Located north of Mandalay on the Irrawaddy River, the enchanting colonial town of Katha is the site of George Orwell’s famous book, "Burmese Days," A story of what life was like in a remote station during the colonial era. The town is still charming with its teak homes and quaint streets. Katha looks exactly as Orwell described it: "The native town, the courts and the jail were over to the right, mostly hidden in green groves of peepul trees. The spire of the pagoda rose from the trees like a slender spear tipped with gold." The police station, the jail, the hospital and the old British club all still exist. Also of interestare the fire station’s collection of IFC ship’s bells taken from sunken ships in the Second War. Katha was the final resting place of the old flotilla and here over a hundred ships were scuppered in 1942 in an Act of Denial before the advancing Japanese. Visits to an elephant logging camp in the hardwood forests of the hills that surround the town can also be arranged.