Cherry
Address: 19 Mandalay-Lashio Road (South side)
Price: Single $10, Double $20, Family Room $30
Includes: en-suite
Tel: 085 213 06 / 085 219 11 Email: Web:
Not a bad choice in comparison to its neighbours’ on the opposite side of the road. The staff speak limited English.
Golden Dream
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Price: Single $8, Double $16, Family Room $20
Includes: en-suite, TV (not working), Wi-Fi (not working)
Does not include: towels, toilet paper (2,000Ks from reception), breakfast
Tel: 085 21302 Email: Web:
Whoever came up with the name for this hotel is extremely sarcastic. In fact, the free map you pick up from the airport (which is very good), covers over the “G” making it “Olden Dream”. No breakfast, no towels, no toilet paper with a busy road out front and a noisy car/ dog park with a communal walkway used from 5am to the back. But you do get a new flat-screen TV, but you don’t get a remote control so you can’t use it?!?! If you find yourself standing outside a hotel with the slogan “Watch you future dreams come true!” then you’re standing on their doorstep. You’ve been warned! :-)
Grace Hotel 1
Address: 114 Nann Myaing Road (South side)
Price: Single $15, Double $25, Triple $36, Quadruple $48
Includes: en-suit, breakfast, garden
Tel: 085 212 30 Email: Web:
More of a building site than a garden. Also hired bicycle’s for 3,000Ks and motorbikes for 10,000Ks per day. Out of town a little, but there are a few restaurants and a bar selling draught beer quite close by.
Grace Hotel 2
Address: 46/ 48 Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Price: Single $0, Double $0, Family Room $0
Includes: en-suite
Tel: 085 22 081 Email: Web:
Unable to locate this hotel for the latest prices, or to judge the comments written in some of the travel guides. A popular guide lists this as “worse” than Golden Dream Hotel, which is hard to believe!
Maymyo Sa Khan Tha Hotel
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Price: Double $30, Family Room $40
Includes: en-suite, TV, breakfast, refrigerator, AC, balcony
Tel: 085 230 49 / 085 216 37 Email: Web:
Family room 2 Queens. Bath and trimmings. Very nice. Double a little more basic, but still good value in comparison to other local hotels. Breakfast served in the hotel’s adjoining restaurant. The staff speak limited English.
Queen Hotel
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road(North Side)
Price: Single $10, Double $20
Includes: en-suit, fan
Tel: 085 214 65 Mobile: 09 204 4030 Email: Web:
The rooms are old, but loved. Clean and fresh, but just needing a face-lift. The staff speak limited English.
Unlicensed Guest Houses
The following guest houses do not have a tourist license, so make a note if you’re not booking ahead and save yourself 20 minutes walking.
Maymo Central
Mona Lisa Guest House
G. Orchid Guest House
Eating and Drinking
Joy
Address: (South side)
Prices from: Starters/ Sides 1,500Ks , Mains 2,000 , Water 300Ks , Draught Beer 600Ks
With the market on the left, take the second right and you should see the illuminated sign for Myanmar Beer. Pull up a pew and enjoy the socializing with the locals. Not that many people that speak English in here, but a smile and a bit of sign language here and there will get you by.
Golden Triangle Café
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (South side)
Prices from: Snacks / Pastry 500Ks , Tea/ Coffee 500 , Mains 3,500Ks , Myanmar Beer 2,500Ks
The starting price for basic tea/ coffee is 500ks and it goes up, as one would expect, as you get into your speciality drinks. Also Golden Triangle is a nice place to watch the world go by.
Grand Chinese Restaurant
Address: Off of Mandalay-Lashio Road (South side)
Prices from: Starters/ Sides 1,000Ks , Mains 2,500 , Water 300Ks , Draught Tiger 700Ks
You can tell a popular local’s restaurant from the fact that they sell bottles of whiskey behind the counter. The food is good, with healthy sized portions. The prices are all in Burmese, so as with other restaurants, as for prices first. The menu and its’ translation make this places worth visiting for a beer and a read alone.
