Hap An – the place worth to see.

I have to admit that the southeastern parts of Myanmar have proved to be the most geographically interesting region to which I traveled through this country – and there are several guide attractions there. The region of Kayin state is a lovely hillock, after which it was nice to pedal. In the vicinity of Hpa-An, which is about 200 km before the border with Thailand, the area became flat, but on the horizon there were interesting rock formations and mountains on my karst eye.

Every day I had something to explore – and this is the largest lying Buddha in Burma, which lies at the length of 90 meters in the city of Bago, and the famous Golden Rock, a sacred pilgrimage site and a must-visit tour … Extremely interesting Kawgon cave near Hpa -An, in which there are hundreds of Buddha statues from the 7th century. Buddhas are here like ants, but these specimens were really special. Well, and the fact that I was doing more than 100 km every day is another story. In terms of accommodation – I was also able to spend the night in the bushes (because the hotel demanded $ 35 cramp). I even had an evening “tail”, but somehow I managed to lose it. I turned to this forest and no crops – some cut trees hung with troughs to which something dripped .. (rubber trees as it turned out later) and how this cartoon characters in the wild west broken by Robin Hood sat in the forest bushes thinking of whether I will find here or not … and how old I am to play such Pocahontas …

Well, they found! But no secrets. At 5.20 o’clock in the morning (I could not have been there before), I heard voices about an hour before dawn and someone started to walk towards me. At the sight of the tent, the voices subsided – but nothing happened, the steps passed. After half an hour, they sounded again and a few crop workers passed around my already packed bed. We said “good morning” and at 6 am, 50 minutes before dawn, I was already cycling. in the center of Hpa An, you can find many teahouses and restaurants with English-language menus serving local and Asian foods. We recommend to walk to The Strand Road riverfront for views over the Thanlwin river. There is a food stall which sells beer and drinks and a fruit market outside and a small gold market.

Hpa An is famous for it caves. Saddan Cave. An enormous cave with a reclined Buddha and other religious monuments. Kawt Ka Taung cave. This cave is covered with bathroom tiles and numerous Buddha statues. Bat cave. the bat cave is a small cave that cannot be entered but you can go there for sunset when hundreds of thousands of bats fly out. Mount Zwegabin, with monastery and pagoda at the top of the mountain with amazing view of surrounding mountains and plains are a delight, and the canteen there serves fantastic (and usually well deserved!) food; It takes two to four hours to get to the summit and back down. There are people selling water and food on the way up. Kyauk Kalap it is very unique and amazing pagoda, set on top of rock which is in the middle of a lake.