14.5 hours to Hong Kong, 3 hour layover, 3 hour flight to Yangon, overnight in Yangon hotel, 1 hour prop plane flight – to get here:

Worth it? We think so.

Our first stop is Ngapali Beach, which is in Rakhine state, western Myanmar. About a dozen resorts dot the 2-mile stretch of beach; no resort being more than 2 storeys high and set back in the palms. Other than Anglo tourists (which so far appear to be mostly Eurpoean and Australian – no other Americans encountered here so far) the only other people on the hotel part of the beach during the heat of the day are the women who walk up and down balancing the fruit for sale on tin trays on their heads. As the sun begins to set I have noticed more locals talking walks and local kids jumping into the surf.

The sand is powder soft, the Bay of Bengal waters clear as day and the perfect swimming temperature: just cool enough to be refreshing. Small sand crabs dart in and out of holes, creating billions of little sand balls for a reason we haven’t figured out yet (nutrition? Defense?). There’s a healthy contingent of beach dogs, utterly indifferent to humans and either nourished enough by the fishing village and restaurant cast-offs or haven’t figured out that begging might yield some tasty treats to laze in the shade of the beach restaurant signs for most of the day.

Our resort, Ngapali Bay Resort and Spa, was built three years ago on the southern-ish portion of the hotel section. Having spent my fair share of time on TripAdvisor and other reviews sights researching resorts here, I was overjoyed to find upon our arrival a drop-dead beautiful setting. Every detail is attended to here: lush native landscaping, raised wooden walkways linking the bungalows to the common area and beach, windows positioned for maximium beach view. To our surprise, our room features Wifi (steady, but slow) and satellite TV. We figure there are about seventy staff per guest, all greeting us with “ming la ba!” and a smile as we pass on the walkways.

Other than tourism, the economy here relies on fishing, with fishing villages of various sizes on either end of the bay. After breakfast this morning we wandered along the beach south to the village closest to our hotel, Jade Taw. It was buzzing with activity, with the men bringing in the monrning’s haul onto shore:

Barracuda and sting rays are the catch of the day

While the women spreading and sorting the littler fish on huge tarps  to dry in the sun:

These end up in fish sauce and chicken feed

No fishing village would be complete without it’s pack of beach dogs; apparently it was already nap time when we walked by.

Hundreds of boats head out at sunset to fish for squid at night, using lightbulbs strung along wooden structures on the boat’s top to attract the squid. The effect from shore is a string of lights on the horizon, from one end of the beach to the other; a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

As is proper on any beach vacation, we spent the majority of today under our palapa, reading. I’m 80% of the way through Orwell’s Burmese Days, which I’m enjoying a lot and can’t tell if it is because I’m here or if I would like it just as much at home. Looking forward to a few more days of R&R and acclimating to Myanmar life in this stunning setting.