Taninthayi Division Myanmar

Area : 43343.335 sq-km (16735.557 sq-miles)
Population : 1327000
Capital : Dawei
Religion : Buddhism, Christianity, Islam

Myanmar Tanintharyi Division is located at the southern end of Myanmar. Tanintharyi division borders with Thailand on the east and south-east, Mon State on the north, and Andaman Sea on the west. Myanmar's coastline have about 1,000 islands, among them 800 island are in Tanintharyi Myanmar coast. Dawei is the capital of Myanmar Tanintharyi Division.

Myanmar Taninthayi Division has a tropical monsoon climate. The land which is located nearest to the Equator in Myanmar is warm whole year round with only slight changes in temperatures as it is close to the sea. Mainly Bamars, Kayins, Mons, Shans, Rakhines, Pashues or Malays and Salons live in Myeik archipelago. Majority of the inhabitants are Buddhists and speak Myanmar Language.

Tanintharyi Myanmar Division has evergreen forests thrive in the region as it is located in the tropical climate zone with torrential rains. Mangrove can be found along the tidal marsh lands of the coast and along the banks of rivers and creeks. Sandbanks covered with forest can be found in the Myanmar coastal areas. Paddy is cultivated on over 200000 acres and rubber on 100000 acres. It has coconut, oil palm, beetle nut, cashew, durian, mangosteen, rumbutan, pineapple and citrus fruits farms. There are nipa palm farms along the banks of tidal rivers and creeks in Myanmar Tanintharyi Division.

Offshore Myanmar fishing is an important business in the Taninthayi Myanmar Division which is a coastal region dotted with island along the shallow coastal waters. There are prawn and fish farms and jelly fish processing plants along the coast. Large oysters are bred in Pale Island at Myeik archipelago in producing pearls of significant size and high quality. Salt works are located along the coast too. Birds' nest is also being gathered from offshore Myanmar islands and valuable. This part of Myanmar country is the main fishery product market of Myanmar export.

Despite the presence of a university, Dawei is still a sleep, tropical seaside town far from Yangon. Only is still a sleep, tropical seaside town. Only recently connected to the rest of Myanmar by road and rail, it's still only accessible to foreigners by air, so hardly any tourists visit. Areas to the west and north of town are planted in rice, while to the east lie patches of Myanmar jungle. Some of the architecture in town is quite impressive with many old wooden housed, more modest thatch-roofed bungalows and a few colonial-style brick and stucco mansions. Throw in a few Eastern-bloc aesthetic touches and you have an interesting architectural mix.

Tall, slender sugar palms, coco palms, banana and other fruit trees, along with lots of hanging orchids, are interspersed throughout it's a very green town due to the abundant annual rain that falls on the southern half of Tanintharyi Division. In spite of its remote location or perhaps because of it Dawei has become a significant Burmese Buddhist centre.

Hundreds of Tanintharyi Division Myanmar residents fled to Thailand rather than work on the 100 miles-long (160km) ye to Dawei Myanmar railway completed for the most part in 1998. According to Amnesty International, refugees reported conditions approaching those described in chronicles of the Japanese army's "Death Railway" though the Myanmar government asserts the work was done by army personnel.

Dawei is also near the starting point of the massive 700km Yadana gas pipeline, which carries natural gas from fields in the Gulf of Mottama to Ratchaburi Province in Thailand. About 400km of its length runs through Mon state and Myanmar Tanintharyi Division, Myanmar government relocated villages originally in the pipeline's path with little or no compensation for the villagers. There have also been charges that forced labor was used in building the pipeline. Because of the pipeline's perceived strategic importance, there is a fairly heavy Myanmar military presence around Dawei Myanmar.

Also because of its proximity to Bangkok, only a few hours by road, there's talk of developing the beaches around Dawei, which some claim rival Ngwe Saung and Ngapali in the west of the Myanmar country, for foreign Myanmar tourism. However, as long as the area remains politically unstable this won't happen very soon in Myanmar.

