the book are still
standing but none are marked as such and
none are commercialised tourist attractions,
so ask politely before trying to barge in. The
half-timbered former British Club, now used
as an association offi ce, is tucked away 100yd
behind the 1924 Tennis Club on a street ap-
propriately called Klablan (Club St). A block
north the 1928 DC’s House was actually
completed just after Orwell’s stay but its un-
mistakable style would fi t McGregor and its
sorry state of decline is symptomatic. Three
families now live within and Daw Wei Wei
Dwin sometimes shows visitors into the origi-
nal (much decayed) hall-drawing room. Two
blocks south, Orwell would have lived at the
comfy, two storey police commissioner’s
house, which is still used as such (so it’s not
advisable to knock on the door). Directly
northwest, the Orwell-era St Paul’s Angli-
can Church collapsed in 2007 and has now
been replaced by a new church part-spon-
sored by troops from the Royal Sussex Regi-
ment in appreciation of the hospitality they
received in Katha during Christmas 1944.
There are several attractive temples at the
southern end of town near the prison. 4 Sleeping & Eating
Only two of Katha’s guesthouses accept for-
eigners. Neither have private bathrooms nor
off er breakfast. Both are within 60yd of each
other on the riverfront and both are best (al-
beit noisy) if you can score one of a handful
of rooms with river views.Ayarwady Guest House GUESTHOUSE $
(%25140; Strand Rd; per person K5000-7000) The
better of the two, the Ayarwady is an old
wooden rooming house with half-heartedly
whitewashed hardboard room dividers, but
the better options have windows and clean-