Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
While they specialize inKachin dishes, their
mala-je
(aChinese dishofvegetables dousedin
a spicy peanut sauce) and barbecued fish are also delicious.
Daily, lunch and dinner.
DIRECTORY
Bank
The bank situation is unusually poor in Myitkyina, with the AGD way out on Pyi
Taung Su Rd the only place that will exchange dollars at official rates, and at the time of
writing there were no ATMs in town.
Internet
ComInternetCafé,100mnorthoftheroundaboutbytheManauPark,hasadecent
connection (K300/hr).
JUNGLE FEVER
Hundreds of rare and endemic species inhabit the mist-cloaked hills of northern Myanmar,
where the humid jungles of the Indian subcontinent meet China's bamboo forests on the
southern slopes of the Himalayas. As yet - thanks to obstacles both geographic and polit-
ical - little work has been done to catalogue what's out there. But despite the challenges of
exploring this region, Burma's northern rainforests have been catnip for Western scientists
since the first British surveys in the late nineteenth century.
Plant collector
Frank Kingdon Ward
made ten epic journeys across northern Burma
between 1914 and 1956, collecting seeds from new species as he went. On these expedi-
tions Ward survived multiple bouts of malaria, “hordes of famished leeches”, and impale-
ment on a bamboo spike in his hunt for new species for Britain's herbaceous borders.
Americanzoologist
AlanRabinowitz
travelledwidelythroughKachinStateandSagaing
Division in the 1990s to establish a series of nature reserves, including the Hkakabo Razi
NationalPark,thecountry'slargest.Whilehismainobjectivehasbeentopreservethehab-
itat of Myanmar's vanishing tigers, critics hold that the government sees the four reserves
established so far simply as another way of curtailing ethnic insurgencies in the region.
Mostrecently,
JoeSlowinski
,anAmericanherpetologist,wasleadingamultidisciplinary
expedition to northern Kachin State when he was bitten by a many-banded krait, Asia's
deadliestlandsnake.OnSeptember12,2001,whiletheworldwasreelingfromtheterrorist
attacks on the US - and after his colleagues had kept him alive by mouth-to-mouth resus-
citation for more than 24 hours - Slowinski died when the monsoon rains and red tape
delayed the arrival of a vital rescue helicopter.
Indawgyi Lake
Despite being Myanmar's largest lake, beautiful but remote
Indawgyi Lake
is well off My-
anmar's tourist trail. The few travellers who do brave the rough journey to get here do so to
enjoy the peaceful natural environment, spending days hiking in the hills, kayaking across
or cycling around the lake, and exploring remote Shan villages that have just a few hours'
