NGAPALI BEACH
After all the bus rides we went for the grownup (i.e. ‘we don’t care about our planet’) version of travelling and took a flight from Bagan via Heho to Ngapali Beach where one of us was looking forward to a couple of days of rest – just her, with her bikinis on a beach chair, accompanied by drinks and the occasional sunscreen rub from her man. Well, we all know that was not going to happen but thanks to the game we played on NYE there was at least one day of relaxation.
Not having seen very many Westerners at all throughout our entire trip, Ngapali Beach was the place where they all (and by all, I mean the French) met up for one final tan to be envied by their colleagues back home. It was probably the most touristy place of all (Ngapali Beach has experienced increasing tourism since the building of the Thandwe airport) but maybe due to government regulations there were no ugly hotel buildings. Instead we found only nice, modest resort style accommodations along the beach.
Our activities included many sea view breakfasts, drinks and dinners right at the beach, a private snorkel trip (unfortunately many dead corals and quite some plastic trash), a massage under palm trees (try Lily’s Spa- great Massage and dinner!) and the exploration of the local fishermen’s village. We highly recommend this experience since you get to see the actual life of the locals which stands in such sharp contrast to the resort reality. The main income of the locals is still the fishing business and you can watch them take out their wooden boats at sunset. A rotten smell is omnipresent as you pass by huge areas of fish lying out in the sun to dry.