The main Buddhist Myanmar monastery in town, usually referred to simply as Payagyi (Big Pagoda), contains a complex of sizeable Mon-style vihara (glittering cubes of reflective mosaics filled with gilded Buddhas).

The best time to visit Thenwa Kyaung is in the early evening, just after sunset, when hordes of Myanmar local residents come to make of offerings and to meditate for an hour or two. To find it, head northwest along Yodaya Rd, past the Myanmar Royal Guest Houses on your right, until you come to a large fork in the road. Bear right at the fork, follow the road another 200m and you'll come to the Myanmar Paya on your right.

In Myanmar Dawei, Shwethalyaung Daw Mu pagoda is completed in 1931, one of the largest recling Buddhas in Myanmar country 74m long, 21m high is at the edge of town (about 5km from the central Strand Rd market).

In Dawei Myanmar shinmokhti Paya is about 5km beyond Shwethalyaung Daw Mu on the same road, this Paya is the most sacred of Myanmar local religious monuments. Reportedly constructed in 1438, it's one of four shrines in Myanmar country housing a Sinhalese Buddha image supposedly made with a composite of cement and pieces of the original Bodhi Tree. During religious festivals this is one of the liveliest spots in Myanmar Tanintharty division.

The American Baptists had a long and active history in Myanmar Thanintharyi Dawei, beginning in 1928. The Karen Baptist Church, founded by an American evangelist in 1957, is still in use in the Shan Malei Swe Quarter; foreign visitors are welcome to Baptist church.

In Tanintharyi Myanmar, Myeik doesn't receive many foreign visitors as it is far from Yangon and hard to travel by road and rightly so as there's not much of interest. Those who do venture here by boat or plane have chance to see though the virgin land it will attract loads of friendly attention as many island around Myeik. Until recently Myeik which sits on a peninsula that just out into the Andaman Sea was a fairly picturesque coastal city with a wide range of architectural styles lining the streets. Increased cash flow due to the Myanmar export of seafood to Thailand caused a miniboom in building during the 1990s, and many old Myanmar buildings where replaced by modern ones. Then in 2001, a large portion of the remaining old Myanmar architecture was razed by fire; the rebuilding effort has largely sacrificed style for utility.

The British occupied the region following the First Anglo Burmese War in 1926, so that along with Sittwe, Myanmar Rakhine State and Myeik became one of the first cities in Myanmar to be come part of British India. The Japanese invaded in 1941, but by 1945 Myeik was back in British hands, until independence was achieved in 1948 in Myanmar history.

In Myanmar Tanintharyi Myeik (Mergui), Theindawgyi paya sits on a ridge overlooking the city and harbour. A tall gilded Myanmar stupa stands on a broad platform with excellent views of the city below and islands in the distance.

Pataw Padet Island is just five minute Myanmar boat ride from the harbour Myeik (Mergui), is named after two prominent hills at either end of the island, several religious buildings, stupas and sculptures have been constructed on the island.

A large hollow, reclining 66 m long Myanmar Buddha lies at the foot of rocky, jungle covered Padet hill to the south. Unusually, it's hollow cement from with an interior walkway lined with comic strip like Jataka (Stories of the Buddha's past lives) scenes as yet unfinished in Myanmar.

The harbourfront is worth a stroll to watch stevedores loading and offloading cargo from ships big and small. It is interesting places to see in Myeik (Mergui) Myanmar.

Not far from Theindawgyi paya there's a Muslim quarter with two mosques and lots of Myanmar teashops. There are seven other Myanmar muslin mosques in the city.

Near the harbour, this market is a very large and colorful collection of enclosed stalls covering a city block. It is the main Myanmar Market in Myeik (Mergui).

