lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

246NORTHERN MYANMAR MYITKYINA & THE UPPER AYEYARWADYing is relatively thorough. The owners speaka little English.Annawah Guest House GUESTHOUSE $(%25146; Strand Rd; per person K5000) Annawahis more off-puttingly chaotic than the Ayarwady:its downstairs rooms are dark, upstairsones include some truly minuscule cupboardlikebed-spaces and the ragged stairwaybodes ill. However, a couple of upper, frontfacingrooms are OK for a night or two. Thepot-bellied owner speaks no English but is adistinctive character and bears a few passingsimilarities to Orwell’s antihero U Po Kyin.Sein Restaurant CHINESE $$(veg/meat/fish dishes K1200/2000/4000; h8am-8pm; E) This older two-room shophouse hasa degree of character in its older half andserves consistently good Chinese fare. It’sjust off the night-market street, three streetsinland from the Ayarwady Guest House.Shwe Sisa BEER STATION $(Strand Rd; draught beer K600; h9am-10pm) Brewwith a view. Perched over the riverside a blocksouthwest of the guesthouses, Shwe Sisa alsobarbecues fresh tasty ‘Slavia’ fish, said to haveinvaded the Ayeyarwady River having beenoriginally introduced from Yugoslavia.8Getting There & AwayBoatIWT FERRYTickets are only available around an hourbefore departure, bought from the IWT office(%25057; Strand Rd) opposite the main jetty.Mandalay Departs around 5pm Monday,Wednesday and Friday (deck/cabin class$7/42). Takes around 40 hours in the dry season(two nights aboard), much less when wateris high and the boat can sail by night.Bhamo Departs Monday, Thursday and Saturday,timings unpredictable ($4).FAST BOATMandalay Departs every second day at 5am,arrives around 6.30pm (K36,000).Bhamo Departs daily at 8am (K15,000); arrivesin Shwegu at 1.30pm and Bhamo around 4pm.TrainThe nearest train station on the Mandalay–Myitkyinamainline is at Naba, 16 miles west of Katha.There is a daily Katha–Naba connecting train(1¼ hours) leaving Katha at 1pm and Naba at9am. Local buses (K1000) also connect the twotowns timed to meet arriving trains. A charteredKatha–Naba taxi costs around K30,000.Trains from Naba (according to the stationmasterin Katha):Northbound Departures 11.30pm and 3.30am(plus 7.30am local) to Hopin and Myitkyina.Southbound Departures 6pm and 10.30pm(plus 2.30pm local) to Shwebo and Mandalay.Katha to KyaukmyaungIWT ferries tend to sail the section southof Katha in the dark, but the area has someof the Ayeyarwady’s more appealing landscapeswith several pagoda-topped hills andthatched villages. The first stop is Ti Kyaing(pronounced ‘t’chine’; Htigyaing,) where adouble row of riverfront thatched woodenstilt houses leads north from the jetty, a monasteryhill rises directly above and there’s alarge reclining Buddha on the next hillnortheast.Further south the landscape becomesmore monotonous towards Tagaung, whichgave its name to a whole era of Burmese history,but has not much to show for it.Kyaukmyaung%075 / POP C10,000ekY;k'e¨m;='"The last major IWT stop before Mandalayis Kyaukmyaung, famous for its distinctiveglazed pottery. That is produced in the delightfulNgwe Nyein district, a 20-minutestroll south along the Ayeyarwady riversidefrom central Kyaukmyaung’s attractivetriple-stupa, Nondo Zedi. Traffic en route ismainly a procession of ox carts carrying faggotsor rice husks for pot-firing.Beyond Letyway Kyaunggyi monasteryyou’ll see almost every open space filledwith large amphorae waiting to be shippedon river barges. Homes, some of them oldwooden affairs with distinctive portal-arches,double as storefronts selling vases, jugsand mustard pots (from K200). Althoughsome are vivid green (notably big owl-figurevases) archetypal Kyaukmyaung designs areusually glazed a rich glossy brown that’scasually daubed swirls of beige-yellow, thelatter apparently taking its colour from oldbatteries.The pottery district stretches nearly amile further south, to and beyond the brutalgash of the new Ayeyarwady bridge site. Enroute are a few crumbling old stupas whilea block or two inland, several ‘factories’ arehoused in bamboo thatched barns. These