Trip Report: Mrauk U->Sittwe->Yangon

Days 10-12: Mrauk U

•  Looked around for alternative accommodation as choosing Royal City was more out of desperation than choice.  Looked at Mrauk U Palace Resort, which had smaller aircon bungalows but with a little bargaining the manager offered $30USD per night.  Liked the location of Royal City better, so asked for the same price, which we thought the manager agreed to.  Should mention that the manager at Royal City is the only employee there who speaks English.  And his English isn’t the best.  Upon checking out either he didn’t remember agreeing to the lower price or there was a miscommunication.  Eventually agreed on $35USD/night.  While there are lights 24 hrs a day, air conditioning was spotty.  From what I understand, the guesthouse generator is not strong enough to run the a/c, and they have to wait for the government generator to turn on, or something like that.  However, the bungalow was well designed and kept relatively cool despite the spotty a/c.  We actually started being strategic with cooling the room when the a/c worked, and being very careful to not let the cool air out of the room!  Should add that we only saw one other guest at the guesthouse.  And while in Mrauk U saw very few foreign tourists (less than 10), and more Myanmar tourists (but still not many).
• Booked a Chin village tour through the guesthouse.  Cost 70000kyats, which included motorickshaw transfer to a different jetty (~1hr away), boat ride, guide, and bagged lunch.  Tour left at 0800 and came back around 1515.  Our guide was actually a nurse who worked in both Yangon and Singapore and was a tour guide on his visits home.  I didn’t ask about his wages, but I wonder if being a tour guide is more lucrative than nursing.  I enjoyed the boat ride up the river.  It took approx 2 hrs boat ride to get to the first village, where we met a 71 year old Chin lady who looked like she was in pretty good shape.  Drank tea and chatted with her as our guide translated.  Went to another village where we met another Chin lady, who looked unwell.  Turns out last year she was hospitalized in Sittwe for tuberculosis treatment for 4 weeks.  Also visited the village school which had a map of the world on the wall.  We asked our guide to translate some of the labels in the Canadian north.  Turns out both Iceland and Greenland are located in Northern Canada :D
• Tried to wander around and look at temples on foot.  Didn’t work out due to the heat and the lack of signage.  Decided to book a motorickshaw to tour the site.  Cost 20000kyats for the day.  We split our day into 2 parts, from 0700-1015, and 1400-1730, due to the heat.  It’s easy to see the entire site in 1 day if you are tough, or if the weather is more moderate.  It was in the mid to high 30s while we were there, and with the humidity the ‘feels like’ temperature was above 40 :S
• If you are really adventurous, there are so many ruins you can see!  Many areas are overgrown, but if you had a machete you could easily do it.  For example, there are a couple of libraries that remain in MraukU.  There’s the most well known one that is easy to get to and being preserved in a building.  However, our driver brought us to a lesser known one that we had to bushwack to get to.  We actually got too intimidated as we were unprepared, and weren’t able to go right up to it.
• Not too many restaurants on the main street of Mrauk U.  Went to Pyae Wah twice and Khang Thant multiple times.  At Pyae Wah 2 butterfish curries, 1 rice, and 1 orange soda cost 3000kyats.  At Khang Thant, they only serve curry set meals, which includes veggies, curry, rice, and 2 soups.  Cost is 2000 kyats per person.  
• There are stairs leading to a small monastery located right behind the Royal City bungalows.  It has 1 big monk, 1 medium monk, and 3 little monks (for lack of better terms).  It’s a nice place to watch the sunset, and probably a good place to watch the sunrise too as the eastern views are unobstructed.  Warning there is a pack of 3 growling dogs (which I am terrified of).  One of the kid monks chased them away with a stick though!  
• Other stuff: bought 6 small guavas for 400 kyats, and a bunch of bananas for 400 kyats.  
• Booked tickets on the Shwe Pi Tan fast boat through our guesthouse at 20000kyats each

