YANGON

The capital city of Myanmar , founded by King Alaungpaya in 1755, over 350 sq km in area, with a population of about 5 million.

How to get there

Daily flights from Bangkok and Singapore. The domestic airlines : Myanmar Airways , Yangon Airways, Air Bagan and Air Mandalay have regular flights to Mandalay, Bagan, Kawthaung and other tourist destinations.

Where to stay and dine

A wide choice of accommodations ranging from 4-star deluxe hotels to economy class hotels and motels.

How to go about

Limousine service at Yangon International Airport , free airport transfer by major hotels, taxis easily available in town.

Why so special

THANLYIN

Thanlyin is situated at the confluence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers; to be exact, on the southern bank of the Bago River. To the south of Thanlyin is a ridge named Utaringa Kon in history but locally known as Shin Mwe Nun Kon. It is on this ridge that Kyaik Khauk Pagoda stands.

The colonial town of Syriam was built by the British for it's port and petroleum refinery plant. It is also a sub-urban town right a few miles away from Yangon, across 1.5 mile-long bridge.

Ye Le Paya at Kyauk Tan means the pagoda in mid-stream built on a laterite reef. It was built by King Zeyasana, the seventh king of the Pada Dynasty in the third century BC. The first pagoda was only 11 feet high. The pagoda complex comprises several buildings including a monastery. Pilgrims and visitors are ferried across to the pagoda. One can feed shoals of long river catfish, which surface to snatch tit-bits of food thrown at them. When food is thrown, they reach out to snap at it, revealing their size, which can reach up to one meter in length.

PYAY

Pyay was formerly known as Prome. Pyay is an important commercial center for trade between the Ayeyarwady Delta, Central and Upper Myanmar and the Rakhine (Arakan) State. Pyay is only 161 km north of Yangon travelling along a well-maintained highway by car. You can see green paddy fields along the side of the highway. Several trains run daily from Yangon on the first railway line built in Myanmar in 1877. In the last few years the railway branch lines have been extended north towards Bagan. It is a city halfway between Yangon and Bagan. Visitors can stop over in Pyay and travel on to Bagan and Mandalay. Pyay is situated on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River on a lovely location.