Inside a hidden world: Myanmar's untouched Southeast
By Claire Knox | Sunday, 04 August 2013Claire Knox scrambles through caves, skirts bats and samples the best of local fare in and around Hpa-an, in the remote and beautiful Kayin State _ a destination that's expected to be next big thing in tourism.
The view down from the Kawgoon caves reveals the lush, green landscape of Hpa-an. Photo: Claire Knox
The vaulted ceiling of Saddar Cave seemed to ripple and undulate above me. The air was damp and I felt the squelch of a slippery substance – mud, I told myself – oozing between my bare toes.
My travel partner turned around to face me and his eyes flashed in alarm.
"Bat shit," he hissed.
Saddar Cave is a sacred Theravada Buddhist site, one of many ancient shrines set among the craggy limestone peaks and mountains that tower over the Kayin State landscape, deep in Myanmar's southeast.
Shoes must be left by the silvery elephants that guard the descent to the cave's entrance – the beasts are revered in Myanmar and legend has it that the elephant king Sa-Dan once took shelter in this cave's hollows.
Our guide, U Soe, had promised us the half hour or so of tunnelling through passages and over mossy rocks and clambering down steep, slippery staircases would be rewarded with a secret world: a clear, hidden lagoon enclosed by limestone karsts, droopy tamarind trees and shrubby mountains.
Lean and sinewy, the elderly, wry U Soe was full of verve and sarcasm, cackling to himself through teeth stained crimson from betel nut as we squeezed through a crevice. He assured me we were near the end but there was a sly glint in the man's eyes.
The passage opened up to a vast chamber and the shrill squeal of bats, hundreds of the things, perched above us.
"It's okay, they just sound like cicadas," U Soe laughed, while I desperately wished I'd not dismissed that rabies shot.
The trail through the cave was breathtaking: Dappled sunlight pierced through cracks and holes in the limestone; grand, eerie stalagmites dripped from the ceiling.
In the throes of the region's wet season, we had waded through thigh-high waters just to get to Saddar's entrance, and once inside the cathedral, we skirted around cool, inky pools of rainwater.
Just as splendid was U Soe's secret world. A handful of languid fishermen tossed nets into the lake while U Soe passed around long, trumpet-shaped cheroots.
The hike back through the cave proved easier this time, and we took time to explore the cave's ornate entrance, a gaping space brimming with statues; sparkling, mirrored tiles and frescoes carved into the walls; reclining Buddhas studded with ruby and sapphire jewels and other relics. Deep inside the space, surrounded by relics and offerings, lay a gilded stupa. The golden, bell-shaped spire is found atop mountains and between crumbling buildings the country over and is perhaps the most symbolic structure of Myanmar.
We'd arrived in the sleepy town of Hpa-an, built on the banks of the Thanlwin River, not long after midnight the day before. After a week exploring Myanmar's fascinating but heaving capital Yangon, the seven-hour evening bus journey proved something of a respite, an easy trip interspersed with saucers of sweetened tea at smoky, ramshackle coffee shops.
We were quickly ferried by pickup truck to the Golden Sky, a charming hotel with a jumble of mismatched tiles and bizarre furniture with views over the river and flanked by the town's biggest pagoda, Shweyinhmyaw. The hotel owner – a steelylooking woman with painted brows and a lick of frosty lipstick – insisted we called her "Madam", but quickly won us over with steaming plates of sugary chapatti and more tea.
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/08/04/inside-a-hidden-world-myanmars-untouched-southeast/
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