The Road Less Travelled (and a lot bumpier!)

After Mandalay we were going to complete the usual tourist route to Inle Lake, maybe even do a three day trek.  But after a bit of research we decided we weren’t really prepared for a trek through the tropical jungle and the lake sounded like a bit of a tourist trap.  We decided instead to go to the south of Myanmar, make our way to the very southern tip of the country and cross into Thailand by ferry at Kawthoung – Ranong.  This area had been opened up to tourist only three years ago and we thought it would be a fascinating place to explore.  We had read differing accounts whether it was even possible to do the whole length of the southern peninsula by road as some reports said the last part of the trip was still closed to tourists.  We thought we would give it a try nonetheless and play it by ear when we got to each town on the way.

So we started our long trek south first by getting an overnight sleeper train from Mandalay to Yangon.  We were beginning to wonder about the wisdom of this when we noted the ticket included 3.86 kyats (0.004 cents) for life insurance.  Life is cheap in Burma!  It turned out to be a rocky rolly noisy ride with very little sleep but pleasant company sharing the sleeping compartment with a nice young French couple just starting out on a one year travel adventure through the east.

Our train tickets with a life insurance item

Our train to Yangon

After reaching Yangon and spending a night in a hotel to try to catch up on sleep (unsuccessfully it turned out as the hotel was quite noisy), we caught a bus to Mawlamyine, formally known as Moulmein, about 300 km southeast of Yangon.  Moulmein was the first capital of British Burma and George Orwell was a colonial policeman here.  Moulmein is also mentioned in Kipling’s poem Mandalay.  The seven hour bus ride passed pleasantly enough.  We were on a full size air-conditioned bus with movies in English.  So far I have been quite pleased with the public transport in Myanmar.  It has been of a much better standard than I expected from past travels in the poorer countries in Southeast Asia.

Mawlamyine is a pretty town on the delta of the Thanlyin River but it is not really set up for tourists, which is fine of course.  Our hotel turned out to be at the southern end of town and the room looked nothing like the pictures in Booking.com.  After we arrived in late afternoon, we walked along the waterfront in search of a place for an early dinner.  The views and sunset were fantastic but the pickings for dinner were slim (lots of streetside stalls but with no one patronising them and the sanitation of fairly dubious quality) but we managed to find a nice cafe with good food.  By the time we finished dinner the town had closed down for the night (about 8.30 pm) and it took some doing to find a tuk tuk back to our hotel.

Mawlamyine waterfront at sunset

The next morning we thought we would brave renting a motorcycle again to tour the town and the nearby island.  Mawlamyine traffic seemed much more manageable and Bilugyun Island was quite quiet and rural.  We did the obligatory trip to the Pagodas on the top of the hill overlooking the town.  Someone once said that Burma must have a pagoda for every person and I believe it.  Once again the views were great.

Reclining Buddha - note the ever present money boxes

 

 

A lift for the more infirmed or lazy tourists

We then headed for the waterfront to catch a ferry to the island.  The ferry men are very resourceful getting people and cargo on and off their little wooden boats.

Getting the bike on the ferry

Going across the river

Getting the bike off on the other side

 The island was lovely – a beautiful rural setting with crops, rubber plantations and little villages.  We came across some boys getting coconuts and stopped for a chat and photos.  They were cute, cheeky boys who gave us a bunch of coconuts when we said goodbye, which we in turn gave to another boy a few kilometres down the road.

Cute and cheeky boys

Everyone  getting in the picture

 We drove to southern end of the island and caught another, larger ferry back to the town.

Getting the bike on a bigger ferry

Inside the ferry

All loaded up

Getting the bike off at low tide

The next day was a very early start for Dawei, about 350 km south of Mawlamyine.  This trip was in a cramped 18 seat minibus and the further south we went the bumpier the roads.  Conditions for travel was now becoming what I had expected/feared they would be.  

The bus station at Mawlamyine

German tourist worried about their luggage

On offer at the lunch stop - Dr Suez's green eggs?

 The scenery was lovely though and I had a good talking book to entertain me while I tried to keep my legs from becoming numb.  (The ride was much too bumpy for reading.)  After 9 hours we arrived in Dawei and were pleasantly surprised with the very nice hotel that awaited us.

Checking out the fish pond at the hotel

The next day we rented a scooter and headed for Maungmakan beach, about a 40 minute ride northwest of town.  The beach was idyllic – a long sandy beach filled with Myanmars enjoying themselves and fishing boats bringing in the catch.  The beach side was lined with simple cafes and souvenir stalls.  It was all very basic and unspoiled.  We bumped into the German couple who were on our minibus the day before and had a very nice fresh fish lunch with them.

 

Bringing in the catch

Some horseshoe crabs

Sorting the nets

The only 'water sport' on offer  - wonderful - no banana boats!

Late afternoon

Back at our hotel, the staff assured us that we could get buses all the way to Kawthoung and the Thai border crossing.  Dawei was the decision point if we couldn’t continue south.  We would have had to use the other border crossing east of Dawei. On the assurances of the hotel staff we decided to press on to the southern tip of Myanmar.  To be continued.