Mon State, Myanmar — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Mon State known for?

The Andaman Sea takes the western side, the Dawna Range runs the length of the east as a natural border with Kayin State, and Mawlamyine is the state capital. Three islands carry names: Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island, all lying off the state's own coastline. The state dates from 1974.

Where is Mon State?

Mon State lies between a sea and a mountain range. The Andaman Sea forms the western boundary, the Dawna Range runs down the eastern side and makes a natural border with Kayin State, Bago Region closes the north, and Tanintharyi Region the south. One short frontier is foreign.

At the state's south-eastern tip a brief stretch of boundary touches Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province, which is the only international edge Mon State has. Its present form dates from 1974. The Dawna Range runs north-north-west to south-south-east along that eastern side, so the state's inland limit is a line of high ground rather than a drawn one.

The seaward side is different. A long coastline faces the Andaman Sea, and three islands lie off it, Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island, which gives Mon State an offshore edge as well as a mainland one. Between range and sea the state is narrow.

Bago Region and Tanintharyi Region take the two ends, and everything between them sits within reach of both the Andaman Sea and the Dawna Range. Mawlamyine stands as the capital of it all.

What is Mon State like?

Two sides pull at Mon State. One faces the Andaman Sea and the islands off it, Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island; the other backs onto the Dawna Range and the Kayin State boundary the range makes. Mawlamyine is the capital of both halves.

The state has carried its present form since 1974, and the two settings inside it, a coast with islands and an inland edge under a mountain range, have shaped how a visitor moves through it ever since. English serves a traveller here. Thailand lies over one short stretch of boundary at the state's south-eastern tip, against Kanchanaburi Province, and that single foreign edge is the only place Mon State touches another country.

Everything else is Myanmar. Bago Region to the north, Tanintharyi Region to the south and Kayin State beyond the Dawna Range are the neighbours a route out of Mon State runs into first. The Dawna Range shuts the eastern view.

Islands sit off the coast. Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island give the state a small offshore geography, and the Andaman Sea is what a visitor sees first from most of the western side.

What is the history of Mon State?

Mon State was constituted in 1974. The boundaries fixed then are the ones it still carries: the Andaman Sea to the west, the Dawna Range and Kayin State to the east, Bago Region to the north and Tanintharyi Region to the south. Mawlamyine serves as the capital.

A short frontier with Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province at the south-eastern tip completed the outline, and the islands off the coast, Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island, came inside it.

What is the climate of Mon State?

The Andaman Sea sets the terms. Sea air comes in across the whole western side of Mon State and runs up against the Dawna Range on the far side, which is why the coast and the ground beneath the range do not feel alike. The setting is tropical throughout.

Kalegauk, Wa Kyun and Kyungyi Island sit out in that same sea, and a day spent on the water off Mon State runs to a different rhythm from one spent inland towards Kayin State.

How do you get to Mon State?

Mawlamyine is the point of arrival. Routes into Mon State come down from Bago Region in the north or up from Tanintharyi Region in the south, since the Dawna Range makes the eastern side hard ground to cross from Kayin State. Thailand touches only the tip.

The boundary with Kanchanaburi Province at the state's south-eastern corner is short, and the Andaman Sea takes the entire western side, so most arrivals come along the length of the state rather than across it.