Page 161 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

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Mawlamyine

Sandwiched between a ridge of pagoda-topped hills and the island-filled estuary of the
Thanlyin River, MAWLAMYINE is an absorbing base to spend a few days. The town is a
diverting place to explore, with the centre dominated by a series of fascinating markets
and the neighbourhoods beyond dotted with neat churches and extravagantly
crumbling colonial mansions – even by 1904, Mawlamyine’s atmosphere was already
described as being “one of decay” by a British travel writer, V.C. Scott O’Connor.
But it would be a shame not to venture into the surrounding region, whether to the
picturesque island of Bilu Kyun or to one of the unusual religious sites nearby
(see p.164). Finally, good travel connections make Mawlamyine an excellent starting
point for forays south to Tanintharyi, or north along the Thanlyin River to Hpa-An
in Kayin State (see box, p.162).

Brief history 3
For much of its history, Mawlamyine was overshadowed by nearby Mottama
(formerly known as Martaban), which was a major Indian Ocean trade entrepôt until
the mid-sixteenth century – even today, it remains one of the most multicultural towns
in Myanmar. When the British annexed Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) after the First
Anglo-Burmese War, Mawlamyine – then little more than a fishing village known to
the British as Moulmein – was made capital of Lower Burma from 1827 to 1852.
Located at the confluence of the Thanlyin, Gyaing and Ataran rivers, with a sheltered
harbour on the Andaman Sea, the city became a wealthy teak port and home to a
substantial British and Anglo-Burmese population.
Several generations of writer George Orwell’s (see p.337) family – including his
mother – were born and grew up in the city, but by the time Orwell himself arrived
here in 1926 to staff the police headquarters, its heyday was over and the timber mills
and shipyards were closing down as trade shifted to Yangon. The town became a
popular retirement spot for British civil servants until Ne Win’s 1962 coup d’état led
to an exodus of the British, Anglo-Burmese and Indian population.

Kyaikthanlan Pagoda
• Viewpoint Rd • Daily 5am–10pm • Free
One of the few places visited by Rudyard Kipling during his three-day trip to
Burma in 1889, Kyaikthanlan Pagoda is the self-same “old Moulmein Pagoda”
immortalized in the opening lines of his poem, Mandalay. The oldest and tallest
of the pagodas that line Mawlamyine’s eastern ridge of hills, Kyaikthanlan has a
tiled terrace that’s a popular spot from which to watch the sun set over Bilu Kyun
(see p.164) and the islands of the Thanlyin estuary. It also offers good views of the
1908 prison, which is a little less poetic.
The pagoda’s name is thought to be a corruption of “Kyaikshanlan”, meaning
“Shan-defeating pagoda”, and it’s the earliest brick structure built here to celebrate the
routing of the Siamese army in 875. The most pleasant way to reach it from town is
along Kyaikthanlan Road, which becomes a covered staircase just east of its junction
with Upper Main Road, passing several monasteries. Another attractive walkway joins
Kyaikthanlan to Mahamuni Paya, a few hundred metres to the north.

Mahamuni Paya and around
• Viewpoint Rd • Daily 5am–9pm • Free
The densely mirrored powder-blue interior of Mahamuni Paya is particularly beautiful
at dusk. A replica of the Buddha at Mandalay’s Mahamuni Paya (see p.289) sits in the

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