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There are some hotels at the waterfront
such as the Honey Bear Hotel,
but the
best is
the Andaman Club Resort on a
small island a bit west of the
city, the purpose of this resort
is the casino where they carry
plenty of Thai people every day
for a little game. The
second major use of the place is
for the visa run out of south
Thailand to get another 2 week
visa extension when coming back
to the Ranong immigration
office. Every day around 200
people shuttle back and forward
for the visa plus a few hundred
locals for visiting and trade.
The city is
located in Tanintharyi Division,
under the
British it was known as Victoria Point,
after the Queen. In 1865 some
Malay - Indonesian trader founded the
village as a trading point.
Inhabitants are Mon, Bamar some Thai,
Salone or Sea Gypsies and a high
amount of
Indian descend who came in with the
British during colonial times between
1824 and 1948, The main city
of this area before was Maliwan north
of Kawthaung, in 1891 government offices
were moved to Victoria Point because
Maliwan had no suitable harbor.
The weather
is often wet, the area between Myeik or
Mergui further north and this place has
highest rainfall rate in the country
with well over 400cm per year. Also this
doesn't encourage tourism very much.
The
third purpose of the city is the
harbor which houses the biggest fishing fleet
of the country carrying in the
catches from the Andaman Sea,
there are often conflicts when
Thai enter Burmese water without
a license, they also do all kind
of tricks to cheat.
There is also an airport with
several flights to Mergui and
Yangon every day, the problem is
with the visa issued here it is
only possible to move around
within city limits no way to go
elsewhere. A small exception is
when using the Andaman Club
Resort, they have permission to
carry people around on
sightseeing trips to some
islands in close vicinity. There
are a couple of hotels, notable
the Honey Bear Hotel just right
at the waterfront and some
other.
The area
is easily accessible from
Yangon
by several daily
flights of
Yangon Airways,
Air Bagan and
Myanma Airways.
There is also a
daily ship connection
between Myeik or Mergui
and the city. But it is
not possible to use this
ship with a visa issued
by local
immigration.
From
Phuket,
Samui,
Phang Nga
and around, there are
plenty of buses
everyday. E.g. the bus
ticket from Phuket to
Ranong is Baht 350,-,
where the bus stops walk
down to
the main street there
are continuous
pick up trucks waiting
to carry the
people to the
immigration pier.
The trip
Ranong
to Kawthaung Myanmar
is also attractive
for Thai people since
it allows duty free shopping. About 200
foreigners come here every day- paying each 10
dollars to the Burmese immigration, a continues
stream of income. Thai's coming in to buy cheap
cigarettes, cheap whisky and other stuff. When
visiting on the Thai side have a look for the
Isthmus of Kra
at the road to Chumphom.
Kawthaung Myanmar City
Center
Business & People,
atmosphere is
Indo-Chinese and
Buddhist plus a touch of
Islam, Muslim people are
around, they are mainly
of Indian origin and
from today Pakistan.
There are several
pagodas and mosques.
Burmese men sauntered
and idled; the women,
stout, downright and
handsome, managing the
bazaar, the
Andaman Sea is in front
and it's a very busy
little town at this
southernmost tip of the
country,
read more.
Flower
bazaar
Harbor
is a very busy place
since here is the end of
the country and no
roads lead into the rest
everyone
and everything is moved
on the emerald waters of
the Andaman Sea,
sometimes the water is
quite dirty.
Interestingly the
waterfront area doesn't
"stink" from fish as it
is in opposite Ranong.
This little city
breathes still colonial
air. There is not much
to do, the foreigners
come in for a visa
(about 200 of them), pay
$10-, and return
immediately to Thailand,
read more.
Kawthaung landing in front of
the hotels and money
changer.
South Myanmar
is the land southwards
of a line from
Cape Negrais (near
Pathein or Bassein) and
the West Coast of
Thailand.
This describes the
coasts of Burma and Thailand
between Cape Negrais and
Phuket it includes the
Irrawaddy River Delta,
the Gulf of Martaban,
the Mergui or
Myeik
Archipelago all the way
down to the southernmost
tip of the country at
Kawthaung or Victoria
Point,
read more.
Beaches are pristine
since there are no
visitors around only the
sea gypsies and they
produce only very
limited rubbish. A ideal
area for island vacation
but the visa problem
makes it not possible.
Plenty of beaches
on the over 800 islands
and maybe another 500 at
the coast would make
this area a ideal place
for tourism and would
bring lots of positive
to the local population
including immense wealth
because of touristic
activities as it is seen
in neighboring Thailand.
Actually there is
absolutely no progress
on the, because the
people who have the
money to do this sit in
Yangon and have no
interest, it's too far
and the return of
investment would take to
long time on top of it
the military blocks
anything because they
have lots of interests
here,
read more.
