Pyay Travel Guide

Pyay (Prome or Pyi) is best known for the nearby archaelogical site of Sri Ksetra-known as Thiri Kettaya in Burmese. It is an important trading centre between Lower and Upper Myanmar and crossing point to the Rakhine Yoma and Thandwe (Sandoway). Thiri Kettaya was the Pyu capital until the 8th century and finally destroyed by King Anawratha from Bagan in 1057. Pyay is a stopover for the site of Thayekhittaya. It also has a nice paya, Shwensandow paya.

What to do ?

We went to Pyay to visit the ancient site of Thyekhittaya. We rented a car to visit the site. Some guidebooks say you can do it by bike, but it's a really long and hot ride ! We payed 3 US$ for the taxi for the whole day. There's a museum at the entrance. They wanted to open it for us only, but we had to pay 5 US$ each and it's just 1 room. Coming from Bagan, you might be a bit disappointed with the ruins. The fun of this place however is that you have to discover everything by yourself (a guidebook says you'll feel like Indiana Jones). This might change, there are already some roads and we did get help from a local farmer. It's fun to spend your day here, and there's a market nearby. If you still didn't have enough of paya's, you can still visit the Shwesandow pagoda. It's on a hill top, so you have a great view of Pyay.

Getting out

Mandalay-Bagan: There are buses in this direction, expect to pay 4 US$. The train coming from Yangoon also stops here, but I have no further info on this.

To Yangoon

Our hotel arranged a ticket with Rainbow Express company. The price was 1,8 US$ for 2 persons. The trip takes about 3 to 4 hours.