Guide to Sittwe - Sights

Sittwe is a place that travellers usually skip over or use as a transit point on their way to Mrauk U.  I’m not surprised that this is the case, as there is not much to do there.  We spent almost 24 hours in Sittwe, which was more than enough.  In that time, we went to the market twice, did souvenir shopping, walked the length of the ‘shopping district’ of main road multiple times, rested, slept, and ate.  Apart from a couple of UN vehicles, we saw only a single foreigner while we were there.  

The two main roads in Sittwe, Strand road and Main road, have surprisingly good quality pavement.  This may seem like an odd comment, but after travelling down the poor quality roads of Mrauk U, these smooth roads were a surprise.  The main ‘central business district’ of Sittwe is quite small, but there are a variety of shops to buy random stuff from.  While there were not too many actual restaurants present, there were many roadside stalls to choose from.  However, we were too afraid to try their food, although it looked quite delicious.  

Armed guards do limit the streets you can walk down.  We found if we got more than a block inland from the main road, there would be checkpoints and armed guards (military?) would turn us back.  As they spoke no English, and we did not want any trouble, we did not investigate further.  

Sights

Central Market and Fish Market

Fish for sale in the market

Boats unloading their catch at the pier

Go early, around 7 or 8am, and observe the wide variety of seafood for sale.  I lost count of the different varieties of fish for sale.  Head over to the pier and watch as fish are unloaded off the boats and auctioned off to the highest bidder.  It’s pretty bizarre – people dumping baskets of fish onto the asphalt and men with wads of kyats yelling. Also for sale was the usual fruits and vegetables.  Most sellers seemed to know English numbers, and that was enough to do business with them.  We believe that prices were fair and that we weren’t getting the ‘tourist surcharge’ added to our purchases. 

In addition to edibles, there’s also an entire section dedicated to household goods and other items.  Since we had the time, we did some browsing for souvenirs here.  Also figured that if we were going to spend money, it was a good idea to spend it in impoverished Rakhine state.  I bought a lovely Rakhine-style longyi for 7000 kyats.  

Waterfront

 So much trash in the water - locals just throw their garbage over the wall

There is a nice seawall pathway that runs parallel to Strand road, near the market.  A lovely sea breeze can be felt here, which is especially nice when the temperatures hit the mid 30s.  Some shady trees and makeshift benches can also be found, but are likely to be occupied by tired trishaw drivers and the like.  As with many less developed countries, expect to find mounds of trash strewn about.  Don’t look down from the seawall – the amount of trash in the water is astounding.  It’s even worse at low tide.  However, if you can get over the trash, it is a nice place to sit, relax, and stare out into what looks like the sea, but is really the wide mouth of the Kaladan river.  (The Bay of Bengal is actually located on the other side of the point).  

Fruit Bat Trees

 Fruit bat hanging from a wire

The fruit bat trees are a mildly interesting attraction that are worth seeing only if you’re stuck in Sittwe anyways.  During the day, the fruit bats roost in a couple of very large trees next to the main road.  I had never seen fruit bats before, and I was struck by how large they were.  Kind of like cats with wings!  Apparently you can see watch them fly off into the night at sunset, but I didn’t bother waiting for that.