ngwe saung

our original myanmar "itinerary"

had us spending our last couple days

visiting yet another city full of payas, monks, and monuments.

near the end of our time in inle lake we were feeling a bit templed out.

each paya is stunning and magnificent,

but after weeks of visiting city after city full of them,

we were longing for an endless white sandy beach 

more then another golden paya.

we asked the friendly owners of friendly inn how to get to ngapali beach,

myanmars most stunning plot of waterfront on the shores of the bay of bengal. 

they were regretful that at this particular time of year there was no way of getting there,

and even if we did get there nothing would be open.

the owners didnt even give us enough time to have our hopes smashed

before instantly suggesting we visit the town of ngwe saung.

he said that is where his family loves to vacation and we would be going at the end of the rainy season,

when beds were cheap and rain was sparse. 

we immediately booked yet another amazing day of myanmar travel!

i'll spare you the details.

in short, it took us 24 hours,

a mixture of sketchy taxi rides,

overnight buses, 

a day bus which got a flat tire and spent the remainder of the journey

trying to catch up for lost time by weaving through traffic at about 100 mph,

and finally a three hour ride on the back of a scooter,

an hour of that through a monsoon...

but yet again, we found it hard to complain

once we got to our destination.

a small beachfront resort

where we got to stay in a duplex bungalow (for $35 a night),

falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves directly outside our door

and waking to sunny days full of walks on the beach and endless hours to read.

not a bad place to end an epic adventure...

-e

looking towards the beach from our little private porch

again...

we lost two of our cribbage pieces but found out small sea shells work just as well...

right outside the front door

sunset through our little canopy roof over the porch

sunset 

more stunning sunsets

taking a walk along the only road in town

animals rule the road here.