Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mana side of town, around 1 mile (1.5km) east of Uppatasanti Paya; services from this
station depart regularly for Yangon (K6000, five hours) and Mandalay (K5000, six
hours).
TRAINS
Several miles northeast of the Uppatasanti Paya is the ridiculously massive new train sta-
tion with an old steam locomotive as decoration out front. There are trains to
Yangon
(ordinary/upper/sleeper $7/19/21, nine to 10 hours, 12.36am, 8am, 12.19pm, 8pm,
8.59pm and 11.19pm) and
Mandalay
(ordinary/upper/sleeper $7/15/17, six to seven
hours, 12.13am, 2.43am and 3.52pm).
Getting Around
Nya Pyi Taw is no place for walking and there's nothing approaching a public bus ser-
vice. The best way around is by private car, taxi or private motorbike taxis. From the bus
and train stations to the hotel zone costs around K5000 by taxi. Four hours by motorbike
taxi around the city from Pyinmana should cost around K10,000.
Nay Pyi Taw Taxi & Car Rental Services
( 067-414994)
Run by government-affiliated
Max Myanmar group. A taxi from the airport to town is about K10,000.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Meiktila
064
This attractive lakeside town, on the crossroads between Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and
Inle Lake, is a busy little trade centre with plenty of locals in uniform from the air-force
bases outside town. Legend goes that King Anawrahta, founder of Bagan, had a pond
here broadened into the current lake that looms west of town. When the king asked if the
lake extended all the way to Mt Popa, the report came back: 'Lord, it doesn't go that far.'
And the bad news kept coming. Between February and March 1945, the British killed
20,000 Japanese soldiers based here in the final WWII battle for control of Burma. Much
of the city was flattened. Sadly that trend has continued: town-engulfing fires devastated
the city in 1974 and 1991; another big one took out several buildings in 2003.
The name has perhaps become something of a burden, as in 2013 Meiktila once again
hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when internecine rioting broke out between
the Buddhist and Muslim communities. Dozens were killed and hundreds displaced and
it is still possible to see scars from the violence on the outskirts of town.
