Mrauk-U

Mrauk-U is an ancient capital of the Arakanese Kingdom and was established I 1433. The city is situated in the north western part of Myanmar in the Rahine state.

To get to Mrauk-U you can either take a plane to Sittwe and from there a bus or boat to Mrauk-U or you can take a bus from Mandalay over Magwe. The fastest and most comfortable way is to get on the plane in Yangon.

When you leave Yangon in morning you’ll reach Sittwe after the days route boat and bus has left, so your forced to stay until the next day to catch the next mean of transportation. So you’ll have the afternoon and evening to have a look at Sittwe.

I don’t think there is a lot of attractions in Sittwe, but have a stroll down the main road and have a look at the marked. When we were in Sittwe in January 2015 it was about 2,5 years after the conflicts between the Buddhist and the Rohingyas had taken place and leading to removing of the Muslims from Sittwe and into camps. All other places in Myanmar we have met people smiling and saying Mingalar Ba upon sight. In Sittwe we met only a few smiling faces

Early in the morning – like 4:30 – we got up and met the taxi that took us to the Jetty where the express boat for Mrauk-U would leave 1,5 hours later. With the express it only takes 2,5 to 3 hours and costed us 25.000 Kyats.

At the jetty in Mrauk-U the usual show up of taxi drives were rolled out, so we easily found a ride to our hotel. This so called taxi were a motorbike in the front and a truck in the rear, there were 2 wooden benches in the cargo area, so we could be seated while driving to the Prince hotel.