Mawlamyine

I love Mawlamyine! Of all the cities we’ve visited in Myanmar that have not yet seen an influx of tourists, Mawlamyine has the best potential for being a hit. Seemingly it has everything going for it.

The Salween River, (Burmese call it the Thanlyin River), one of the great rivers of Asia with its source in Tibet near the Mekong’s source, empties into the Andaman Sea at Mawlamyine. The Thanlyin flows from the north but there is another river from the east which joins it right at Mawlamyine. making for quite a large area of water as a port and fishing area.

Then there is a 300 foot high ridge running north to south that divides the city but divides it in a good way. The entire ridge top has a series of beautiful ancient temples. Some have been spiffed up with bright shiny brass architectural elements, paint and new stairways. Other temples have been neglected but to me they are the more interesting. They are like old men; they wreak of history and the patina of age gives them character.

One of the temples, Kyaikthanian Pagoda, the biggest, tallest, most visible and most active in the city, was visited by Rudyard Kipling nearly 100 years ago. There is a long covered walkway with many steps that climbs the hill to the pagoda from the west. This walkway had an impact on Kipling who was to later comment, “I should better remember what the pagoda was like had I not fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with a Burmese girl at the foot of the first flight of steps. Only the fact of the steamer starting next noon prevented me from staying at Moulmein forever.”

I was intrigued by the fact that Kipling had been in Mawlamyine so I wanted to retrace his steps through the walkway. It really is the longest walkway I’ve ever seen at a pagoda in Myanmar. The wooden roof is very old and decrepit and it didn’t seem like people used that particular entrance much anymore. The preferred way to enter the pagoda is now from an upper street where you get directly onto an elevator! I’m glad we chose to walk because it was infinitely more interesting than an elevator.

This is the exact spot, the beginning of the long corridor of stairs, that Rudyard Kipling had mentioned falling in love with a Burmese girl almost 100 years ago.

The beginning of the longest covered walkway and stairs I have ever seen at a Burmese temple.

The stairs get steeper closer to the top.

On either side of the old walkway are shrines and monk’s quarters all in various stages of decay yet beautiful in their decrepitude. We walked slowly up and up. I squinted my eyes trying to see through Kipling’s. Actually, I don’t think much had changed in that long walkway in a hundred years. I didn’t bother telling the busload of tourists at the top what they had missed and I’m sure they were perfectly happy to have taken the elevator. They were more interested in watching the sunset than anything else.

Monks' quarters, walkways, stairs, etc. and in the distance some of the watery areas surrounding Mawlamyine.

I’ve always found it interesting that humans seek out certain vantage points, en masse, from which to view the setting sun. I’ve seen them - been one of them - atop temples in Bagan, Angkor Wat, and Phousi Hill in Luang Prabang to name just a few. Everyone is always quite mellow and there is an air of togetherness that I think is nice since so many nationalities have spontaneously coalesced. And there we were once again a group of foreigners watching the big orange ball sink rapidly into the sea. Maybe it’s the realization at sunset that the earth is revolving quite fast and it humbles us all and makes us realize we are all here together experiencing this amazing planet and if that orange ball didn’t exist neither would we.

We spent three late afternoons exploring the many temples on the ridge and their adjoining covered stairways but we saw only a fraction of the whole. I would like to see the entire ridge be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The many old British buildings in town also should be preserved. Mawlamyine could be as quaint and beautiful as Luang Prabang, even larger and with more temples. As much as I love the patina of the old wood and fading paint it kills me to see many elements and entire structures rotting away. Once gone they are really gone if there is no UNESCO pumping in money to preserve and rebuild.

Some of the ridge top monasteries, temples, etc. with the big main temple in the middle, the Kyeik Than Lan Pagoda.

These kittens suddenly started climbing up Andrea in order to have a restful sleep. Andrea hadn't even been sitting down at the time.

Ridge top temples as far as the eye can see.

In Mawlamyine we did what we normally do when we are in a new place; we walked through markets and explored the tiny streets by foot and by bicycle. It was still beastly hot which made climbing to the ridge top by bicycle a sweat-drenching affair. We ate good South Indian food one day and our staple, fried rice, the next. We explored a large south Indian Hindu temple. At the central market I discovered and bought several notebooks simply for their great cover designs. At the same stall I bought a few beautiful marbles. One never knows what one will find in a market but there always seems to be something as fascinating as the surprised local people find us.

