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Published: April 13th 2013
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Transport normal
Spent a lot of time on these things This place was very basic but very charming . It is a place used by the Burmese as a resort and the small chalets were just about right for a couple , I was off course alone but it was the ideal size . The Burmese however used them to the fully capacity and it is amazing how many people you can fit into them thinkgs , I think 11 was the most I counted piling out of one chalet one morning !
I had a nice 2 days just exploring and enjoying the Bay of Bengal. I wanted to go diving but it was not possible due to some law and the only way to dive here was to go to Thailand and dive up to the Burmese border, sounded like to much like hard work so I never bothered .Electricity was form 6am unitl 6pm and they had no generator so after 6pm that was it , no lights or fan and during the 12 hours of electricity the internet was on about 3 of them hours, the times I was alyways out and about , I did miss the internet !
The 2nd night I ate
Ferry terminal
Well sort of ! some chicken dish and 1 hour later I was vommiting severely , I have never had anything quite like this and it was horrible.I will spare the details but I never left the toilet all night and that carried on the next day. I asked if I could see a doctor only to be told someone could take me there at low tide on a 2 hour motorbike trip . I declined.In total Iwas 3 days out of action and this was a shame .
I decided to move on to Ngwe Saung and asked how to get there. The lady at reception told me I had 2 options. 1, Take a bus and drive 4 hours inland to avoid the rivers and 3 hours back again or option 2, get a motorbike to take me at low tide and do 3 river crossings in canoes, about 3 hours. The 2nd option sort of appealed to me so I took that option , it sounded intersting and indeed it proved to be an amazing trip .
So with my little rucksac I got on the back of the motorbike , the driver spoke no englsih and constantly chewed
Mad
Mad guy kept talking to me in Burmese , I just stared with mouth open Betel nut , google it ..it is disgusting and nearly all the men in Burma chew this stuff and all have terribly stained gums and teeth , they then spit it , this green horrible stuff, not good sitting behind a guy on a motorbike who was doing this .We drove to the first river crossing , a little village full of hussle and bussle , I saw a little girl about 6 , 7 or 8 years old swinging a massive maschete to cut wood , it was amazing and she was a dab hand at her work . The canoe was handmade , a dug out tree with stabliezers on each side tied on with branches. They loaded the canoe with the motorbike and a few other people needing to cross this river , we had to balance the canoe as it was on the verge of tipping .
The crossing was about 30 mins and on the other side we were soon off again driving the mud flats before hitting a trail through the jungle , I never once felt safe and had no helmet on but he seemed to be in control ! The next
The port
A very busy little "port" vital to get supplies to the village crossing point was in the middle of no where , god knows how he found it , but he stood at the water edge and just made a strange screaming noise followed by a long whistle , he then sat down and shut his eyes ! About 15 mins later I could see a canoe coming towards us , a very small one again made out of a dug out tree and on we got ! This was just a 10 min crossing and to the next crossing was about an hours drive away, my bum was hurting !
The next crossing we had to wait about 30 mins for his mate to come with a tree trunk to cross the river , or inlet . not to sure how to describe it I think it was an inlet , salt water anyway. and I spent most of the time chasing them funny crabs that have one huge claw about twice the size of its body a one little claw , they looked so weird and I was facinated.It is a strange contrast to be on the waters edge on the edge of a jungle .
He finally
Waiting
THE bike and my backpack got me to my destinatin and I handed over the equivalent of 5 € for this amazing journey and he had a gulp of water and did the return journey , poor chap !
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