Day 13: MraukU to Sittwe

• Took the Shwe Pyi Tan fast boat down the river in the morning.  The boat is aircon and has tinted, sealed windows.  Very thankful that we took the private boat up the river as it allowed us to have better views of the river.  That being said, Shwe Pyi Tan is FAST.  Took only 2.5hrs to get to Sittwe.
• We didn’t prebook accomdation in Sittwe.  Figured it wouldn’t be too busy.  Took a motorickshaw from the jetty to Noble hotel to check if they had a room.  They had 1 aircon room going for $50USD.  Decided that was too pricey so walked down the main road to the first guesthouse we saw, which was Shwe Myint Mho.  They had fan rooms for $25USD/25000kyats per night, and aircon rooms for $40USD/40000kyats per night.  We decided the fan room looked airy enough, and since it was only a single night stay, went with it.  In hindsight, should’ve just paid the extra money for the aircon room, if only for the dehumidifying effects of aircon!!!  Also in hindsight, could’ve totally taken the fast boat and flown out of Sittwe on the same day.  However we were concerned about missing our flight, so opted for the safe route and spent the night in Sittwe.  That and every boat we had been on so far had suffered from some minor type of engine failure lol.  I’ll write a separate review for Sittwe as I took a lot of notes since there wasn’t much to do there. [find the guide to Sittwe on this blog by clicking on the Sittwe tag]
• Lunch and dinner at Dagon Beer Station (the only English words on their awning).  Not too many restaurants in Sittwe.  Chicken fried noodles = 1200 kyats, chicken curry, 2500 kyats, rice 300 kyats, rice and noodle dish 1500 kyats, fried water cress 800 kyats
• Wandered around town and bought various knickknacks.  Did some souvenir shopping as wasn’t much else to do.   Bought 2 nicer quality longyis for 7000kyats each.  Bunch of bananas = 300kyats, pomelo=500kyats, 3 cucumbers=500kyats

Day 14: Sittwe to Yangon 

•  Flight didn’t leave til afternoon, so we went to the fish market in the morning.  Quite interesting seeing the various types of seafood 
• Spent the morning hanging out at River Valley Seafood Restaurant as it was too hot to walk anywhere.  Ate seafood fried vermicelli=2500 kyats and shared a can of Sunkist=1000kyats.  Sat at their outdoor tables and watched the world go by.
• Had 2^nd breakfast/lunch at Mya Tea Garden.  Sweet tea= 300kyats each, plate of egg rolls and samosas = 300kyats, plate of sweet rice with coconut=300kyats.  Sat some more in the shade and people watched.
• Motorickshaw to airport was 3000kyats
• Flew Air KBZ to Yangon.  Again, flight was punctual and went smoothly.
• Back in Yangon, paid 8000kyats at the taxi stand for a taxi to Agga Guesthouse, which we had previously booked online
• Walked to Shwedagon Pagoda, approx 30minute walk.  Don’t recommend doing it in the dark as the sidewalks are quite sketchy with random openings into the sewer.  Thankfully had a flashlight.
• Desk at bottom of Shwedagon entrance was insisting that shoes be carried in bags.  Then insisted on a ‘donation’.  So bring your own bags to avoid this!
• Entry fee: 8000kyats per person.  Make sure your knees are covered and your shoulders are covered.  I don’t know what my travel buddy was thinking, but she was wearing Bermuda shorts and had to rent a longyi to cover up.  (there may have been an I TOLD YOU SO from me in there :p )  Longyi rentals are free, just require a deposit.  
• Prebooked taxi from Agga to the airport for the next morning for 8000kyats.

A trip further up the river

Riverside villages

In addition to temple viewing, we also booked a tour to some rural Chin villages.  Chin state is located in the mountains north of Rakhine state.  It is known as one of the poorest states in Myanmar.  The Chin village tours do not go as far as Chin state, rather stop at Chin villages located in Rakhine state.  The tour included a guide, transfer to the jetty approx 1 hour away, and the boat trip up the river.  Our guide happened to be a nurse who worked in Yangon and Singapore, and acted as a guide while he was at home.  I wonder how similar the rates of pay are.  His words of wisdom: ‘to be a nurse you have to be very patient’.  How very true, even on the other side of the world!!!  

A bamboo log boom

On the trip up the river we passed by many bamboo ‘log booms’, where people appeared to be living on.  Our guide told us that the people float down the river with the bamboo to sell, and then head back up the river to repeat the cycle.  

