Burmese Beach Days
10/18/06
So we were picked up early at the Royal White Elephant hotel and hopped in the Hyundai with the Mins for our final journey in 
New - This is a video of the locals laying out rice along the roadside so that the cars drive over it and they can then easily de-hull the rice. Pretty smart! Rice on the road to Ngwe Saung Beach
We ended up staying at the Shwe Hin Tha Resort Hotel which was all the way at the end of the beach near “Lover’s Island” and actually ended up being a really great place. Apparently, there was a huge storm earlier this year that decimated a lot of the properties at Ngwe Saung and luckily, Shwe Hin Tha was only moderately affected. We opted to spend the extra five bucks for the beach front bungalow instead of the bamboo ones set back a bit.
After settling in and checking things out, we strolled ten minutes down to Lovers Island which is a small sometimes peninsula, sometimes island with a large mermaid statue in front of it.
We ended up having a beer at a fancy resort where it seemed no one was staying before heading back to our bungalow to get in some sunset bodysurfing. The water is really nice - clean and warm (even Cindy is body surfing!) and the atmosphere of Ngwe Saung in general is very laid back and, at least for now, completely uncrowded. Seems like the perfect way to end our trip!
There is no electricity in Ngwe Saung so the resorts have generators but really only turn them on from about 6:00-11:00pm so we had room service dinner of prawns and Myanmar beer on our private balcony, all delivered by the cute little girls who work here.
10/19/06
Banana pancakes for breakfast started the day (not the best in the world but edible) and, after a quick swim, we decided to walk to Ngwe Saung village which is about 45 minutes down the very warm beach. It is a nice walk and the temple on the rocks in the middle of a desolate stretch of beach is pretty cool.
By the time we got there, I was nearly dead of heat exhaustion and dripping sweat. We went to a small shop to buy essentials (extra instant coffee and whiskey!) and then sat at a restaurant guzzling water to try to cool down before the walk back. The village is a dusty little one street affair but cute and the people seem nice.
The walk back was a little overcast so we didn’t die and got to see the very cool crabs scurrying around the beach.
We spent the afternoon lazing around and body surfing a bit before the rain suddenly broke out with lightning and thunder (not that this kept me out of the water...). Dinner on the patio was nice and we ended up talking to our neighbors, two Dutch girls who have been traveling around
10/20/06
Another lazy beach day filled with body surfing and building Sand castle pagodas (hope that doesn’t offend the locals).
The Dutch girls and I were fascinated with the billions of dragonflies zooming around the bungalows. They seemed to congregate in the trees and were very calm and tame so we played around taking there pictures all morning. Also, we got some new neighbors last night - two Spanish women and two French guys, kind of weird couples. The older of the two women came over to talk to us and asked me if it was OK for her to go topless since she is from St. Bart’s now and I guess they all run around half dressed. I told her it wasn’t going to bother me (and might make up for her boyfriend running around in “tightie whities” - apparently they didn’t realize they were going to the beach and had no bathing suits) but the locals might not like it.
We managed to hook up the Dutch girls with Min Ko for a ride back to Pathein tomorrow which is good since he isn’t really making money sitting at the beach.
Later in the afternoon, I wandered down the beach snapping pictures of a Fisherman casting his net out into the waves and headed out for more body surfing. This place is relaxing :-D
10/21/06
Hmmm what can I say, more of the same today - bodysurfing, Sand Pagodas and relaxing! The good thing is no demos, no software, no problems! I could get used to this!
The girls from the resort came by this morning with fresh lobster which we ended up having for lunch. Very tasty and the perfect complement to Myanmar Beer! We spent the afternoon in the rain bodysurfing with the Mins.
We drove into the village for dinner at a local restaurant with the Mins which was pretty good seafood and we ended up chatting with a Belgian couple who is traveling with Min Min’s friend Ah Oon whom we have seen pretty much in every place we have been. Ah Oon just got married to a girl he claims is 18 - he is 38 the salty old dog...
10/22/06
Our last breakfast at Ngwe Saung was Papaya Pancakes, a nice change from the banana ones.
An hour or so of our last body surfing on Ngwe Saung beach and then we piled in the car for the drive back to
The Shwe Hin Tha Resort
Hotel, Ngwe Saung
Beach - Myanmar
The Shwe Hin Tha Resort at Ngwe Saung Beach (near Chaungtha
Beach and Pathein in Western Myanmar) has a great little set of two types of
bungalows right on the beach. The more
expensive ($20-25/night) are stucco duplex buildings with Mosquito Net and
semi-private balcony/sitting areas that are 50’ from the water’s edge. The rooms are simple but comfy and the
bathrooms are bright and pretty clean.
The less expensive bamboo bungalows are set back a bit off the beach but
nice too with little patio’s and an open air bathroom. The staff are great here – breakfast is
included and two girls come by each morning to take your order and deliver you
breakfast on your patio. They also have
an OK restaurant for lunch and dinner and will deliver food (and of course,
cold Myanmar
beer) to your bungalow along with mosquito coils, candles and hot water for
tea. There is only electricity from
about 6:00pm – 11:00pm so you might as well get up early and enjoy the
beach. The water is really nice and
clean and warm and you can walk to Lover’s Island in 10 minutes or to Ngwe Saung
Village in about 45
minutes. Multi day discounts are
available.
