We arrived to Hpa-an (thank you Danny for the tip) after visiting the Golden rock further north. The small town is very quiet and the scenery on the shore of the crossing Thanlyin river compensates for the stress of traveling from Nyaungshwe all the way down south.
The environment of Hpa-an is defined by huge limestone mountains like you can find them in Vang Vieng (Laos) or Railey Beach (Thailand). In this special rock it is common to find many caves. We visited several of them while riding a scooter around. One of the more impressive was the Saddan cave a 40 minute ride in the southeast of Hpa-an.
The cave is really enormous, the height of the ceiling seems sometimes similar to a cathedral. Despite the bats screaming it reminds you of a holy place. This is underlined by the fact that there are numerous shrines and buddha figures along the entrance. You obviously are not allowed to wear shoes inside. Better take them with you nonetheless. Once you leave the cave after a 15 minute walk you are able to catch a boat that while crossing a beautiful pond and another cave brings you close to the original entrance.
From there you have to walk all the way back through the countryside.







