First step to Arakan

First step to Arakan

22march- Yangon- sittwe
Air Mandalay flight depart from Yangon at 10h15 and arrive 11h20 at sittwe airport . Sittwe is cover with coconut tree and surrounded with beautiful sea .Capital of the Arakan state , resident Arakan people are nice , they speak different dialect not very far from Burmese. SIttwe Airport is not big , not far from the main part of the city ..only 15 minutes away from main road where you can find almost all hotel of sittwe .

From airport you can take motorbike taxi ( more or less 1500 kyats , transfert one way to hotel ) or trishaw just at the gate of the airport ( 1000 kyats maximum to bring you to hotel) You have small restaurant in the airport and it was expensive.

On the main Road you have Shwe thazin hotel, Noble hotel and prince hotel , I think this 3 hotels is enough and no need to visit sittwe government hotel which is a little bit far from everything.

After checking at shwe thazin hotel, I ask at the reception to find a bike for me (1000 kyat / day) this very nice to visit some monasteries and evening at point south of the town , peaceful and windy place , good for the sunset time. And book the ticket for taungok on 27mars at Win pharmacy.

At night, you have newly emerge, Lawkanada pagoda , very popular plac for the local peple and you have some series of small resto just in front of the pagoda . Beside the lawkanada , you will have one of the most venerable image of Buddha call sakkyamuni .

At 22h00 , all light fade out .. no more electricity .

23march- sittwe- mrauk u

Morning visit to fish market is interesting full of vegetable and sea product ,crowded with fishermen , 10minutes walk from the shwe thazin . then we leave from sittwe at 12h00 . Ffrom sittwe to mouth of kaladan is 2 hour driving where is alittle bit more wave because of the joint of 2 rivers ( kaladan and other small river ) both side of the river is beautiful , if your are lucky you can see some dolphins . After 3 hour driving, river become narrow and we pass a lot of village than paddy field and prawn pound .
We arrive in mrauk u at the end of the day, around 17h10.
Beside the jetty, you have small guest house call Royal city. In mrauk u , you don't have too much choice VESALI RESORT and PRINCE HOTEL on the eastern part of the village a little bit out of the town and the other one is NOBLE HOTEL , only hotel where you can have air-conditioned room or MRauk U , government hotel . jetty to hotel (VESALI RESORT and PRINCE HOTEL ) is more or less 15 minutes by car.

24march- mrauk u-Chin Villages
We leave at 08h00 from hotel to the jetty call NANKYA ( 20 minutes from mrauk u ) .
From there we go up along the LAYMYO river with small motor boat where we can visit the chin village (kone chaung , kyi chaung and cingaung village ) , where we can see some tattooed-face chin women . Boat trip take at least 5 hours . we see a lot of indian villages and rakhine villages along the LAYMYO river as well as Fisherman , shingle (pebbles) divers , bamboo rafting etc. this part of the river is also good for bird watching.
We arrive to the village called Kone chaung at 12h20 and have picnic lunch there and visit in the village and take small jungle trail to next village call cingaung village. Then it was already 15h00, downstream is much faster. We arrive at NANKYA around 18h30, it was already dark.

25march- mrauk u

Visit in mrauk u, shitthaung , dukanthein etc in the morning and evening at LEtsit kan lake , Bandoohla monastery . All I have seen is so strange for me, all images and culture is very different from upper country, we see a lot of strange madras. Endless story of International relation, culture and their discontentment on the kind of Mandalay was interesting and colorful.


26march- mrauk u –sittwe
Get up early, and boat down to Mrauk u with the light of aurora, on the way back we see some great blue herons, small white heron... there are a lot of fishing net across the river and we need to avoid them as it can be stuck with motor and take 2 hours at least to cut them off. Fishing method is very wise called acrobat net. we arrive around 11h30 at sittwe as we against the current. All afternoon in sittwe visit some monasteries and jetty.

