The old wooden traditional Haw, Palace of the Sawbwa was destroyed by bombing during the last World War, but we were able to visit the interesting modern Sawbwa’s residence built during colonial times by Sawbwa Sao Ohn Kya who ruled Hsipaw from 1928 to 1938. It is an architecturally interesting two storey building which looks like an English mansion with bay windows and wide covered verandas, the upper one supported by five attractive pillars, where the family could sit out and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the distant hills and the nearby winding Namtu River known as the Myitnge or Dokhtawaddy in its lower reaches before it joins the main Ayeyawady at Innwa (Ava).