Sittwe's greatest attraction is the morning fish market, which kicks off in the central market around 6am and is worth popping by before your boat or plane leaves. From the main road, follow the road two blocks north of the Rakhaing State Cultural Museum, straight past vegetable stands to the fish area, where sting rays and de-gutted eels and drying sharks make quite a scene.

While you're in the area, a few blocks north is the rite market, with tiny lanes between the water and Strand Rd filled with simple wood homes hawking brown and sticky rice - some bound "for Bangladesh.

The riverside Strand Rd leads about 1.3 miles south to a smashing location called the View Point (camera/video fee K1000/2000), where you can eat or sip on a beer or fresh coconut as the sun sets over the Bay of Bengal. Just west, in front of a closed naval base, is a grey-brown sand beach that has a tricky undertow, where a few swimmers lose their lives each year.

RAKHAING STATE CULTURAL MUSEUM

The government-run Rakhaing State Cultural Museum  features two floors of Rakhaing cultural goodies that benefit from just enough English subtitles. On the ground floor, diagrams, artefacts and signs in English detail Rakhaing's origins around 3000 BC and four key periods (Dhanyawadi, Vesali, Lemro and Mrauk U), compelete with useful renderings and models.

Upstairs are displays on local customs (eg models showing off some of the 64 Mrauk U royal hairstyles), the 'auspicious comb' used in weddings, and drawings illustrating key moves you may need if you should try traditional Rakhaing wrestling.

BUDDHIST SITES

Sittwe monk U Bhaddanta Wannita spent 49 years collecting old coins and buddha images from monasteries to protect them from thieves, and their whereabouts has resulted in some tug-of-war between his former monastery and a government-opened museum.

His former monastery, the Maka Kuthala Kyaungdawgyi (Large Monastery of Great Merit; Main Rd; admission free), is housed in (of all things) a grand, century-old British colonial mansion north of the centre. The modest museum upstairs con-tains cases of 'Union of Burma' notes, bud-dhas and votives and coins from the Mrauk U and other ancient periods, plus many bone relics of head monks, kept in small tins. Plenty of friendly English-speaking monks will fol-low you around. It's a great time.

A less satisfying collection, forcibly borrowed from U Bhaddanta Wannita, as many locals tell it, is at the government-run Buddhistic Museum (Baw Dhi St; admission $5). The big pagoda between this museum and the centre is the Lokananda Paya, put up by General Than Shwe himself in 1997. Just north is a small ordination hall, which houses the Sachamuni image, a 5ft bronze buddha pock-marked with mini-buddhas. Apparently the image dates from 24 BC and was found by Mrauk U fishers in recent years. It was moved from Mrauk U by the government in 1997. Rakhaing State Day is staged here, see below.

Some locals are more keen about Shwezedi Kyaung, a monastery in a brilliant English-era building on a backstreet. The 2007 protests began daily from under the bodhi tree outside its gates.

OTHER SIGHTS

Hundreds of fruit bats slumber during the day in the trees around Sittwe University, then head off at dusk. Next to the Rakhaing State Cultural Museum, the Jama Mosque (1859) is one of Sittwe's most impressive buildings.

Festivals & Events

The Rakhaing State Day (a Saturday in mid-December) is staged at Lokananda Paya, with traditional wrestling, bamboo pole climbing and tug-of-war - it's well worth delaying a departure to see it. Locals may tell you the real Rakhaing day is December 31, 'when Mrauk U fell - it's more a day to grieve'.