We arrived at Hpa An at 6 in the morning. The journey took about 8 hours, and we stopped at the door of the Little Hpa An Boutique Hostel. We can't enter the room because it's busy and we're allowed to rest in the breakfast room, we curse until eight o'clock when people arrive for breakfast. The hostel is nice, our bathroom gets very wet. The breakfast is buffet. There are not many options for accommodation and our hostel is quite full.
We have breakfast at the hostel and rent a thoun bein at the hotel to visit the caves nearby. We are in Kayin state in the south of the country and the landscape reminds us of other areas in southern China, Laos and Thailand, limestone mountains that rise up from nowhere between rice fields and green meadows.
Buddhas in the middle of the rain forest
Our driver is charming and stops at a lot of places and explains us what to do and see in each place. We stop in the middle of nowhere between mountains and jungle and he shows us thousands of Buddhas spread out on stands around a small monastery. Luckily there is shade because it is so hot...
Kaw Ka Thawng Cave
The first Kaw Ka Thawng Cave, there are three caves but today only one is open. A beautiful place filled with not hundreds of Buddhas on the walls, ceiling and floor, in fact there is a row of Buddhas the size of a man dressed in the red habit by the side of the road. It overlooks a lake, there is a public bath area and drinking and eating stalls.
Kaw Ka Thawng Cave
Next stop Saddan Cave. Getting there is an odyssey, the road is bad and there are some huge holes, it takes almost an hour to get there but it is worth it. We stop to see some fishermen and take pictures.
Landscape near Saddan Cave
Fishermen near Saddan Cave
Saddan Cave is the biggest in the area, you go up some stairs and the main room is huge.
Inside Saddan Cave
You have to enter covered and barefoot so be careful because the floor is quite slippery. It is illuminated so there is no need to go in front of it, we still carry one. In the middle of the cave the smell and the noise become unbearable, a colony of thousands of bats live here. The ground is full of faeces but the end of the cave rewards this inconvenience.
Saddan Cave
The views are spectacular and if the water table is not high you can return in a boat that goes through a cave where you can touch the ceiling with your hand, but the skill of the boatmen is such that you do not have to worry. It's the best part of the whole experience.
Saddan Cave
We made the mistake of not taking our shoes with us, it is better to take them.
Saddan Cave
Our boatman
We stopped for lunch at a curious Yae Tha Khon place, free of charge, there are some small waterfalls and natural pools where you can swim, the locals bathe with huge tires. There are two restaurants with fresh beer.
On the other side of the pools there is a small Karen village with an abandoned monastery and dozens of stupas in an incomparable, beautiful setting.
Yae Tha Khon Monastery
Yae Tha Khon Monastery
Now we visit Kyauk Kalap, for free, a monastery whose pagoda stands on a rock in the middle of a small lake. Thousands of fishes similar to the layers fed by the people, even let themselves be touched!. The place is beautiful.
Kyauk Kalap
At sunset we stop at Batu Cave, free of charge. We go up to the viewpoint by some impossible stairs. The views of the river and the countryside are spectacular.
Views Batu Caves
We go down to a small lookout point next to a monk's house and at nightfall we discover (us and twenty other people) how thousands and thousands of bats go out to look for food for almost two hours. It was impressive.
Views Batu Caves
We return to Hpa An around nine o'clock at night, it's late and there's almost nothing open for dinner. In a street stall they serve sweet and salty pancakes like in Kalaw and we put on our boots. We sit down on a bench and the local boy puts his motorbike in, comes out to talk to us, it is a veterinary clinic, his neighbour (who has a lot of monkeys in cages) also comes over and offers us some chairs. They are very nice.
We walk back to the hostel and make a tremendous turn, there is almost no light and we have to use the frontals.
Breakfast: hostel Little Hpa An Boutique 3.000 MMK 1 pax.
Lunch: restaurant near the pool 8.300 MMK 3 pax.
Thoun bein to visit the caves: 38.000 MMMK
Saddan Cave entrance: 3.000 MMK per pax.
Boat: 6.000 MMK boat for 4 pax
Accommodation: Little Hpa An Boutique Hostel 23$ double room with bathroom and breakfast included, no dollars or credit cards allowed.
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