Page 156 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

154 SoutheaStern MyanMar Hpa-an and around
Thaton (51km) & Yangon (290km)
Mount
Hpar-Pu AROUND HPA AN
(723m)
SEE ‘HAP AN’ MAP
FOR DETAIL
Myaing HPA AN N
Th an ly in R ive r Kantharyar Lake
Kalay K A N N A R S T
Bus Station

Lakkana
3 Mount M Y A W A D D Y R OA D
Zwegabin
Yathepyan
Cave Kawka
Kyauk Kalat Thaung
Pagoda Cave
Kaw
Kyaik
Kawgun Lumbini
Cave T hanlyin R i ver Garden
Taw Bon
Naung Lon Myawaddy & Thai border (150km)

0 2
kilometres
EATING
Thai Village Restaurant 1 Hiking Trail Saddan Cave
Mawlamyine (55km)
A complete golden zedi sits inside the cave entrance, but the Buddhist statuary
quickly gives way to natural rock formations – stalactites drip from the ceiling like
molten wax, and mushroom-like stalagmites emerge from the earthen cave floor.
Bats roost in the erratically lit main cavern (take a good torch), which takes around
fifteen minutes to walk through barefoot. On the far side, the path emerges beside
a limpid forest pool, from where (between November and April only) you can take
a short boat trip back towards the entrance. Note that the entire complex is off
limits during the rainy season.
The cave’s name comes from an elaborate Jataka story about one of Buddha’s previous
incarnations, in which he was the elephant king Saddan – keep an eye out for the
elephant statues flanking the entrance.

Kawgun Cave
• Daily 7am–dusk • K3000 • Motorbike taxi from Hpa-An K2500; tuk-tuk K5000
With walls covered in rippling mosaics of terracotta votive tablets, and fragments of
aged stucco reliefs visible in the gaps, Kawgun Cave, 12km southwest of Hpa-An in
Kawgun village, has been used by local Mon Buddhists since the seventh century, with

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