Krishna South Indian Restaurant
Address: Gorakha Road (North Side, behind Golden Dream Hotel)
Prices from: Starters/ Sides 1,000Ks , Mains 2,000 , Water 300Ks , Myanmar Beer 2,000Ks
The feel for this backstreet restaurant fits in with its locale; this for all intention appears to be the family living area that has been tweaked with a few benches of tables to offer good Indian food. Healthy portions of vegetarian fare accompany your choice of curry with bread and papads. Don’t let the old guy in the corner with the remote put you off.
Pan Ga Bar
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (South side)
Prices from: Snacks 1,000KsWater 300Ks , Soft drinks 800Ks
Ice-cream, shakes, chocolate…everything for the sweet-toothed person.
Royal Myanmar Restaurant
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Prices from: Starters/ Sides 1,500Ks , Mains 3,000 , Water 300Ks ,Soft Drinks 1,000Ks
At first it looks like a café at the side of a book shop. Serving a mixture of Mandalay and Chinese food, all of which looks appetising! Prices in Burmese, so ask for a few to get the idea of average costs.
Ruby Chinese
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (South side)
Prices from: Starters/ Sides 1,000Ks , Mains 2,000 , Water 300Ks ,Soft Drinks 800Ks
A good clear picture menu that really does look like the food you’ve ordered! This clean-cut and tidy establishment is stuffed with young locals and travellers alike for one simple reason; the food is good and at a very good price.
Samosa
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (South Side)
Prices from: Snacks 50Ks, Water 300Ks , Mains 1,000Ks
Okay, it’s not their real name but there’s nothing that’s readable to write down; but they do a fantastic array of Indian snacks and a good roti breakfast.
Sun Top Fast-Food
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Prices from: Snacks 700Ks, Water 300Ks , Soft drinks1,000Ks
Serving chicken and various vegetable burgers, hotdogs (chicken) and other fast-food options.
View Corner
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road (North Side)
Prices from: Snacks 1,000Ks, Water 300Ks ,Soft Drinks 800Ks
At the west end of the town, View Corner does just that; gives a great sunset view. Asian snacks and soft drinks.
Travel – local travel, arriving and leaving
Shared Taxi
Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin
If you organise a shared taxi from Mandalay, then you can expect to pay around 5-6,000Ks per person to get to Pyin Oo Lwin (2 hours). They depart from 27th and 83rd St.
If arrive at one of the Mandalay bus stations and are heading straight to Pyin Oo Lwin then the price jumps up to around 10,000Ks per person, though this does save travelling into town at 4am in the morning.
Train
Mandalay-Lashio 131Up 132Dn
There’s not much difference in the classes, other than a lick of extra paint, a little less noise and a thicket cushion. The following tables show the times and fares from Pyin Oo Lwin along the main Mandalay-Lashio train line. Read the timetable in accordance with the direction of the train. If there are two times, then the earlier time represents the time of arrival. To purchase your ticket, you have to go into a small administrative room BEHIND the ticket desk.
|
Mandalay – Lashio
131Up – 132 Down
Ticket Fare (US$)
|
|
Mandalay – Lashio
131Up – 132 Down
Timetable
|
|
From Pyin Oo Lwin to:
|
Upper
Class
|
First
Class
|
Ord.
Class
|
|
132Dn
|
Station
|
131Up
|
|
Lashio
|
10
|
8
|
4
|
|
0500
|
Lashio
|
1935
|
|
Hispaw
|
6
|
5
|
3
|
|
0925
0940
|
Hispaw
|
1515
1455
|
|
Kyaukme
|
5
|
4
|
2
|
|
1105
1125
|
Kyaukme
|
1339
1319
|
|
Nawngpeng
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
|
1222
1230
|
Nawngpeng
|
1225
1158
|
|
Gokteik Viaduct
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
|
1323
1325
|
Gokteik Viaduct
|
1108
1103
|
|
Nawnghkio
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
1355
1400
|
Nawnghkio
|
1038
1023
|
|
Pyin Oo Lwin
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
1605
1740
|
Pyin Oo Lwin
|
0822
0752
|
|
Sedaw
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
|
2102
2122
|
Sedaw
|
0525
0510
|
|
Mandalay
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
|
2140
|
Mandalay
|
0400
|
Bus Prices and information
Direct bus to Mandalay at around 1700hrs.
