Lazy days in Ngapali

The next morning we flew to Ngapali village, on the beautiful Bay of Bengal. Although I am not really a beach person, Emm most certainly is, so this was kind of my compromise to get her to come and visit me again! Not such a bad compromise in the end as it was absolutely beautiful and very relaxing. Although a few resorts have been built along this stretch of coast it’s still incredibly under-developed compared to similarly beautiful spots in Thailand or Vietnam.

We enjoyed a very laxy few days here with the daily agenda being a swim in the pool, a swim in the ocean, relaxing on the beach, drinking fresh coconut water, eating freshly barbecued seafood, watching the sun set with some happy hour cocktails on our deck and polishing off some Myanmar Shiraz-Cabernet which we'd picked up in Inle Lake.

Private beach at our hotel

Fresh crab for lunch!

Pool time

Coconuts!

Sunset from our deck

Wine-induced selfie!

We did venture out one morning in an attempt to watch the fishing boats come in and the fish sold on a beach in one of the nearby villages. Affronted by the idea of taking an organised tour for $20, we decided to make our own way there. It just goes to show how non-touristy this place was as once we stepped out of the hotel there was just a poor, undeveloped village on the doorstep: no tuk-tuks or moto-taxis and no-one who really spoke English. However finally a pick-up arrived, which seemed to be going to the right place, and along we bumped for 30 minutes squashed in among the locals and receiving the usual surprised looks and shy waves from passers-by along the way. 

Unfortunately due to our slow start, by the time we made it to the right beach the fishing boats had come and gone and only the last dregs of fish were left for sale on the beach! Oh well, there was a nice little market going on in the village and lots of friendly locals and we even managed to locate the right pick-up to take us back to the hotel, so it was a good, if short, little outing! 

The remains of the fish market!

Local children collecting shells

The village market

On the way back we stopped off at an ice factory and for five minutes we waited and watched while the factory workers fed enormous slabs of ice into a machine which spat out ice-cubes into huge white sacks which were then loaded onto the pick-up between our feet. It certainly provided some refreshingly cool air for the rest of the journey!

Ngapali Sunset