Mawlamyine (Moulmeine)

Mawlamyine, a charming town, is the capital of Mon State, situated at the mouth of the Thanlwin River. Located 28 miles from the sea, it is the second busiest seaport & third largest city in Myamar. Rail and motor road from Yangon via Bago ends at Moketama (Martaban Gulf) 169 miles and then ferry across by launch. The railroad continues south up to Ye terminal (90 miles), but the motor road continues up to Myeik (Mergui). Air flight from Yangon, sea-going vessels, coastal boats and inland-river crafts ply up & down. Visitors to Mawlamyine are simply enchanted at the scenic beauty and it’s temperate climate. The atmosphere of post-colonial decay is still palpable here. It’s also an attractive and tropical town with a ride of stupa-capped hills on one side and the sea on the others.

Attractions :

Kyaik-Than-lan Pagoda

Kyaik-thanlan pagoda was erected in 875 A.D. during the reign of King Mutpi Raja. A hair relic of the Buddha, Tripitaka manuscripts and gold images of the Buddha were enshrined in the pagoda. Successive kings raised the pagoda higher, from 56 feet to the present 150 feet. The present base of the pagoda is 450 feet in circumference. There are 34 small pagodas called Zediyan surrounding the pagoda.

U Zina Pagoda

This pagoda is named after a person called U Zina, but no one really knows who he was. Some say that U Zina was a sage who lived at the time of king Asoka, and that U Zina was just a villager who while collecting shoots on the hill where the pagoda now stands, found a pot of gold buried in a bamboo grove. The villager and his wife became rich and built this pagoda on the hill which gave up its treasure to them. The old Mon name for this pagoda is Kyaikpatan, named after the white hill on which it stands. Legend says it was first built in the 3rd century B.C.

Mahamuni Pagoda

This is a replica of the Maha Muni Image at Mandalay. The Seindon Mibaya-gyi, a prominent Queen of King Mindon from Mandalay, went to live mawlamyine after the Annexation. She and other members of the Myanmar Royal Family who were in Mawlamyine, felt a great longing to pay homage to the Maha Muni Image, and they arranged for a replica to be made in 1904. The building of this Pagoda was led by Sayadaw Waziya-yama, a prominent Buddhist monk, and Daw Shwe Bwin of Mawlamyine. The great image made in Mandalay was brought to Naga-with a Hill on the Mawlamyine Ridge,where a large building, a Gandakudi Taik, was erected to house it. The nearby monastery named after its donor, the Seindon Mibaya kyaung has some excellent wood-carvings which are over a hundred years old.

Thanbyuzayat

About 60 kilometres south of Mawlamyine, at Thanbyuzayat, there is a large, well maintained war cemetery. The war cemetery is meticulously maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and contains the graves of some 3771 Known and (154 unknown) victims of the construction of the infamous World War II Burma-Thailand railway.

Kawthaung

Kawthaung, the southern most town in Myanmar (800 km from Yangon and 2,000 km from the country's most northern tip), formerly known as Victoria Point, is one of the entry ports into Myanmar and is only separated from Thailand by a broad estuary in the Pakchan River.Across the river is the border town of Ranong, Thailand. Ranong is 120 miles North of Phuket. Visitors from Ranong could take a 30 minutes boat trips to Kawthaung for sightseeing and shopping. There are regular flights from Yangon to Kawthaung. Entry visas, valid for 28 days, and Border Passes are issued at Kawthaung.

The main business of Kawthaung is trade with Thailand, fishing, rubber and cashew nuts. Most Kawthaung residents speak Burmese and Thai. Kawthaung's bustling waterfront is lined with teashops, stores and shops arranging boat charters to Thailand for visitors and traders. Duty Free Shops and a few restaurants in the Burmese palace replica building is located in front of the Kawthaung harbor. A huge bronze statue of King Bayintnaung, one of the great Myanmar kings, out-fitted in full battle regalia with brandishing a sword stands at the crest of a hill on the cape. A spectacular sea and island view from a hilltop pagoda known as the Three Mile Pagoda is located in a fishing village five kilometers north of town.

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