Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Towards Kyaukme
If you're driving to Kyaukme/Hsipaw, none of the following is more than a 2-mile detour
from the main road but visiting via public transport is awkward. A round-trip half-day
tour by motorcycle-taxi to all of the above from Pyin Oo Lwin should cost around
K12,000. Sites are reviewed from west to east.
AUNG HTU KAN THA PAYA
Although only finished in March 2000, this dazzling pagoda is by far the region's most
impressive religious building. It enshrines an enormous 17-ton white marble Buddha
statue that fell off a truck bound for China in April 1997. After several attempts to re-
trieve the Buddha failed, it was decided that the statue 'had decided to stay in Myanmar'.
Eventually cranes were used to yank him up the hill and a dazzling new golden pagoda
was built for him. He is now draped in gilt robes and sits in a temple interior that's an in-
credible overload of gold. The pagoda is on a hilltop, just south of the Lashio-bound
highway, around 15 minutes' drive beyond Pyin Oo Lwin's vast Defense Forces Techno-
logical Academy compound. If you reach the toll gates you've gone half a mile too far.
PWE KAUK FALLS
Called Hampshire Falls in British times,
Pwe Kauk
(admission K500, camera fee K300;
6am-7pm)
is a series of small weirs and splash pools, linked by wooden bridges, rather
than an actual waterfall. The forest glade setting is pretty, although the souvenir stands
undermine any sense of natural serenity. It's a two-minute drive down a steep, easily
missed lane off the Hsipaw road that starts directly north of Aung Htu Kan Tha Paya.
MYAING GYI
After descending a loop of hairpins, the Hsipaw road reaches Myaing Gyi where a rick-
ety monastery climbs a wooded hillside. Two minutes' drive further on, the roadside
Wetwun Zaigone Monastery
is more photogenic with a fine array of stupas and
Balinese-style pagodas behind a giant old banyan tree.
PEIK CHIN MYAUNG
About 5 miles east of Myaing Gyi is this Buddhist cave complex. Many similar caves are
little more than rocky niches or overhangs but
Peik Chin
(camera fee K300;
6.30am-4.30pm)
is much more extensive. It takes around 15 minutes to walk to the
cave's end, following an underground stream past a series of colourful scenes from
Buddhist scriptures interspersed with stupas and Buddha images.
