Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kawgun Cave
Daily 7am-dusk • K3000 • Motorbike taxi from Hpa-An K2500, tuk-tuk K5000
Its walls covered in rippling mosaics of terracotta votive tablets, with fragments of aged
stucco reliefs visible in the gaps,
KawgunCave
, 12km southwest of Hpa-An in Kawgun vil-
lage, has been used by local Mon Buddhists since the seventh century, with each generation
scraping away some of the old to make room for the new. While the shallow cave's walls are
animpressivesight,manyoftheoldeststatueshavebeendestroyedbytremorsresultingfrom
work at the nearby cement factory, leaving only a few sandstone tablets of late Bagan-style
carving and the rather average modern statuary intact.
Yathepyan Cave
Daily 7am-dusk • Free • Motorbike taxi from Hpa-An K2500, tuk-tuk K5000
Near Kawgun village, 12km southwest of Hpa-An, the small
Yathepyan Cave
is filled with
newish statues and a few timeworn reliefs and has good views of Mount Zwegabin. Its most
notable feature is a hole in the cavern roof, with a pagoda covered in bird droppings direc-
tly below it. DuringKingAnawrahta'seleventh-century campaign inLower Burma, ahermit
tookrefugeherewithagoldenBuddhastatue.NewlyconvertedtoTheravadaBuddhism,An-
awrahta coveted the statue and tried to wrest it from the hermit, who burst up through the
cave roof with the statue under his arm and flew to safety, supposedly creating the hole you
see today.
Kawka Thaung Cave and around
Daily 8am-5.30pm • Free • Motorbike taxi from Hpa-An K2500, tuk-tuk K5000
Ten kilometres southeast of Hpa-An, a short distance east of the road to Mae Sot, is
Kawka
ThaungCave
. The cave itself is a shallow affair, its single chamber narrowing to a cramped
meditation space for monks, with a shrine containing some tiny fragments of bone relic. The
area beyond the cave is likely to hold your attention for longer - a photogenic row of monk
statues leads to a second Buddhist cave (usually locked), a creepy-looking
nat shrine
and a
swimming hole filled with cool, clear spring water, surrounded by teahouses.
Lakkana village
NearKawkaThaungCave, setamongvividgreenricefields acrossaslender concrete bridge,
is
Lakkana village
. It's an attractive, diffuse little place, where you can drink toddy and ex-
plore the pretty village lanes to your heart's content. In the countryside beyond you'll find
diminutive hamlets where traditional Kayin life continues little-changed.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: HPA-AN AND AROUND
By bus
The bus station is 4km southeast of the central clocktower on the Myawaddy road.
Manybusesstopatboththebusstationandneartheclocktower,butcheckthiswhenyoubuy
yourticket.Busticketsareavailablefromthebusstation,atthebuscompanyofficesnearthe
clocktower, and in most hotels. All Yangon-bound buses make stops at Bago and Kyaikhto
