The most common excursion from Mrauk-U is a half- or full-day boat trip up the Lemro and Kaladan rivers to a cluster of small Chin villages — Pan Baung, Sain Daing, Kyauk Hlaung — where the now-elderly women still bear the spider-web facial tattoos that were once a Chin custom. The tradition was banned in the 1960s and only women born before that survive; in another generation it will have ended.
The visit is uncomfortable on several levels: the villagers are very poor, the tattooed women are inevitably photographed, and the experience can feel exploitative. Many travellers choose to skip it. If you do go, hire a guide who works directly with the villages, pay fairly, ask permission for photographs, and buy something. The river ride itself, through paddy and bamboo-forested banks, is beautiful.