Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ACCOMMODATION
Ayarwady Guest House Strand Rd T 075 25140. It may
not be much, but this makeshift affair is the best of the two
guesthouses open to foreigners and the staff can give you
a handy sketch map of the town. For K15,000 you can get
a/c; either way you'll have to share a bathroom and use a
bucket shower. No breakfast. K5000
hough it's possible to do the trip
independently, it's certain to be more
interesting and enjoyable if you engage
the services of Sein Win (contact through
your accommodation; K10,000 per
person). He's a fascinating character, and
you should make sure you ask him about
the helicopter that he built in his front
room. He can also arrange a boat to Tain
Pha Hill (1hr; K20,000), which from
November to January gives you a chance
of seeing dolphins. Alternatively, he
offers trips to an elephant camp or a
three-hour bike ride to a Kachin village
called Aung ha.
EATING AND DRINKING
The cheapest and most interesting dinner option is the
night street market. To get there, take a right out of the
Ayarwady Guest House and then the first right.
Shwe Sisa Strand Rd. This otherwise run-of-the-mill beer
station has a riverside location ideal for whiling away some
time reading Burmese Days , perhaps with a draught beer
(K600). They also serve dishes including barbecued fish.
Daily 9am-10pm.
7
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
Foreigners are not allowed to travel to Bhamo by bus.
By plane The airport is less than 3km east of town.
Destinations Mandalay (4 weekly; 55min); Yangon (4
weekly; 2hr 35min).
By boat All boats use a jetty 4km south of town for
most of the year, or a jetty in the town centre in the
rainy season. The government IWT office (daily
6am-8pm; T 074 50117) is in a colonial-era building
just north of the main riverfront area. Their slow boat to
Mandalay (30hr; deck $12, cabin $54) departs at 7am
on Mon, Wed and Fri, stopping at Shwegu (4hr), Katha
(9hr) and Kyaukmyaung (26hr). The N Mai Hka office
(daily 6am-6pm; T 074 51258 or T 09 401595672) is
just north of the clock tower. When they run (see box,
p.577), their fast boats depart for Mandalay (25hr; deck
$30, cabin $60) on Thurs and Sun at 10am and stop in
Shwegu (4hr), Katha (8hr) and Kyaukmyaung (22hr).
There's also a daily service going only as far as Katha
(9hr), departing at 7am.
BHAMO
he busy town of Bhamo has long
profited from its position close to a
Chinese border crossing (closed to
foreigners). here isn't much to see in
the town other than the market and
waterfront, plus a few old teak
buildings, but the surrounding area is
worth exploring.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
he most rewarding destination nearby is
Tain Pha Hill , topped by a stupa and two
meditation halls. It has good views but
really a visit is all about the journey there:
it's an hour's ride by bicycle, and if you're
travelling by bike between December and
June/July, you'll cross the 470m-long
bamboo bridge from Wa hatar village.
Each year the bridge is destroyed by
monsoon flooding, and rebuilt by two
hundred villagers; a ferry (K500) runs at
other times.
ACCOMMODATION
Friendship Hotel Letwet Thondaya Rd T 074 50095.
Popular with the few tourists who pass through Bhamo,
offering decent if slightly dated rooms plus hel pful staff
(ask for a copy of their town map). Wi-fi in lobby. $14
GEORGE ORWELL IN BURMA
Eric Blair (1903-50), who would later find fame under his pen name George Orwell , arrived in
Burma in November 1922 as a youthful member of the Imperial Police. Sent first to Maymyo
(now Pyin Oo Lwin), he spent time in the Ayeyarwady delta and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine,
the home town of his maternal grandmother) before being posted to Katha.
Orwell's experiences in Burma convinced him of the wrongs of imperialism, and he gained
a reputation as an outsider more interested in spending time with the Burmese than in more
“pukka” (appropriate) pursuits for a British o cer. In this he resembled Flory , the protagonist of
his first novel Burmese Days (1934), which was set in a thinly disguised Katha. Orwell also wrote
about Burma in his essays A Hanging (1931) and Shooting an Elephant (1936).
 
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