Ngapali Beach 2

Ngapali beach was opened in colonial time. It is a famous resort. But, it is located far away from Yangon near Bay of Bengal across mountain ranges and forests. For that reason, there are very few people who have visited the place. The beautiful beach where there are hotels can be reached during an hour flight from Yangon. It takes the whole day and night to get there by bus because the road is very rough. The place is only for well-to-do people. The following was about Myanmar what I had seen during the trip.

Swimming in the sea didn’t seem to be fit with Myanmar people because they didn’t wear swimming costumes. Although young men put on black pants like shorts, they couldn’t be said that swimming trunks. Young girls put on black trousers and shirts. Middle age women wore Longgyi that they always put on. As an exception, the women in swimming costumes could be seen. But they were far away from the people. We could see their heads not their bodies.

The scene of European girls in their bikini walking in style at the beach was the complete opposite of Myanmar girls. Moreover, they all went into the sea once at about 9 o’ clock in the morning and once at about 4 o’ clock in the evening. That was strange image.

There were no day return local visitors. All people there were the visitors who put up at the hotels on the beach. There were many people taking rest under the umbrellas in front of the hotel.

I think the rate of wearing swimming costumes of Myanmar girls would be the same with that of Tai Sho Period.

I didn’t think I would find any Japanese people at the Ngapali beach because it didn’t appear in the Japanese guidebook. But I came across Japanese men who were not tourists. They were doing business there. They were planning to export small fish like sardines, fertilizer and feedstuff for fish. Having own factories, they were high-spirited. I had a chance to view prawn-breeding work being carried out in cooperation with the government because they conducted me around the place where they were doing business. It was a lucky thing for me. I was surprised at the knowledge of the existence of Japanese business that could not be seen without a close look.

I did pay respects to the Japanese who were working honestly finding possible ways to do business there. I bowed their spirit. While I was staying in Ngapali, I came across a Japanese girl. She was about thirty years old and she seemed to be going around without any special purpose. She was just making trips with the spirit of getting various kinds of experiences and she had no plans. She said that she stayed at the hotel for she was introduced to it at the airport. It was too much of her to be travelling without knowing any foreign languages and without any luggages. After a night stay at the hotel, without going to the sea, she left there by bus that foreigners never took next morning, saying she had to meet someone. Such encounter could be said an interesting experience of the trip.