NGWE SAUNG, MYANMAR- February 22, 2010:
"A place of sinking sunsets and tomorrows that never come."
This was the somewhat poetic and affected description from the usually cut-and-dry Lonely Planet guidebook. But that one sentence in a flowery paragraph describing Ngwe Saung sold me.
After the past two and a half weeks of trying to cram in as much stuff in Myanmar as possible, this seemed like a good way to end this trip. Besides it would be a much-needed respite from the noise, grime and bustle of Yangon. The nine hour bus trip leaves at 9pm- so I was told. But the prospect of nine hours in a cramped bus during the hours I like to sleep was a dim one. So I opt for the much more expensive taxi ride. After all it's the end of the trip.
I get a quote for $240 for Friday through Monday- a two day layover in Ngwe Saung. (An earlier quote was for $300 !) Tin Hlaing (who I meet on the street outside my offers to be a guide and arrange the taxi. He says he thinks we should get a "permission" from the Myanmar Department of Travel and Tourism (though no such permission has been mentioned by any travel agency or guidebook.) This is the very flimsy rationale for it. After the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, much of the Ayeyarwady delta area was closed off to travelers. Now the government supposedly requires that travelers have a permission which allows them to keep track of you. Never mind that hundreds of tourists go to this region every week by bus without any such permission. As with many rules in Myanmar, these are inconsistently enforced. Interestingly though, nowhere on the permission form you must sign does it have any mention of Cyclone Nargis. In fact the most noteworthy sentence in this form (which I'm told is true of most Myanmar forms for foreigners) states that one "assures that I will not engage in political matters" while there. The big scandal after Cyclone Nargis was that the government refused to allow foreign relief planes to deliver aid to over two million survivors left without food, drinking water or shelter. Of course this fact was not lost on the locals who were outraged that government prevented its people from getting the help they so desperately needed. Though I don't know it for sure, I have to imagine that because of this this area was fertile grounds for dissent and that's why the "political matters" clause might be in the form.
Friday morning I meet Tin and his driver and we head off to Ngwe Saung. There is sporadic roadwork being done through much of the trip. Some of the repair work is due to damage done by the cyclone. But not all. Tin points out one area between Yangon and Pathein that was particularly hard hit by the storm. Most of the homes were bamboo huts that blew away during the storm. So new ones have been built since then.The only evidence I can see of the damage is the roadwork being done. Here roads (like just about everything else) are built with very few machines. No gravel spreaders or even wheelbarrows are being used. Work crews of men and women carry baskets of rocks about 2-3 inches in diameter in wide, shallow baskets. They dump them, spread them out , then go back and pick up more. A tedious process to say the least.
After a seven and half hour drive over 175 miles of road we finally arrive in Ngwe Saung. At the southern end of the beach I finally choose my guest house. Shwe Hin Tha is a simple place with clean bamboo huts with porches that line the beach. This is what I came for. It's quite an idyllic setting. The coconut palms rustle in the breeze as the sun beats down. The steady sound of the surf soothes away any tension. I go out for an afternoon swim in the ocean with water as warm as a swimming pool. I can walk out at least 60 ft and still be standing with my head above the water. It's perfect.
The next day I find that most of the tourists at Shwe Hin Tha took a 6:30am bus from Yangon which arrived in about 6 hours. The bus trip ends up costing about $23 round trip if you include the taxi rides to and from the station on outskirts of Yangon. This despite confirmation by three travel-oriented sources in Yangon that the 9 hour, 9 PM bus was the only bus to Ngwe Saung. Two of the sources I asked were travel agencies. One was a hotel that called the wrong bus station. An Italian woman who has lived in Myanmar for a year tells me she has found many travel agencies in the country to be fairly incompetent.(Actually until now I have got goo information from several agencies here.) I just wasted $187 because of the incompetence of some of the bad ones. But I'm glad to be here in this wonderful place and I refuse to let the loss of money ruin my stay.
I give the taxi driver $200 and say they're free to go back to Yangon. If they stayed another day it would've been another $40. By staying another day and taking the bus back, I'll get there earlier in day and save $26. A little late to be "nickel and diming" things but what's done is done.
The next day I do some snorkeling in rather rough waters and decide that body surfing is a more pleasant water sport here. Reading, writing, walking the beach and having a banana lassi drink watching the ocean. That evening I listen to the breeze with bamboo wind chimes clopping in the background and watch the sun sink into the Bay of Bengal. That's why they call this a vacation, right?
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