A temple/monk store in the market. At these sorts of stores you can buy something for the temple in which you will supposedly gain merit for your good deed. Or, you can buy a monk something he needs such as this pots and pans package.

One never knows what one will encounter in a market. I've never seen marbles before and these were a little larger than normal and quite beautiful. I couldn't resist buying a few @ half a cent apiece.

The shop owner and his young helper where I bought both the marbles and cool notebooks.

Strand Road, along the long waterfront, was a nice flat ride and way at the south end of it we stumbled upon a large fish market. Because the waters of two large rivers empty into the sea at that point, there is an abundance of nutrients for sea life and we heard that the seafood is very tasty.

Right near the fish market at the south end of town. Across the water is a large island that separates the open sea from the town. The water is still mostly the water from the Salween River.

Our only experience with seafood came in the form of some fish dim sum at an old Chinese restaurant that we first went to for Burmese tea. The owner and his employees were super welcoming so we returned several times. Eventually we found out that they made an amazingly wonderful pork noodle soup as well as several good dim sum selections. It was by far our favorite place in town. Again, no tourists which made us a novelty. Everyone is so nice to us in Myanmar! As we sat there one day an elderly woman came over to our table to talk with us in perfect English. She had been an educator. She didn’t want to bother us however and quickly went on her way. At other times, when he was feeling brave, one of the workers wanted to refresh his knowledge of English with us. He was from Monywa, one of our favorite towns up north. I told him I thought Monywa peanuts were the best in Myanmar. He agreed but had a quizzical look on his face at my odd pronouncement. He was maybe thinking of other things Monywa was famous for.

Andrea excited about her pork noodle soup in the Chinese tea house/dim sum/pastry/noodle restaurant. This was the best pork noodle soup I've had since somewhere in southern Vietnam three years ago.

It was a relaxing time for us in Mawlamyine. We had no agenda except to get a feeling for a new city. We had already seen many cities which were new to us but Mawlamyine was especially beautiful with huge potential to thrive. It sits not very far from Thailand. There are views of mountains inland and islands out to sea. It’s a port and the fishing must be good and I thought of deep sea fishing trips tourists would like to take. And most likely there are all sorts of fascinating things nearby up and down the coast such as caves, beaches and more temples.

We talked to our guest house owner about the potential Mawlamyine had and he seemed to already realize it. He was very fired up about his guest house and was treating his guests well. We spent quite a bit of time talking with him because I had the sense that he had a good feeling about how to improve his guest house and be successful. He was building a new breakfast area with a kitchen away from the reception area. It looked like a great move. He seemed to like us and our input as well and each morning our breakfasts were larger until he was giving us second helpings of anything we wanted. I would definitely recommend Pinlon Pann Motel which is a mere steps from the bus station.

Breakfast at our hotel's temporary breakfast area. This morning two monks were also having breakfast. They had stayed at our hotel overnight.

On our last day we stopped at a tea house and a nice man sat down at our table. He worked at the post office around the corner. He had had a stroke that made one arm paralyzed or as he referred to it, “dead.” He knew some English but the stroke had taken some ability for him to access those words. He ordered some tea as well but he downed it so quickly I knew something was up. He said he was going to pay for our tea. We couldn’t dissuade him and he said, “That’s Myanmar”, meaning, that’s what Myanmar people do. I don’t think he wanted any tea for himself at all but had seen us in the tea house and simply wanted to pay for us. He’s right, that’s Myanmar. Everyday we are reminded of that fact and it’s a pretty nice feeling.

lovebruce

This post office worker turned out to be quite a card as soon as the camera came out!

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Jacquie GaudetYour photos of Mawlamyine are beautiful! They make me consider going to Myanmar someday (though I told myself I wouldn't be back to Burma when I left before). Then you mention the heat...
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4 years ago

Ron SuchanekI love this post.
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4 years ago

Jen RahnWhat you said about the decaying historic buildings in Mawlamyine makes me think of a film I saw that had recordings of birds that are now extinct.

I hope that some of the incredible places you've seen get added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

But for those that don't, I'm grateful for the images and descriptions that you've preserved.

I don't know what is involved in adding sites to to the UNESCO list, but I'm surprised to see so few sites in Myanmar.
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4 years ago