In Myeik, the representative has an office near Sibinthaya Zei. Myanmar airways flies from Yangon to Myeik daily for US$ 100 (one hour and 10 minutes) there are three Myanmar flights a week between Mawlamyine and Myeik, Myeik and kawthoung that cost US$ 70 for each leg. The Myanmar airflight office is next door to Sakura food and Drinks.

Both "Fortune Express" and "HiFi Express" have trips at 11 am daily to Dawei and at 8 am daily to Kawthoung in Myanmar. MFSL sails, on average, twice a month between Yangon, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthoung, but travel is very slow and tickets hard to get.

There are daily Myanmar Burma local buses and pick-ups from Dawei but it's highly unlikely foreigners will be permitted to travel by bus to Myeik, foreigners are similarly prohibited from traveling by road south to Kawthoung in Myanmar.

Kawthoung is best known for producing some of the Myanmar country's outstanding Myanmar kick boxers. Most Kawthoung residents are bilingual in Thai and Burmese. As they live closely with Thailand and work there. Many residents born and raised in Kawthoung, especially members of the large Muslim community, also speak Pashu, a dialect that mixes the Thai, Malay and Burmese languages.

At the top of hill overlooking the harbour, unlike many other Myanmar temples, you can walk inside and under the main stupa originally built in 1949 to a height of only 5 m. it was later raised to its current stature of 21 m. There are eight meditation niches that represent the eight days of the Buddhist week, and 14 Buddha images representing the styles seen in other Asian countries. A banyan tree brought from Sri Lanka provides the only shade.

Mergui (Myeik) Archeipelago is far beyond the Value of the Myanmar local product rubber, marine products or swiftlets nests is the Myeik archipeloago's huge, almost completely untapped potential in the beach going and ecotourism market in Myanmar. Myanmar locals say there are over 4000 islands in the archipelago, though British surveyors recognized only 804. Most are uninhabited, though a few are home to sea gypsies (salon people), a nomadic sea faring people who sail from island to island, stopping off to repair their boats or fishing nets. Known as Salon (sea gypsies) to the Burmese, chaonaam to the Thais, and orang laut or orang basin to the Malay and Moken or Maw ken (sea drowned) among themselves, this may have been the first Myanmar ethnic group to have lived in Mergui (Myeik). With stones tied to their waists as ballast, Moken divers can reportedly descend to a depth of 60 m while breathing through and air hose held above the water's surface. There's an ongoing dolphin research program in the islands, though tourists aren't allowed to visit all the islands in Mergui. Myanmar government is building a bridge between Palau Ton Ton Island and the mainland in Myanmar Myeik Archipelogo. During low tide it's possible to swim or kayak into an enormous cave on Kyet Mauk Island where you can see reef fish and snakes. On lon Khuet Island, over 80 people live farming birds neasts from inside a huge cavern, a hole in the top of the cave lets in some sunlight, making for a breathtaking scene. A sea gypsy festival is held during the second week of February at Ma kyon Galet village on a small island near Lampi Island. There is no regular Myanmar transport to any of there islands, except to the closest ones. A Myanmar boat charters an expensive if you are traveling alone.

In Myanmar Tanintharyi Division, Lampi Kyun (island) is further offshore and one of the largest and least disturbed island habitats in Southeast Asia has been designated as a national park. Extending about 90km long and 8 km wide, this rugged landmass features a forested, mountainous interior and two year round rivers that flow into the sea from the island's western shore. Wildlife on the island includes white bellied sea eagles, brahminy kites, parakeets, hornbills, gibbons, crab eating macaques, flying lemurs, civets, tigers, leopard cats, boar, barking deer, sea otters, crocodiles and fruit bats. Some naturalists speculate that the interior of Lampi Island might harbour hither to undiscovered animal species, or species thought to be extinct elsewhere in Southeast Asia, such as a Sumatran rhinoceros or kouprey. A few Puket based Myanmar tour companies operate hiking and river excursions on Lampi Island corporate with Myanmar Tourism in Burma.