Hpa-An to Htee Kee?

Hi l went over the border from kanchanaburi to dawei last march. I went to Maungmagan beach, very Burmese. Only two accom options both 25 dollars. Then Ye, stayed by the river at goldmarket gh, just watched the world go by. Moved on to Setse beach, not really worth it, compared to Thai beaches. Moulmein, stayed at Breeze gh and went on the tour to the island which was fun, and gave me a chance to talk to other Europeans for the fist time in 10 days. Sunset at the paya was great . Then boat up to Hpa an, not to be missed. SOE brothers gh in Hpa an, and their tour. The boat journey through the caves was my highlight. 5 person car to the border in 4 hours, we went up the old mountain road, appalling conditions, but got there. This would be easy to do in 10 days. Cut out the beaches, and try to find a boat trip out of Dawei to check out the islands. Obviously this trip works in reverse. I don't normally do social media, but since no one else responded, thought I should. I saw no must see sights, but got what I thought was a great view of the less seen area of Burma. If you can ride a motorbike you can see a whole lot more. Hope this helps.

Thanks Mp63 - glad you decided to do social media! It's great to hear from someone who has done the trip. Having travelled extensively around Burma's main sights, I'm curious to visit somewhere less visited.

Was hoping to take the boat to Hpa-an but hadn't heard about the caves boat tour - sounds fun!

I'm assuming the car journey was back to the border at Myawaddy? Do you recall what the cost was? I take it there's no bus?

And what were the appalling conditions you mention? I'm guessing these were usual Burmese pot-holed roads?

Thanks again

PJ

As far as I remember it was about 10 dollars. Our driver went up the old road, single track, unpaved, and cratered more than potholed, and overtook a petrol tanker on a mountain bend. As I found common inBurma, imported cars are left and right hand drive, and our driver could see nothing up ahead, so quite a lot of back seat driving went on. That was Hpa an to myawaddy. As we arrived in Myawaddy I spotted the swanky new road, which looked open, perhaps only to Moulmein? SOE brothers in Hpa an can sort out any onward travel plans you need.

Hteekhee to Dawei was a minibus I picked up at Burmese immigration, after hitching across he few kms of no man's land. I paid about 600 baht, plus an extra hundred for photocopies of my passport, for the driver to pass on at the security checkpoints. I gave him the name of a cheap Chinese hotel, and was delivered to the door. Easy peasy.

Dawei to Ye was another bad road inparts, lots of female road working gangs, and bridges being built, but great scenery. It was easy to avoid the long bus journies of the north, six hours is about my limit. Ye was a good place to break the Dawei to Moulmein trip. Goldmarket gh, basic Burmese hotel, but right by the river and market. I love just watching local life, not hoards of tourists, and Ye was perfect for this. Things will change fast in southern Myanmar now overland options are open, so if you don't mind roughing it a bit, you will have an interesting time. If you don't like it, the Thai border isn't far away. Have fun.

OP, the "cave boat tour" (Saddar Cave) is a standard part of visiting Hpa'an. Don't worry, you'll be asked if you want to visit :).

I've traveled extensively in Myanmar and I would say the road between Mawlamyine and Dawei is much worse than the average. Our bus' money-taker/assistant had to get out with a flashlight to show the driver where all the holes were--bear in mind that of course the bus had headlights as well! But the driver needed a light pointing straight down to really see the holes clearly. My view of it is significantly worsened by the breakdown we experienced, though. Bus travel has been improving really fast however, and while the road is probably the same (Mp63 went only a year and a half after I did), the actual buses might be able to handle the roads better by now.

10 days might a bit tight if you're also trying to visit Hpa'an and Mawlamyine. I agree that Setse isn't worth the trip, but some people really love it. I think to love Setse you have to be obsessed with beaches and uh, also believe that "beach with loads of local people but very few foreigners" is somehow the same thing as "deserted beach."

I agree the road between Mawlamyine to Dawei is not good, it's the only one I've ever thrown up on and I've been on a fair few vomit comets.

Travelling between Dawei and Htee Khee - I did the opposite way and it cost 700 baht last December and took about 5 hours. I did meet a couple who had travelled the way you want to go and they said it had cost them about 25 dollars. I would recommend Dawei especially if you can ride a motorbike, the peninsular is undeveloped and the people lovely. There's no tourist infrastructure but I know some people who travelled down there managed to stay over in a monastery. There's a bit more info on this post no 6 - https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-south-east-asia-mainland/myanmar/various-questions-about-traveling-to-myanmar?page=1#post_21914045

The road from Hpa-an to Myawaddy - the first part of the journey is a bit rough but the last 50k's are on the new road. It took about 3 hours once we had finished going round picking folk up. Need to look up the cost from my notes - no WiFi in my room so will update later.

Cost from Hpa-an to Myawaddy was 8000 Kyats booked through Golden Sky Guesthouse. Soe Brothers I think was 10k for the same journey.

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