Introduction
Pyay is a stopover for the site of Thayekhittaya.
It also has a nice paya, Shwensandow paya.
Accommodation
Pyay has just opened its doors for tourists, so there aren't many hotels yet. We stayed at
Myat Guesthouse for 4 US$ pp including breakfast. It was a very nice, clean and friendly hotel. They can arrange everything for you (bustickets, taxi etc..)
Pyay hotel is an old government run hotel. It doesn't look nice. Only tour groups arrive here. Prices around 10 US$. The restaurant looked nice though.
Restaurants
With not so many tourists visiting, the restaurant scene is not so good (yet).
Near the Ayeyarwady River, you can find the
San Francisco restaurant. It's a Chinese run place. Food is quite expensive and not so great. We payed around 3 US$ for 2 persons.
The restaurant of the
Pyay hotel looked nice, but prices where a bit higher.
Guidebooks recommend the "
Auntie Mo" restaurant. It was closed when we were there. The locals said it was only for a few days.
What to do ?
We went to Pyay to visit the ancient site of Thyekhittaya. We rented a car to visit the site. Some guidebooks say
you can do it by bike, but it's a really long and hot ride ! We payed 3 US$ for the taxi for the whole day. There's a museum at the entrance. They wanted to open it for us only, but we had to pay 5 US$ each and it's just 1 room.
Coming from Bagan, you might be a bit disappointed with the ruins. The fun of this place however is that you have to discover everything by yourself (a guidebook says you'll feel like Indiana Jones). This might change, there are already some roads and we did get help from a local farmer. It's fun to spend your day here, and there's a market nearby.
If you still didn't have enough of paya's, you can still visit the Shwesandow pagoda. It's on a hill top, so you have a great view of Pyay.
Getting out
Mandalay-Bagan:There are buses in this direction, expect to pay 4 US$. The train coming from Yangoon also stops here, but I have no further info on this.
To Yangoon Our hotel arranged a ticket with Rainbow Express company. The price was 1,8 US$ for 2 persons. The trip takes about 3 to 4 hours.
Go to Bago If you have further questions on Myanmar, please e-mail
Geert Van Vaeck
