This time I visited Platwa in Southern Chin State. To go to Platwa, you have to go to Sittway in Rakhine (Arakan) State first. The trips to Sittway and Platwa are for the first time. I went to the Myanma Airways office before I was actually travelling. Air tickets are sold one day in advance. On that day, I was told to come the next day for not being able to sell the ticket. We could not buy air tickets because there was a VIP flight on the day. The difficult flight left Yangon at scheduled time 6:00 am. It was crowded with local passengers. I did not see any foreign travellers on the plane. The plane landed at the Sittway airport at 7:00 am safe and sound. Sittway is commercial hub of Rakhine State which was called Arakan State.

On the very first visit to Sittway, I was welcomed by fresh and cool air and green trees unlike Yangon. The way Rakhine people speak is lovely compared to the way Yangonites speak which I am used to. I did not understand their speaking first because I was not used to it. After half day, I did not find it difficult to understand them. In my opinion, people from Rakhine State are honest and sincere unlike urbanites. This is my first impression on Sittway.

I headed for downtown taking a taxi. It took me only ten minutes. I had a look at hotels and lodging houses in downtown. I stayed at Shwe Tha Zin Hotel where the rooms are clean and chares are reasonable. We can get 24-hour electricity and phone and fax services are available. Room charges are 4,000 kyats per night for local people and 25 US $ for foreigners. Hotel employees are Rakhine people. They welcomed me warmly. They gave any necessary assistance in addition to service.

After a short rest, I went out. It was about 10 am. The city was alive with activities. I headed for the Sittway jetty taking a taxi. The market was located near the harbour. That place has been a busy one since a long time ago. A lot of ships could be seen loading and unloading. I also saw ships of Myanma Five Star Line, the biggest shipping company in Myanmar. There were a lot of ships that plied between Sittway and Buthee Taung, Maung Daw, Ann, Min Bya, Taunggup, Mrauk U, Pauk Taw and other towns. But they were not large ones. There were a lot of small fishing boats from near-by fishing village that came to Sittway to sell fish. Sittway, commercial hub of Rakhine State was teeming with activities.

Sittway harbour

At about noon, I began to get hungry going around here and there in the market and harbour. I chose Rakhine cuisine because it was my special visit to Rakhine State. I headed for a Rakhine Restaurant that the driver recommended. Rakhine curries were very spicy as they were said. In the meat menu were chicken, pork, beef and fish. The curries were like Bamar curries but there was not much oil the curries. Moreover, chili was put in any curries. The curries I like most were Nga Pa Htaung (pounded green chili with fish paste) and rosselle soup. It was better for me to move around the town after I had lunch. I visited Lawkwnanda Pagoda, Kandawkyi Lake and Thalone Daw pagoda following the prescribed tour course. It was not so interesting for me to take the course. I visited The Khon village on Faronga Island at the mouth of Kaladan River. It took 45 minutes to get there by boat.

Fishing Village

The business of catching jelly fish has been developing since two years ago. People from The Khon village and environs are engaged in the business. Chinese merchants come and buy jelly fish here. The reason why the business has thrived is finishing of new bridges. Another reason is smooth transportation on the road to the border of China from Mandalay. The goods from Sittway can be transported by road to Yunnan Province in China. It is more beneficial to transport marine products from Guangzhou along eastern coast than transportation of goods from Sittway. The Khon village has been among the villages that has taken momentum in the business.

A Boat Catching Jelly Fish

There are 27 villages on Faronga Island. Large jelly fishes can be caught from March to May and small ones can be caught from May to September. The fish can be caught using nets from morning to evening. There are about fifty purchasing centres at The Khon village. Regular buyers of the goods are Chinese merchants. A jelly fish is traded between 60 to 100 kyats. One ton of jelly fish can fetch about 1.5 million kyats.

Jelly Fishes in The Storehouse

The fish is mostly imported to China and Japan. Moreover they catch sharks from May to July. They use large fishing rod. Nowadays dolphin's meat is used as bait. The reason is that sharks like the meat of dolphin very much. It is said the use of dolphin meat has recently increased. One shark can fetch from 100,000 to 500,000 kyats.