Hpa-An Pisser 2009

This is part of our second 2009 Burmese Odyssey. To read more about it which includes many non-steam items, please see Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009, Part 2.

One river journey in Burma which we have never got round to doing was the twice weekly ferry from Moulmein up the Thanlwin River a mere 50 miles or so to Hpa-An and reportedly taking not much more than 3 hours. We had three days to kill so it made sense to use it as part of a triangular journey with Thaton as the other apex. The boat looked as though it was roughly the same age as me, but I would like to think I am in better shape:

Yuehong can't resist pomelos and Han had kindly stocked up on potato crisps and a couple of bottles of beer for me to which I added a whole pile of samosas. There was a distinct lack of passengers compared to most trips like this we have been on, which should have acted as some kind of warning, but among them were seven more tourists all of whom we had met in the Breeze Guest House earlier. Most seemed in more of a hurry than us...

There was plenty of time for lunch as the scheduled departure time of 12.30 came and went. I checked the toilet facilities before I cracked open the first bottle, but judging from the smell and the state of the metal work at the rear it was clear what most people did. We watched other boats come and go and the clock ticked on...

Finally some time before 14.00 we cast off and instead of going up stream we headed across to Mottama for our first stop and then headed up the north-west side of the river.

As befits an old lady (albeit with what looked like a suspiciously new diesel engine), we chugged along and there was little sign that the ship's telegraph was much used:

While it had started bright we were making such slow progress against both river and tide that we were soon overtaken by large black clouds which proceeded to dump their contents on us. At the next stop the umbrellas were up and just about everyone got more or less wet. Fortunately, the combination of tin roof and canvas sheeting above us was doing a fair job.

The next stop was wetter still. Time was slipping by and there was a huge pile of bags of cement to unload as well as other cargo:

At the next stop, we lost our first tourist who had originally planned to make it to the Golden Rock near Kyaito that evening. He had failed to follow rule two of travelling and had got himself into a time critical situation. He had to be back in Yangon the following evening and vanished off into the rain and gathering gloom on the back of a motorcycle looking for some transport at least to Thaton. It was dark long before we got to the next river bridge by which time we had lost almost all our local passengers - Han said it was a good job there were so many tourists on board as otherwise the crew would have tied up for the night and it seems that this service will not last much longer. Finally we arrived in Hpa-An some time after 19.30 where it was still raining. Han quickly arranged some transport although at least one of the tourists seemed reluctant to shell out Ky 500 (USD 0.50) for the 1km ride to the Soe Brothers Guest House which was modest but very clean. By now there was scarcely a restaurant left open and all I will say is that the Burmese style dinner was comfortably the worst I have had in the country for many years despite the comfortable surroundings. And those who had been most reluctant to pay for the earlier transport were the first to enjoy a can of expensive imported Thai beer. 

Next morning, it seemed that most if not all of our fellow tourists had already moved on long before we surfaced for breakfast, they had planned to go to the Golden Rock but it would have seemed strangely ethereal in the rain clouds. In the nature of things we don't bump into too many such specimens and when we do they think us rather strange with our hobby based travelling. For our part we find it hard to understand their obsession with visiting as many places as possible in the limited time available to them, preferably at minimal cost. It can't be much fun spending most of your visit constantly haggling to save a few cents and looking out of the window of a train, bus, or boat while planning the next stage of your journey. Today's pampered Lonely Planet travellers with their internet updates have no idea of the frustrations and pleasures of those of us born into an earlier age of budget travelling. Equally, of course, mercifully we never see their converses who travel half way round the world only to bake on the beach.

It was raining on and off again, of course, but Hpa-An seemed a laid back sort of place surrounded by a number of limestone outcrops. Being a major Full Moon Day, it was a holiday with most tea shops closed but we were made welcome at a Muslim establishment which was naturally doing a roaring trade. I had expected that being the capital of Kayin (Karen) State, Hpa-An would be a little different but if it was then it was very subtle and lost on me. We were a little off Han's normal well beaten track and he went off exploring before sending a message to come down to the riverside pagoda. While the front was almost deserted, the various Buddha images were beset with small bowls of rice as offerings and the rear was almost as busy as the tea shop had been. It seems traditional for families to have their pictures taken in front of Hpa-An's famous frog, then children of all ages throw old coins into the metal lotus flowers in a variant of the western wishing well.

Next door our ferry boat was laid up for a couple of days:

Hpa-An was the kind of place I wouldn't be too sorry to have to visit again, there are said to be some splendid caves in the area and there must surely be a half decent restaurant somewhere in town. As it was, like the Lonely Planet tourists, we had to move on all to quickly to Thaton.