from 'Helen's Myanmar Trip' by HelenIAM (September 2007)

Monywa (5 nights):

4.5 hours on a rickety packed little bus from Mandalay (2500 kyat for 2 seats). Dusty, dirty, poor town. Stomach also not feeling too good so everything seemed worse than it probably was. Stayed at Shwe Taung Tarn hotel ($8) and the room itself was OK but the people weren't very helpful and it was impossible to find a bike just to explore the town. Attached restaurant wasn't up to much either. Friends stayed at Golden Arrow Hotel which, although nobody spoke any English, couldn't have been more helpful. Hired a motorised trishaw to visit the kitchy Thanbodday Paya, the large reclining Budddha, Aung Setkya Paya and Bodhi Tataunge in the afternoon.They are even building another enormous 'sleeping' (?) Buddha.

Next day 2 hours down a dirt track in a pick up to visit the Hpo Win Daung caves packed with non-gold variety Buddhas and wonderful frescoes. ($25 for the pick up but a jeep would have been better). $5 got us a wonderfully informative young guide. Friends went back to Mandalay but I stayed another night. At this point I could relate to a previous poster's comment about Burma seeming like a huge concentration camp. All the people sleeping in makeshift huts on the banks of the river as we left Mandalay, the abject poverty, women building roads, children sweeping streets etc etc ...But the feeling lasted just a couple of days.

I caught the bus to Pakokku in the morning (4 hours 20000 kyat) where I caught the ferry over to Nyaung U. Ferry leaves hourly, takes an hour and costs 2000 kyat. Not a particularly scenic journey though! Pakokku was surprisingly green, clean and seemingly affluent compared to elsewhere.