Sites
There are quite a few small temples etc around town that give you an excuse to get out and walk. There are two waterfalls that you can get to, the national gardens and more.
Anisakan Falls
It’ll cost you 6,000Ks for a motorbike to take you there, wait for you and bring you back to town. The falls aren’t the biggest in the world but there is a reasonable sized pool that you can dive into to cool off. If you choose to cycle, it’s a good one hour ride there but a lot harder against the slight incline on the way back. Couple that with the one hour hike down-hill and then back up from the base of the falls and you’ve got a challenging day out. We went by motorbike following the advice of a very fit looking young-couple from Germany.
Chan Tak Chinese Temple
Admission: Free
Address: 134 Forest Road
Oddly, we’re mentioning this one as a place NOT to go to. A certain travel guide talks of “disneyfication” of temples in Myanmar (a pure rip-off from UNESCO), and this one really has been hit with a big bright paint brush. In October they started making a large dragon’s head that you’ll be able to walk through. But none of this is the reason to miss this temple.
Sadly to the rear of the vegetarian restaurant on the site there are two adult monkeys that are kept in a 3m x 3m cage that has been split into two. They appear to be fed through a small hole in the front of the cage. The floor is littered with rubbish where locals push through sweet packets, bottles and more for the monkeys. A very sad affair and one that you’ll be able to keep up with on our website/ Facebook page.
Gokteik viaduct
Most likely one of the very few train journey’s that anyone would opt to do in Myanmar. The viaduct itself is now a metal construction but as you travel over you can look down onto the old wooden construction. It really doesn’t matter which side of the train you are on, as it weaves down the hillside towards the bridge. As well, the Gokteik train station is on the southern side of the bridge, affording you the chance to alight and take pictures A pleasant option to travel between Pyin Oo Lwin and Hispaw. It is possible do this as a day return assuming the trains aren’t running too late.
National Kandawgyi Gardens
Admission: $5
Address: Head south out of town and follow the road signs.
About a 30 minute walk south out of town the gardens really are something that’ll catch you out. Like nothing one would expect for Myanmar. There’s an aviary where at around 2.30pm if you’re lucky you’ll get to see some of the larger more exotic birds fed by hand (well, the fruit is thrown in their direction and they catch it). Keep your eyes peeled as well for gibbons hanging around.
Local Information
Banks
None of the banks offer currency exchange. CB Bank tell us that they may start to offer this service from 2013/ 14. Only KBA have an ATM outside of the building. All are on the main road, with Yoma at the west-end and KBA at the Station Road, with CB Bank pretty much equidistant between the two. All banks are on the North side of the main road.
Co-operative Bank (CB Bank)
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road
Not confirmed ATM. Closed on full-moon days.
KBA
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road/ Station Road Junction.
External ATM. Not confirmed currency exchange. Closed on full-moon days.
Yoma
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road
Not confirmed ATM. Closed on full-moon days.
Bicycle and Motorbike Hire
Thamadi
Address: Mandalay-Lashio Road
Thamadi hire out bicycles at 2,000Ks for a full-day and 1,000Ks for a part-day. Motorbike hire is 5,000Ks for a part day, so consider just hiring a motorbike-taxi instead?
Currency Exchange
There are two goldsmiths that we know of that offer currency exchange.
Golden Dreams Jewellers
Situated beneath Golden Dreams Hotel on the Mandalay-Lashio Road. We were offered 825Ks for a perfect $100 bill.
Moe Pearl Gold Shop
Situated in the market, we were offered 820Ks for a perfect $100 bill.
Internet information
There are several internet cafes in town already, with more springing up all of the time. Just walk along the main road and you’ll spot one on most side-streets. Expect to pay 400Ks/ hour.
Compassionate Hands is a home-grown charity, founded by Snow Aye after the cyclone Nargis struck the southern delta region of Myanmar on 2nd May 2008. Since the start of Compassionate Hands, many people have volunteered to help realise various projects, ranging from emergency relief efforts after the Cyclone, to digging wells and helping children with AIDS. Many volunteers are from Myanmar itself, but also foreigners from other Asian countries, the United States and Europe are involved.