A hut in the village.  This is the kitchen

The unique feature of Chin women are that in the past they used to tattoo their entire faces.  This practice stopped years ago, so nowadays the only women with face tattoos are in their 60s or older.  The first village we stopped at we met a 71 year old woman, and had lunch in her hut.  I didn’t take any photos of her, as I didn’t feel comfortable doing so.  We toured her tiny village before heading out to the next village.  According to the Lonely Planet, tours to the villages provide them with the money for schools, that they would not otherwise be able to afford.  I hope that is the case.  If I had known in advance, I would have wanted to bring school supplies or something since we have so much here at home.   

A one-roomed schoolhouse

In the second village we visited another Chin lady who looked unwell.  It turned out that she had been hospitalized in Sittwe for tuberculosis.  She had children working overseas, and I wonder if that’s how she was able to afford the long hospitalization.  In the village school, there was a map of the world.  I noticed that there were an awful lot of labels in the Canadian North.  We had our guide translate some of the labels.  As it turns out, Iceland and Greenland are located in Northern Canada!!

Religious Festivities

Our guesthouse at night

The religious festival of Thadingyut was occurring while we were in Mrauk U.  During the day there were many women and men dressed in traditional colours, visiting the temples.  At night, homes, businesses, streets, and the old place walls were illuminated with candlelight.  It was truly magical.  As a bonus, there was lunar eclipse that night!

Sat in on a sermon for a little bit

Palace walls illuminated with candlelight

They even put candles on the trees

Trip Report: Inle->Yangon->Mrauk U

Day 8: Nightbus to Yangon

• Spent the day wandering around Nyaungshwe on bikes and lounging around the guesthouse.  
• Took the JJ bus to Yangon, which we had booked while in Bagan.  Costs 18500kyats per person.  Noticed that the price was higher if we had booked from Inle, ?20000kyats.  However, we learned that if you booked from Inle, you got free pick up from your guesthouse.  Since we booked from Bagan, we paid 500kyats each for transfer to the bus, which ended up being cheaper anyhow!  The JJ bus has wider seats which recline quite nicely.  Price includes a dinner of fried rice or fried noodle.  Made 2 stops and can’t remember how long the journey took.  

Day 9: Yangon to Mrauk U

• Arrived in Yangon in the morning.  Bought a bag of sweet buns for 600 kyats and 1L water 300 kyats from a vendor at the bus station.  Took a taxi to the airport for 3000kyats.  Had to bargain hard for this one.  Had previously read that this was the going rate though. 
•  Spent a couple of hours waiting in the airport using their free wifi.  Since we had our packs we didn’t want to do a quick excursion into Yangon.  The free wifi at the airport is pretty good.  Got to plan out the rest of the trip!
• Had lunch past security in the domestic airport.  Fried flat noodles 2500 kyats and 3 egg omelette 2500 kyats.  
• Flew Air KBZ to Sittwe, which we booked while in Bagan.  As we booked the 4 flights that we would be taking all at the same time, I only have the total cost.  But breaking it down it should be around $100USD.  Flying Air KBZ was a good experience.  Flight was on time.  We were well fed too!  Flight was pretty short but we still got served snacks and drinks twice.  The Yangon to Sittwe flight flies in a loop, from Yangon to Thandwe to Sittwe to Yangon.  
• We were originally planning on staying the night in Sittwe as our flight arrived in the afternoon, past the time when the public boats leave the jetty.  A tout at the airport was quoting $160USD for a round trip private boat to MraukU staying 3 nights.  We thought that was too expensive.  While waiting for our luggage we met some expats who had a pre-arranged private boat up to Mrauk U that afternoon.  They let us join them and we ended up paying 35000kyats for the journey up to Mrauk U.
• After a crazy thunderstorm with lightning for hours, we arrived in Mrauk U after dark.  Can’t remember exactly how long the boat ride was, but it was long, maybe 5-6 hours?  We didn’t prebook accommodation in Mrauk U as we couldn’t get through on the phone.  Apparently the telephone lines from Nyaungshwe to Mrauk U don’t connect very well.  Anyhow, took a trishaw from the jetty to Kyasoe guesthouse for 2000kyats.  The room they showed us was gross!  Trishaw driver took us to Royal City Guesthouse, where we got an aircon bungalow for $40USD/40000 kyats per night.