27march – sittwe taungok ( with malika express boat )
Departure at 07h00, nice and comfortable boat but a little bit noisy with arakanese dialogue and TV. Lunch break at 11h45 , kyaukphyu . You have some small restos 5 minutes walk from jetty ,everywhere is seafood. Afterlong 9 hour drive, we , finally arrive at Taungok jetty . From there to bus station is 3 miles; you have motor bike taxi and bus to bring you to highway bus station ( 700kyats/ person ). Then bus to Yangon is every hour ( 6000 kyats) .As soon as you arrive at jetty better try to disembark ASAP and take a bike to HIGHWAY BUS STATION get the bus tickets for good & better seat . Forget about diner , NO proper restaurant on the way. Between Taungok and pyay is 100 miles only coiling and spinning dusty road , it will take 5 hours. And every 2 hours , you have to stop at check point
( IMIGRATION COUNTER). Finally , at yangon around 07h00 next day morning .



How to get there

By flight with private company.
Air Mandalay
Air Bagan
Yangon Airways

You can buy the ticket easily at Yangon .better in travel agency than directly from Airline Company.
At sittwe ask your hotel or

Air Mandalay-23904
Air Bagan-23113
Yangon Airways -23157


By land is not recommend, very long and uncomfortable.but , if you want it


You can travel by Express Buses from Hlaing Thar Yar or Aung Mingalar Bus Stands. There are many buses going to and from Rakhine State. The followings are some useful routes.

(1) Yangon - Sittwe
From Yangon, one can take Yoma Zarni, Yoma Swaninn, Toe Yadanar, King Star Express buses to Sittwe. By travelling through the Ann Valley, one can get down at Mrauk U on the way to Sittwe.

(2) Yangon - Taung Goat
From Yangon, one can take Ann Yoma, Yoma Thitsar, Thukhitar, Ye Aunglan, Toe Yadanar, Dwarawaddy, Man Thitsar, Kyan Taing Aung, Aung Thitsar, Anauk Yoma, Yoma Zarni from the express gate. Going through the Yangon - Taung Goat road, one can drop by Mrauk U on the way.
To buy ticket in Yangon- Aung Mingalar Bus station
To buy ticket in sittwe- Highway Bus station
To buy ticket in Mrauk u- Danyawadi restaurant
By Ship

(1) Yangon - Sittwe
From Yangon one can take the five star cruises named as MV Harkhar, MV Myitkyinar and MV Taunggyi to Sittwe. Then from Sittwe, one can rent a car or take a bus to Mrauk U.

(2) Taung Goat - Sittwe
If one travels to Taung Goat and then back to Mrauk U, you will have to take a cruise to Taung Goat from Sittwe. You can find ferries from Inn Pauk Wa Company, Maykha Maylikha express cruises and other local and private ferry boats to Sittwe. From Sittwe, one can rent a car or take a bus to Mrauk U.

(3) Sittwe - Mrauk U
There are daily cruises from Sittwe to Mrauk U. Transported by Malikha Express, and other private boats.
To buy ticket in Yangon-
Malikha Transportation Co.,Ltd.Transportation Services510562, 513816Contact : U Myo Zaw Aung 57, A, Baho Rd., Thiri Khaymar Ward, SanChaung

To buy ticket in sittwe- Win pharmacy Tel -24172 , main road sittwe.


Note : Please note that the schedules and the ferries may change and be replaced with others due to weather changes.


Hotel in Sittwe Hotel in mrauk U

Shwe thazin *** nawarat Hotel ***
Noble Hotel*** Vesali **
Prince Hotel * Prince Hotel *

*** - best / expensive (± us$40.- and more ++)
**- good (less than ± us$30.-)
*-no problem to stay / budget hotel (less than ± us$20.-)


More Information – ( some infos are in arakan , but most of them are in English )

http://www.myanmartravelinformation.com

http://www.rakhapura.com/
http://www.arakan.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arakan
http://www.arakan.org/
http://www.arakan.homestead.com/
http://www.rohingya.com/
http://www.fepow-community.org.uk/Research/London_Gazette/Burma_January_to_June_1943/html/akyab_area_map.htm
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/A/AK/AKYAB.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/S/Sittwe.asp

Thanks for those who help me in sittwe & mrauk u. Here is the contact of ( my ) good friends , you can give them a call , in case of whatever you may need in this region and they will see what they can do for you.
Zaw Myint , sittwe ( 00 95 43-
Than Htun , vesali Hotel- ( 00 95 43 -24200 extention 50008 )