THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 179

Strand Road
Sittwe's most interesting street, Strand Road runs along the east side of the centre, dotted
with some of the town's best surviving colonial architecture including a couple of fine old
wooden garden villas down near the May Yu restaurant. Close by, a large expanse of cleared
ground announces the location of Sittwe's new port , designed to bolster trade with India.
The street's major landmark is the fine old market building, stuffed with marine creatures
both fresh and preserved including eye-catching bundles of enormous air-dried fish tied up
by their tails, while further north along the road a second building provides a home for local
rice dealers, with huge piles of rice sacks laid out on the road.
On the far side of the main market building the jetty offers beautiful views across the
smooth waters of the Kaladan estuary to the hills opposite, of myriad boats, and of Sittwe's
low-slung waterfront houses nestling amid the palms.
Main Road
Heading a block inland from the market brings you out on MainRoad close to the old colo-
nial clocktower - a chintzy, falling-to-bits old Victorian relic set on top of a large pylon.
A short walk south, just past the Cultural Museum , is the town's main mosque , a fitting
symbol of Sittwe's oppressed Muslim minority, its entrance now blocked off with barbed-
wire-festooned crash barriers and guarded by gun-toting soldiers. It's difficult to see much
of the mosque now, shielded by high walls and dense trees, although you can catch a few
glimpses of the florid - if semi-derelict - colonial-era building, its chintzy Neoclassical
ground floor complete with incongruous Doric columns topped with a flamboyant mass of
diminutive domes and miniature minarets.
A further block south, the trees opposite the Shwe Thazin hotel are home to an enormous
colony of fruit bats , hanging spookily from the trees in big black clusters by day, then wak-
ing at dusk and swirling above the streets before setting off to hunt through the night.
Cultural Museum
Main St • Tues-Sun 9.30am-4.30pm • K2000
Sittwe's lacklustre Cultural Museum serves to fill an hour - just. Ground-floor exhibits fo-
cus on Rakhine culture and crafts, plus an introduction to the moves of Rakhine wrestling -
handy if you find yourself in a spot of bother with a bear, or suchlike. Rakhine history takes
overonthe firstfloor .Mostimpressiveisthe3m-tallAnandacandraPillar,commissionedby
King Anandacandra in 729 and recording the achievements of the previous 37 Rakhine mon-
archs in faded Sanskrit - the only surviving historical record of the entire Wethali (Vesali)
period.
Lawkananda Pagoda
Airport Rd • Daily 6am-9pm • Free