-As of earlier this year (2024) it appears the current status of Myanmar has become dangerous and the advice is not to travel. Please check up to date travel advice before considering travel.- Day 1 Today was an early start as we were getting the bus from Yangon to Ngwe Saung, a beach destination on the West coast. We had read that it was cheaper and easier to get to than it’s upmarket counterpart on the West coast Ngapali Beach. The bus was leaving Yangon at 7am and the bus stop is an hour’s drive away from the centre of Yangon. The cab journey to the bus station was quite an experience as the driver had the radio tuned into some sort of Prayer FM and it was like driving along in a mobile mosque and he spent the entire hour on his phone, who on earth had that much to say at 5am?? The hotel had very kindly written a note to show the taxi driver with the instruction of where we wanted to go. The bus station was, for a change, reasonably well organised and the bus was fairly decent too with reclining chairs and air con, the bus was 11,000 kyats (about £6.50). The journey took about 5 hours, there was a lot of lovely scenery on the way but worryingly a lot of rubber plantations seemed to be popping up. Overall though it wasn’t a bad journey. En-route we stopped at Pathien for a comfort break where we had our first meeting with a squat toilet. The bus driver asked which hotel we were staying at, we had no idea and had planned to just wander around to find somewhere, we didn’t realise it was all spread out quite so much and that would not really be practical. We asked him for a recommendation for somewhere cheap, his answer was The Pearl Hotel... The ‘hotel’ was a selection of ‘rustic’ beach huts which were small, old and rickety. No two pieces of wood met so we could see through the floor and walls, two of the windows had no glass in them but...we could see and hear the sea from this little hut which was practically on the beach. Yes it was over priced at $60 USD for 2 nights (and that was after we had really bartered them down) but we really didn’t have much choice and the more time we spent here the more we liked it and were able to look past the materialistic expectations we might have had and enjoyed the ‘quirks’.
Our funky little hut right on the beach There is only power in the hotel between 6pm – 6am and there is no hot water but it’s so warm anyway that cold water showers are not really a problem. We were surprised that there were no mosquito nets on the beds given everything can get in the hut, luckily we always travel with one as I’m allergic to mosquito bites so don’t like to chance it. The beach was paradise, beautiful white sand as far as the eye can see, there was literally not another person in sight, the beach is about 13km long so it’s a pretty big stretch of coastline.
Miles of empty beaches and warm seas The sea was quite possibly the warmest water I have ever been swimming in. The only thing you need to look out for is the occasional motorbike that drives along the beach, I’ve never come across this before but they seem to drive for miles along the sand.
The locals driving up and down the beach From out here the only way into town is by motorbike so we jumped on one with one of the guys from the hotel and he drove us into town. The town was so quiet it was quite odd, we had an overpriced dinner and got a lift back to the hotel on a bicycle with a side car to take 2 people, such a funny little contraption. There were no lights on the road the whole way back so the guy was cycling in the pitch black, a nice young lad who we had a good chat with, poor thing must have been exhausted by the time we got there. Day 2 In Myanmar it seems to be the thing to have these coffee sachets that are a 3 in 1 type thing, they contain the coffee, milk and sugar. Quite often at breakfast you will be given one of these and they actually tasted alright, I like a sweet coffee anyway so I was pretty happy. Breakfast here wasn’t anything special, 2 bananas a piece of dry toast and a sachet of coffee but it was better than nothing. We explored the beach a bit today and ended up walking for miles along this, if you are staying at The Pearl, head to the beach and turn left you will walk miles of unspoilt barely developed beach with hardly a soul in site. We came across two large rocks on the beach which had miniature shrines built on top of them, quite a sight!
Shines on the beach You will reach a point which looks like the end of the beach, it’s not, it just goes around the corner and carries on as far as the eye can see. However, there are some lovely little food shacks here on the beach, a great place to get a cold drink and a snack. You can walk to the road from this bit and if you’ve had enough of walking it’s easy enough to hail a local on their bike to give you a lift back to the hotel. The only downside to coming to Ngwe Saung was that we found out you cannot get anywhere North on a bus from here (or you couldn't when we were there), we asked many places and people and the only way to get to Bagan (our next destination) was to get a bus all the way back to Yangon and get on a bus to Bagan from there, total craziness! If this has changed now please let me know and I will add some up to date details! Make sure you make time to enjoy the sunsets here, they really are out of this world! At the end of the road where the Pearl is there is a small eatery we ate here a couple of times and it was pretty good, I have no idea what it was called and can’t find it on the web anywhere, but if it is still there don’t be afraid to give it a go!
Take time out to enjoy the amazing sunsets here
Basic language (written phonetically) Hello – Min-ga-la-ba Thank you – chei-zu-tin-bar-te or lots of people shorten it to chei-zu-bay Money There was just one ATM in Ngwe Saung and I think it is still the same, so try to come prepared with as much money as you think you will need for your stay here.
NGWE SAUNG TOP TIPS - Due to the layout of the area if you don't want to book in advance at least have an idea of where you might like to stay so the bus can drop you somewhere useful - Be aware you will probably have to get the bus back to Yangon from here before you can head anywhere else - Bring a torch and a mosquito net if you want to avoid night time bites
- Purchase a good travelling backpack I swear by my Berghaus 65 litre Rucksack like this one here - Make sure you pack a decent camera, I always favour a compact one from Sony similar to this one
