Friday 24 April 2015

Visit to Mon State, Myanmar (Part 4)

In Part 3, I described our activities at Ko Dut. On our way back north, the Doctor had intended that we should do some sightseeing.

Tuesday 21st April 2015

After the thunderstorm in the night, Ko Dut was a little soggy. We enjoyed breakfast at the Drop In Centre and then said 'goodbye' to our friends.


"Ko Dut was a little soggy".

We drove to a large monastery in the Thai style I'd not visited before with four spectacular Buddha figures seated around a tower. I was told that the monastery is largely funded from Thailand.


The tower with four seated Buddha images. Worshippers are just visible in the niches below the statue.

A forest of scaffolding hid a large reclining Buddha still under construction.

Reclining Buddha under construction.

Then we drove to Khaikhami Yele Paya, an important Buddhist Shrine built over the sea which I'd visited before in 2012 as described here and again in 2014 with Dr. Hla Tun as described in Last day in Mon State. This time, the sea level was higher than on either of my previous visits.


High Tide at Khaikhami Yele Paya.

I was pleased that we were also able to visit the 'Mirror Image' orphanage run by Sister Martha which we'd been to the previous year and which I described in the post Last day in Mon State. This work is partly supported by a British Charity - Aids Orphans of Myanmar.


Sister Martha with two of the children.

We then drove to Thanbyuzayat where we took lunch in one of the many cafes.

Lunch in Thanbyuzayat.

After an enjoyable lunch, we pressed on to the popular resort at Setse Beach. I'd been to the beach with Doctor Hla Tun once before (in 2014, described in the post Last day in Mon State) but this time we were to stay the night in a beach resort. After we'd checked-in (and after I'd had a welcome shower), we had a very pleasant meal in the roofed but open-sided hotel restaurant right next to the sandy beach. By this time, it was too dark for photographs but I took a few the following morning. I slept well in a 'proper' bed.

Go to next post.
All my posts on my 2015 trip to Myanmar can be found here.

My pictures

Thai-style monastery, Mon State.
Khaikhami Yele Paya.
Mirror Image Orphanage.

[Actually first posted 4th May 2015, but timestamp amended to place posts in event order: Pictures added 27-May-2015, text amended 5-June-2015]