This small port at the southernmost tip of mainland Myanmar is
separated from Thailand by the broad estuary of the Chan River. To
the British it was Victoria Point and to the Thais it's Ko Sawng,
which means Second Island. Kawthaung, the Burmese name, is
probably a corruption of the latter.
The main business here is trade with
Thailand, followed by fishing. Among the Burmese, Kawthaung is
perhaps best known for producing some of the country's best
kickboxers. Most residents are bilingual, speaking Thai and
Burmese. Many people born and raised around Victoria Point,
especially Muslims, also speak Pashu, a dialect that mixes Thai,
Malay and Burmese. Nearby islands are inhabited by bands of
nomadic Moken or sea gypsies.
At the moment Kawthaung is only
accessible to foreigners by boat from Ranong, Thailand. It's
probably not worth making a special trip to Ranong just to visit
Victoria Point, but if you're in the area and decide to cross
over, you'll find it's similar to Southern Thailand except that
many more men wear the longyi (the Burmese sarong).
It is now legal to travel from Kawthaung into the interior of
Myanmar - eg Dawei (Tavoy) or Yangon - by plane or by ship.
Road travel north of Kawthaung, however, is forbidden by the
Myanmar government due to security concerns - this is an area
plagued by Mon insurgency.
Boats to Kawthaung leave the Tha Saphaan
Plaa in Ranong regularly from around 7 am till 6 pm for 40B per
person. Take the No 2 songthaew from Ranong and when the vehicle
stops to pay a toll at the entrance to the pier area, get off and
walk down a soi to the right (you'll see a petrol station on your
left). At the end of the soi are boats to Kawthaung. If you want
you can charter a boat holding six to seven people for 400B round
trip.
Once the boat is underway, there's an initial
stop at Thai immigration, where your passport is stamped. Then
upon arrival at the Kawthaung jetty, again before leaving the
boat, there's a stop at Myanmar immigration.
At this point you must inform immigration
authorities whether you're a day visitor -in which case you must
pay a fee of US$5 or 500B for a day permit. If you have a valid
Myanmar visa in your passport, you'll be permitted to stay up to
28 days, but are required to buy US$300 worth of foreign exchange
certificates (FECs).
Yangon Airways flies an ATR-72 several times a
week to Yangon for US$120. By ship it's two nights (one night each
is spent in Dawei and Myeik) - 36 hours total. |
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