Mawlamyine is the fourth largest city in Myanmar and was visited by Rudyard Kipling in 1889. Written into his poem about Mandalay "by the old Moulmein pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea there's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o'me". It was also the British colonial capital between 1826 and 1852 so there were many colonial buildings to discover, as well as Ogre Island and the Death Railway.
We really liked Mawlamyine. The street layout, the busy/crazy market, the river setting with the hill of pagodas behind. It is a nice set up. We had initially thought we would spend longer in Hpa-an, but glad we changed our plans and spent the extra day in Mawlamyine instead.
We arrived from Hpa-an by boat (another lovely boat ride down a river) and transferred to our hotel via tuk tuk, located right on the water front. We had splashed out a little and stayed at Ngwe Moe Hotel for $45 per night. It is a recently renovated business hotel, but it was probably the best hotel we had stayed at. Comfy beds, great bathroom and the breakfast was super - omelette station, bacon and cornflakes!!! To be honest it was just a standard business hotel, but all the same a nice bit of luxury - the internet also worked impeccably!
Our room overlooked the river which was lovely, allowing us to watch river life from our room - not that we stayed in our room much!
After arriving at around noon, we wondered off to see how we could visit Bilu Island (also known as Ogre island, though quite beautiful!), head south to another huge Buddha and the visit terminus of the Death railway.
The centre point for travelers is Breeze guesthouse, which is conveniently located in a blue building on the river just up from our hotel. The owner Mr Anthony was very useful, but his tours were quite expensive so we decided to do both trips on our own, which proved to be an interesting experience.
Wandering back through town we saw the night market setting up. This was probably our favourite and best BBQ street food we had on our trip and would be our dinner spot for the three evenings we were there.
There were a number of BBQ stalls with chicken skewers for 100 Kyat each, corn on the cob (300), Potatoes (200) and various other meats and sea food - it was great. There were also a range of noodles and rice dishes available and of course beer at only 700 for a can! ... and to top it off there was a giant screen which showed Premiere league football... Chris was in heaven!
The Death Railway
We picked up a bus form the corner of the market and headed 60km south to a town called Thanbyuzayat. This was the location of the end of the line for the infamous Burma-Siam railway linking Thailand with Myanmar during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Dubbed the 'death railway' because of the 1,000s of prisoners of war that died constructing the 415km long track for the Japanese army.
The bus journey to Thanbyuzayat cost 1000 Kyat (same cost for locals) and took about 2 hours. It was full of character - no AC, lots of locals, chatty monks and various produce including a few chickens! We loved it!
To help with directions we got the hotel to write down the place names in Burmese. This was a huge help as we could show the driver and locals where we wanted to go and they were able motion when to get off.
We got dropped off at the market near the central clock tower in Thanbyuzayat itself and wandered about 20 mins (after finding where the bus left from again) further south down the road to find the locomotive, last remaining piece of rail track and, so we understood, a new museum.
In the past the locomotive had been just left at the side of the road in the overgrowth, but not any more. There is a brand new (if small) museum with a rather steep 5,000 Kyat fee (but there are good toilets!). The information was really interesting inside giving more details about the railway, the terrible death toll which resulted and the suffering of the POWs and locals who built it.
Outside the museum in the garden was the famous locomotive, now on its own tracks leading to the main railway which runs along side (not that the tracks are joined). We were surprisingly allowed to climb inside and really look around it.
After about an hour or so we hitched a lift back with a bus to the clock town and walked down the second street (there are only two streets in the town) to the war cemetery, where over 3,000 British, Dutch, Australian and US allied servicemen are remembered. Some of the plaques are very moving and struck a cord how terrible the atrocities and conditions of building the railway were.
The cemetery is looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is superbly looked after with flowers, cut grass and trees - a very respectful and peaceful space.
We were running close to time for the next bus back so jumped on a motorcycle taxi and raced back to the bus. This time Chris was sitting next to a monk (Women are not allowed to sit next to monks) and they chatted away the whole journey to our next stop...
Win Sein Taw Ya - Big Buddha
We asked to be dropped off by the big Buddha. A new-ish construction of a reclining Buddha which is 180m long and one of the largest in the world. Like the ones in Monywa, they were constructing more even before finishing one - it was the land of the giant Buddhas.
Inside the body (you enter through the pillow) there were various story scenes made from sculptures that had been painted in vivid colours, telling of Buddha's teachings.
As it was getting very hot, we hitched another lift on the back of a pickup back to the main road and as soon as we arrived we waved down a bus back to Mawlamyine (they didn't even charge us!)
It was a super day. Chris really wanted to go to the Death Railway and pay his respects so it was great we could find a day to do it.
In the evening we walked along the pagoda hill watching the sunset - one of the best we have seen and again we made friends with the locals, chatting with them and taking photos with the kids.
Bilu island
After another great evening at the BBQ we woke early to see how we could get over to Bilu island on the other side of the river.
Also known as Ogre Island Bilu island, it definitely wasn't as scary as it sounds - as it is actually known for its crafts and interesting villages. Surprisingly large at roughly the size of Singapore, it comprises of more than 78 villages that are home to more than 200,000 people.
There are multiple piers you can get a boat at various prices. The one we got was 500 Kyat each. Just as we were about to get on the boat we heard a motorcycle behind us - they transport motos across on the same boats - and got chatting to the young chap, known as Smithy.
