Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Boon
coffee shop. A further cluster of (slightly less inspiring) eating places can be found in
the Junction Centre (daily 10am-9pm) just down the road.
Daily 9am-9pm.
Maw Kong Nong
Golden Hill, near Thabyegone Market.
This big and cheery hilltop beer
station is one of the few places in central Naypyitaw resembling a local Burmese restaur-
ant and has decent traditional food dishes (with an English menu) including the usual Shan
noodles plus dishes like fried chicken with green mustard, fried pork with bamboo shoots,
and traditional Shan meat and vegetable salads. Choose from what's shown in the cabin-
et (two meat plus one veg dish for K1500) or go à la carte (mains around K1400).
Daily
6am-7pm.
Santino
Golden Hill, near Thabyegone Market.
Bright, modern restaurant serving up a huge
selection of Western, Thai, Japanese and Burmese dishes (mains K4000-6000), plus good
Western and Burmese breakfasts. There's also a small in-house bakery, good coffee and wi-
fi.
Daily 7am-10pm.
TaiKitchen
NexttotheTungapuriHotel,YazaThingahaRd 067422282.
Largeandpleas-
antly lively (at least for Naypyitaw) modern restaurant serving up a big menu of authentic
Thai cuisine, plus a few traditional Shan dishes - the
pad thai
(K2500) is as good as you'll
get in Burma, and there's a good drinks list and coffee selection too. Mains K2500-5000.
Daily 8am-10pm.
DIRECTORY
Bank
There are several ATMs at both the Capital Hypermarket Centre and Junction Centre,
as well as at several of the hotels. There's also a moneychanger in the Capital Hypermarket.
Internet
All our recommended hotels have (reasonably reliable) wi-fi.
Swimming pool
Non-guests can use the nice pool at the
Aureum Palace
for $7.
Meiktila
The attractive lakeside town of
MEIKTILA
is one of the most enjoyable places to break the
journey north from Yangon to Mandalay. The town stands at something of a crossroads, with
connections west to Bagan, east to Lake Inle and north to Lashio, as well as to Mandalay
and Yangon. It's also one of central Myanmar's prettiest and most enjoyably low-key destin-
ations, with its shrine-studded lake, bustling market and tree-lined streets, although present
appearances belie the town's turbulent past. The town is famous as the site of one of South-
eastAsia'sbloodiestconflictswhen,betweenFebruaryandMarch1945,Britishforceskilled
20,000 Japanese soldiers in a final battle for the control of Burma, devastating the town.
Catastrophic fires enveloped Meiktila in 1974 and 1991, while in March 2013 the town hit
the international headlines when
Buddhist mobs
went on the rampage against their Muslim
neighbours (formerly comprising around thirty percent of the population), killing over forty
people and forcing an estimated 12,000 others from their homes while government security