This
town is around 150 years old and
saw many people come and go
among other British
colonialists. The place is a bit
rotten as many places in the
East and elsewhere on the world
but it has some kind of an
exotic charm and shows
incredible scenes and panoramas.
Its the gateway into south
Myanmar but unfortunately the
limit to stay for foreigners are
the city limits only (2013) and
it doesn't look as if anything
would change, means photo
shooting is very limited,
read more.
Phuket Visa Run
is a Thai specialty but
not only,
in the
last Thaksin government
they did a couple of
things to keep tourists
out of Thailand.
Every
country in the region
tries to get "farang" in
but in the country of
smiles they did the
opposite, the Thaksin
government invented a
strategy to keep
foreigners they thought
with low income out and
lure high rollers in.
This attempts failed
grandiosely but nobody
take that really serious
since the victims where
foreigners anyway,
read more.
since this is a very
interesting area to
travel many people make
have a look around.
Beside of the visa run
people come to Ranong
to buy goods and many
Thai use the boat to the
other side to buy duty
free items since this is
a very isolated area
goods are duty free.
There is also quite some
business going on
regarding fisheries both
city are the biggest
harbor of the respective
country in the south.
Every day private yachts come
in to sail the island
world,
read more.
Sea Gypsies
or
Salone
are the indigenous
inhabitants of this
"Island World" between
here and Myeik or Mergui
they are there since hundreds
of years. Before
the British came they
sold the pearls to
Chinese traveling
traders who came in with
their junks, after they
sold to the Portuguese
and again after to the
British colonialist,
which gave them a dirty
deal, the
Salone Pearl Diver
harvested oysters, gave
the pearls to the
British and they gave
them alcohol and opium
in exchange just like todays drug
dealers
read more.
Islands around Kawthaung
are plenty and up to the
Myeik or Mergui
Archipelago there are
around 900 of them. This
are pristine spots in
the Andaman Sea and most
of them have never been
touched. Actually the
Salone are the natives
of south Myanmar.
There are thousands of
pretty beaches with fine
sand and limestone
boulders. This would be
a ideal tourist setting
and could bring wealth
to this backward corner
but since decades the
government blocks any
development.
There is
some ore and
diamond mining going on
between Mergui and
Kawthaung but not on the
islands,
read more.
Kawthaung city waterfront
pagoda and jetty
The
Population
of
Kawthaung
and the
coast
around
came down the
coast from the Pegu,
today
Bago,
dominions,
and also
by the
fact
that in
the
twelfth
and
thirteenth
centuries
Mergui
belonged
to
Burma.
At that
time
also the
official
language
was
Siamese,
as were
most of
the
government
officials.
Yet
neither
the
Burmese
nor the
Siamese
counted
for much
at
Kawthaung
as Indian people
who had the majority and
also dominated the
commercial situation.
Pearl Oyster farming and
diving
The jetty in front of the city, passenger
ships for the coast
and islands leave from here.
Kawthaung waterfront is very busy every day since many
people move between the country and Thailand,
all is done by "longtail" boats.
Casino Island and
Immigration
on south Myanmar Islands.
Several
temples are around,
also some Buddhist
monasteries.
Victoria Point
was the former
name during
colonial
times
Pagodas are several,
there are also some
Mosques
Landing in
front of Honey Bear
Hotel
Front with the
Honey Bear Hotel, the harbor is
somehow a real rotten
place, not much has
changed and a
salone
houseboat.
.
This rotten bus
somehow
symbolizes the
condition in
the
city
The Salone are
the natives of
the Mergui
Archipelago
they are
Negritos from
the South Sea
Kawthaung City
front dominated
by the tired
roof
Tour to
Kawthaung is
done by hundreds
of people ever
day, either
local and around
200 foreigners.
Travel Kawthaung
is mainly for
local people and
foreigners doing
the visa run
Immigration
moved into a
newer wooden
building they
built just in
front of this
one
Opposite is
Ranong Thailand
Ranong and the
fishing fleet,
very often they
are fishing in
Myanmar waters A trip
is a somehow
exotic adventure
especially when
there is bad
weather
There are several pagoda and
mosques around
at the waterfront everything
is on stilts
The main boat type used are long
tail boats where the steering is by
moving the engine , shaft and propeller.
Only
the authorities use outboard
engines, they simply are to
expensive for the average
people.
Kawthaung City Center and mosque
Life is busy
at the waterfront and the market, people
come from the islands to buy things
since there is no infrastructure on the
south Myanmar Islands, only jungle and
beach but there is very colorful life
going on under the water surface. The
area of the Myeik Archipelago and down
to the south is one of the least
exploited sea ground on the planet since
it was virtually closed down since
hundreds of years.
Now slowly some tourist business with
adventure trips, scuba diving and island
holidays become available.
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