South East Asia trip 2014: FEBRUARY 28, 2014: MYANMAR-NGAPALI: ARRIVAL, BAYVIEW BEACH RESORT, BEING LAZY, BEACH BBQ

NGAPALI-February 28-March 4, 2014

February 28, 2014

It's 6:30 am and time to say goodbye to Inle Lake and the Princess Garden. Check out easy. $220.00 for 4 nights bungalow and 2200k for laundry. I take last minute pictures afraid I've missed something. I get a picture of Ko next to his truck which he hopes to sell and get something better. Moving on up! He has been so outgoing, the nicest guy. It is Ko that makes this place what it is. Our driver is the same guy from yesterday! All too soon we're at the airport and he parks and helps us with our luggage. Cost for the trip to the airport 16000k. It is 7:30 am now and our flight on AIR BAGAN W9-141 departs at 8:50 am. Check in is a breeze, we have our stickers (we know the drill by now), we board, grab a seat, and right on time we leave. It's amazing how efficient these airlines are and I wish they could teach the US airlines how to provide good service! Example-this flight is just about 1 hr. and in that time the flight attendants serve us food-1/2 tuna sandwich plus a drink. I eat a bit of the sandwich but then I remember maybe I shouldn't because of the mayo? Needless to say I didn't get sick but only ate half of my half sandwich. We have-surprise-breakfast boxes from the hotel with lots of fruit. Very good.

Ko from the Princess Garden

My husband Richard and our driver from yesterday and today "Then"

Ready for boarding

Air Bagan

Thandwe Airport

Upon arrival we claim our bags. I change $300 for 293100k at the Kanbawza Bank branch at the airport. I think about hiring a car to take us to the BAYVIEW BEACH RESORT when we are approached by a lady with a sign with the resort's name on it. She's here to pick us up. Great-I didn't know we've have free pick up. Pass through the small town making note of restaurants and shops. Road construction so dusty. The manager of the hotel Patrick personally greets us and has cold drinks waiting while we complete the check in process. He tells us the hotel is having a beach BBQ tonight, cost $18 per person and do we want to sign up for it. Sure, sounds like fun. We request a table inside as my husband is leery about sitting at a table on the beach with mossies and what not! Our room is not ready. This is the downside of having early flights but with planning you can turn lemons into lemonade. We check out the property. Large swimming pool. Breakfast area is right next to the pool. The landscaping of the grounds is lovely. We're given a pamphlet with day excursions if interested. Our hotel also has day trips you can book. We have our swim gear in a carry on so we will be at the beach until the room is ready.

This is the van that picked us up at the airport

Entrance

Lovely landscaping

Breakfast area

Pool

First impression of the beach-I'm in heaven. Soft, white sand. Beautiful blue water and just the right temp for swimming. Bliss!! We spend several hours on the beach just doing nothing.

Rats! Our beach front room is ready. #104. There's a large bowl of fruit and fresh flowers. We have this huge room with a king bed. Immense bathroom. Steps away from the beach. Huge verandah to sit and gaze out at whatever. There's an outdoor faucet to rinse the sand from your feet. Our unit is an end unit. Perfection. Now I know you're going to think I'm nuts but I borrow an iron and get some wrinkles out of our clothes. We do some personal items laundry and gather other stuff for the hotel laundry. Sunset is so-so as the sun drops behind the mountain.

Our room

King size bed

Seating area

Flowers and fruit

Our beach front view

Huge shower

Spacious room

Literally steps away from our door is this beach

We walk over to the hotel restaurant for the BEACH BBQ. My husband reluctantly agrees to my request to sit at a table on the beach. Later he will admit that was a good choice as no worries about being bitten by anything. (we always use repellant in the evenings) We order drinks-Road to Mandalay and Myanmar beer. Guess who had the beer! There's a lot of grilling going on. Shrimp kabobs, tuna, mackerel, beef, etc. I snap a lot of pictures. Everything looks so delicious. So many bowls of sides-mashed potatoes that were out of this world, vegetable salads, divine soup (when I went to see about getting another bowl it was all gone). The dessert area-lime cheesecake, sinfully good chocolate cake, banana pudding, assorted fruit. A bonfire is lit. Then we had entertainment. A guy danced with fire. He was fantastic and I gave him 5000k. I am feeling like a new woman. Cost for the evening. $36 for food and $10 for the drinks. What's nice is anything we do through the resort we can sign for and just pay when we check out which is what we do.