Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
thatched villages. The first stop is
Ti Kyaing
(pronounced 't'chine'; Htigyaing), where a
double row of riverfront thatched wooden stilt houses leads north from the jetty, a mon-
astery hill rises directly above and there's a large reclining Buddha on the next hill north-
east.
Further south the landscape becomes more monotonous towards
Tagaung
, which gave
its name to a whole era of Burmese history, but hasn't got much left to show for it.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Kyaukmyaung
075 / POPULATION C10,000
The last major IWT stop before Mandalay is Kyaukmyaung (pronounced 'Chao-miao'),
famous for its distinctive glazed pottery. That is produced in the delightful
Ngwe Nyein
district, a 20-minute stroll south along the riverside from central Kyaukmyaung's attract-
ive triple-stupa,
Nondo Zedi
. Traffic en route is mainly a procession of ox carts carrying
faggots or rice husks for pot-firing.
Beyond
Letyway Kyaunggyi
monastery you'll see almost every open space filled with
large amphorae waiting to be shipped on river barges. Homes, many of them old wooden
affairs with distinctive portal-arches, double as storefronts selling vases, jugs and mus-
tard pots (from K200). While some are vivid green (notably big owl-figure vases), ar-
chetypal Kyaukmyaung designs are usually glazed a rich glossy brown that's casually
daubed with swirls of beige-yellow, the latter apparently taking its colour from old bat-
teries.
The pottery district stretches nearly a mile further south, to and beyond the brutal gash
of the new Ayeyarwady bridge site. En route are a few crumbling old stupas, while a
block or two inland several 'factories' are housed in bamboo thatched barns. These can
shelter as many as 60 potters working at hand-turned or foot-turned wheels. Visitors are
generally welcome to nose around and you'll also see kilns, drying yards and piles of
rough clay being chopped.
Sleeping & Eating
Kyaukmyaung has one ultra simple
guesthouse
(per person K1500)
but it isn't licensed
for foreigners so you'll normally be expected to sleep in nearby Shwebo, 18 miles west.
However, the local police will usually make exceptions if your ferry happens to arrive at
an antisocial late hour. The guesthouse, unmarked in English, is down an alley just inland
from the main junction (riverside and Shwebo roads). Almost at the ferry jetty, the res-