On the other side we got off the boat and looked for a tuk tuk or some sort of transport - there were none apart from a bunch of motorbikes - oh dear... But luckily Smithy came to the rescue!
He said he could help and he spoke to the drivers negotiating us a bike and offered to take one of us on his for a short tour of the island as he needed to get home at about noon to help at the temple as he was fixing their telecoms (we was an engineer for Siemens).
So Julia jumped on with Smithy and Chris with one of the other drivers and we headed off down the rough dirt roads. They are doing a lot of building on the island - a new bridge will link it to the main land in the next few years - and new roads. But sadly these had not been finished and so we were ducking on and off the road on smaller and smaller tracks, which made for some gripping moments!
Smithy led the way and took us to see many of the local crafts found on the island, each village specialising in something different...
Blackboard making
Rice flour production
Rubber band making (the most interesting!)
Wood crafts
Cigarette making
Traditional hat making
We ended our trip on the island at Smithy's village as he kindly invited us into his home and to meet his family. Soon after exchanging email and Facebook, it was time to go so we went to the pier to get a boat back. We had a great morning on Bilu island, and with Smithy as our guide we had the authentic experience! Thank you Smithy!
We spent our final afternoon wandering around the old town and finished with one last dinner at the night market before catching our overnight bus to Yangon - the final stop of our Myanmar exploration.
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| Mawlamyine |
We really liked Mawlamyine. The street layout, the busy/crazy market, the river setting with the hill of pagodas behind. It is a nice set up. We had initially thought we would spend longer in Hpa-an, but glad we changed our plans and spent the extra day in Mawlamyine instead.
We arrived from Hpa-an by boat (another lovely boat ride down a river) and transferred to our hotel via tuk tuk, located right on the water front. We had splashed out a little and stayed at Ngwe Moe Hotel for $45 per night. It is a recently renovated business hotel, but it was probably the best hotel we had stayed at. Comfy beds, great bathroom and the breakfast was super - omelette station, bacon and cornflakes!!! To be honest it was just a standard business hotel, but all the same a nice bit of luxury - the internet also worked impeccably!
 |
| Our room |
After arriving at around noon, we wondered off to see how we could visit Bilu Island (also known as Ogre island, though quite beautiful!), head south to another huge Buddha and the visit terminus of the Death railway.
The centre point for travelers is Breeze guesthouse, which is conveniently located in a blue building on the river just up from our hotel. The owner Mr Anthony was very useful, but his tours were quite expensive so we decided to do both trips on our own, which proved to be an interesting experience.
Wandering back through town we saw the night market setting up. This was probably our favourite and best BBQ street food we had on our trip and would be our dinner spot for the three evenings we were there.
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| BBQ time |
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| Yum yum |
We picked up a bus form the corner of the market and headed 60km south to a town called Thanbyuzayat. This was the location of the end of the line for the infamous Burma-Siam railway linking Thailand with Myanmar during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Dubbed the 'death railway' because of the 1,000s of prisoners of war that died constructing the 415km long track for the Japanese army.
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| The public bus |
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| A chicken... in a bag |
To help with directions we got the hotel to write down the place names in Burmese. This was a huge help as we could show the driver and locals where we wanted to go and they were able motion when to get off.
We got dropped off at the market near the central clock tower in Thanbyuzayat itself and wandered about 20 mins (after finding where the bus left from again) further south down the road to find the locomotive, last remaining piece of rail track and, so we understood, a new museum.
 |
| The new museum |
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| The end of the line |
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| Death railway locomotive |
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| One of the many photos in the museum |
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| War graves |
Win Sein Taw Ya - Big Buddha
We asked to be dropped off by the big Buddha. A new-ish construction of a reclining Buddha which is 180m long and one of the largest in the world. Like the ones in Monywa, they were constructing more even before finishing one - it was the land of the giant Buddhas.
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| That's one big Buddha |
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| Eye lashes the size of telegraph poles |
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| Guess the scene... |
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| One the back of the truck |
In the evening we walked along the pagoda hill watching the sunset - one of the best we have seen and again we made friends with the locals, chatting with them and taking photos with the kids.
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| Another gold Pagoda |
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| Nice sunset |
After another great evening at the BBQ we woke early to see how we could get over to Bilu island on the other side of the river.
 |
| The boat to the island |
There are multiple piers you can get a boat at various prices. The one we got was 500 Kyat each. Just as we were about to get on the boat we heard a motorcycle behind us - they transport motos across on the same boats - and got chatting to the young chap, known as Smithy.
On the other side we got off the boat and looked for a tuk tuk or some sort of transport - there were none apart from a bunch of motorbikes - oh dear... But luckily Smithy came to the rescue!
He said he could help and he spoke to the drivers negotiating us a bike and offered to take one of us on his for a short tour of the island as he needed to get home at about noon to help at the temple as he was fixing their telecoms (we was an engineer for Siemens).
 |
| Smithy with Jules |
Smithy led the way and took us to see many of the local crafts found on the island, each village specialising in something different...
Blackboard making
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| Hand made blackboards for schools |
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| A blackboard |
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| A mill |
Rubber band making (the most interesting!)
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| Drying rubber |
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| Rubber |
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| Cutters |
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| Rubber bands |
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| Wood carving |
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| Wooden pipes |
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| Cigarettes |
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| Hat step 1 |
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| Hat step 2 |
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| Hat step 3 |
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| Smithy... and two English people |
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