Tapering down the western side of the Gulf of Mottama (Martaban) to the Isthmus of Kra, Southeastern Myanmar comprises a long, narrow finger of land extending from Kayin and Mon State, through Tanintharyi (Tenasserim), almost to the Thai island of Phuket. In historical terms, this was a marginal land, until recently always peripheral to the Bamar centre, with distinct cultural, ethnic and historical ties to neighbouring Thailand and to the Malay–Indonesian world further to the south.
A boy rides a buffalo during a heavy monsoon rain.
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Age-old antipathies between its predominantly Kayin (Karen) population and the Burmese have for decades ensured that the region has been blighted by one of Asia’s longest-running civil wars, meaning that large parts of the area were until recently inaccessible to visitors. However, following the 2011 peace accord between the government and Kayin insurgent armies, the area has begun to slowly open, although parts still remain off limits.
Kyaiktiyo’s Golden Rock.
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Foremost among its many unique attractions is the extraordinary Golden Rock Pagoda of Mount Kyaiktiyo in Mon State, which can be reached in a day from Yangon. Further south, the Mon capital, Mawlamyine (Moulmein), retains a distinct colonial-era charm and serves as the start, or end, point of cruises by old double-decker ferries on the Thanlwin (Salween) River into neighbouring Kayin State, where the striking limestone hills, caves and mountaintop monasteries around the town of Hpa-an entice increasing numbers of travellers.
Still more isolated is the exquisite coast of Tanintharyi (Tenasserim), in the far south, now increasingly accessible to foreign travellers following decades of isolation. At present, the entire region is a delightful tropical backwater, perhaps fifty years removed from the relative affluence and openness of neighbouring Thailand. A more pristine, more beautiful part of mainland Southeast Asia would be hard to find.
A backpacker naps on the bow of a boat travelling upstream on the Thanlwin River.
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With care, the Tanintharyi Coast – particularly the totally undeveloped Myeik Archipelago of 800 coral-fringed offshore islets – might become one of Myanmar’s major destinations, although for the time being the almost complete lack of development makes its an absorbing destination, and one still largely off the beaten track.