Ngapali BeachI found Paradise. And now I am in doubt that maybe I should not emigrate to a military dictatorship... but it is SO perfect... Ngapali Beach - the wonder beach of the country. White sand, azure-blue water and palm-trees. I already felt touched when we landed, as I have never seen such a picture-perfect beach "live". And then, there I was. On the approximately 3 km beach there were about 20 tourists, so our towels did not touch each other... I could not hear anyone whole day at the sea and only could see tiny little figures at far distances. The guests of the luxury hotels share the beach with the locals, so as I enjoyed the sun from the sun-chair, I saw little school-kids or ox-carts passing by on the shore... No one hassled to sell my postcards or souvenirs, but if I wanted to buy something, it was easy to find some pearl-sellers
The locals are incredibly friendly - when you meet them, they give you a huge, friendly, honest smile (not that artificial ones you get in US stores). The kids love to have their photos taken - they do not ask money for it, but they say thanks.
A room with teak floor, teak and rattan furniture, marble bath and private terrace about 20 meters from the water is 55 USD. There are lots of little restaurants, which sell great fresh fruit juices and seafood, for 2-3 USD.
In Burma, this is the prime beach and there are no budget hotels - only midrange and high price ones. So there is no backpacker crowd - they are all in Thailand. This means no nightlife, no plasma-TV, no internet cafes and no banana-chocolate pancake. But you have a pretty quiet private beach in a perfect location. It was very hard to leave my paradise I had to get up at 5 a.m. to catch the 7 a.m. flight, but it was no point to hurry – there was a problem with the plane and we did not leave until 8.30 p.m. We missed all connections in Doha, so had to spend another half day there. Finally it took me exactly 48 hours to get home door-to-door. New record. There are places, which are amazingly beautiful - for me New Zealand is the most. And there are places, which are very exciting - for me, Japan was the number one. And finally, there are places, where you leave a piece of your heart when you leave - for me, it was most of all Tibet, the best journey ever, but it is also Burma (in line with Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - it seems, this region really works for me). Burma must be one of the best kept secrets of the travelers - there are only a few tens of thousands tourists a year (vast majority from Germany, followed by Italy and France). So hush, do not tell anyone about it, but save your money and visit it while it is so pristine...
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