Sittwe to Mrauk U - spectacular boat trip

In order to get to Mrauk-U I chose to fly to Sittwe from Yangon, following with planning on staying overnight and catching an early morning ferry. The flight by Air Bagan was quite pleasant, domestic airport organization efficient. Other than lack of information on a display about boarding times and gate statutes everything else was normal. They use hand written boards and when the time comes each airline's ground staff is walking the hall announcing boarding. Upon check-in you get additional sticker which informs which airline you "belong to" today.



Cruising the river from Sittwe to Mrauk U.

Full service on the flight surprised me, it is nice to get t free drink and snack I appreciate this. We were flying a small plane half empty anyway. This time my backpack arrived with me without issues.
There was a couple of other tourists with me on the flight but they were quite absorbed with each other. There was an old man as well which was going to conduct a local school inspection checking how funds are being distributed, he was quite resourceful and I intended to ask his advice on logging in Sittwe. There was this youngish guy also a tourist, but we did not make a contact at first.

Upon arrival in Sittwe and walking into arrival zone guys from passport control are greeting us and we can see already a crowded taxi drivers group outside the door. I feel like a pray all of sudden. One guy makes an approach for a boat trip immediately after clearing customs, his first price 1000$ which makes me laugh hard and walk away. I clear customs and get my backpack and the same guy comes back with the price of 20$. This is great, I don't need to worry for another hotel-hunt and it takes me straight to Mrauk-U where I want to be anyway. Turns out there are two of us on the same mission. Tom is the other guys name and he is on the same mission of getting to Mrauk-U. We also get approached by somebody outside the terminal claiming "entry fee" but we make a laugh at the guy as we don't think it is a genuine tax or something. I am aware of entry fees to Bagan or Mrauk-U but not Sittwe. Mrauk-U there was no entry fee by the way, maybe they claim this in high season only or maybe we are just lucky.

The boat trip was really epic. Worth recommending as one of Myanmar "must-sees".

Fisherman at work.

River village and fishing boats.

Rice files and singular houses from time to time. Imagine that this scenery has not changed in the past hundreds years.

The boat itself was an old motor boat, taking 6 hrs to get us from Sittwe to Mrauk-U, with  2 of the crew and 1 local boy helper plus our "guide". Going on Ayeyarwady river was like being in a different time zone. One could easily imagine exactly the same scenery 500 years ago. Amazing. Green rice fields, shrimp farms, trees and hill tops on the horizon. Singular shelter places and wooden houses here and there but not many really. It all gave very refined scenery for picture taking. Even the sky was working for us, delivering interesting clouds dense in texture and reach in imaginary shapes.

Helper on the boat.

Tom and our boat-guide snacking on a cake.

 

A couple of storms in a great distance produced nice visual effects. As the sky was growing darker the clouds started closing on us, I didn't mind however. Storm on the river can be a beautiful experience. And it was. Last two hours we spent navigating in darkness with storm closing around us. It was amazing to see how the locals managed that without lights and with other small boats also navigating without lights (what???).

The storm was building up slowly all around us.

We arrive around 9 pm..way after it got dark. It has been raining in Mrauk-U but now the rain has cleared. We have to take some taxi for the ferry station to the town center to get logging at our guide's friend guest house. 10$ a night gives a very basic conditions on the verge of acceptance actually. The room has dirty walls and a high ceiling with God knows what's hiding there. At least there is a mosquito net provided, although there are holes in it. I decide to repair it instead of trying to attach my own net. Bathroom is no better, at first I thought there is no shower but I missed a shower handle sticking from the wall. At least there is running water. Hot water can be delivered in a bowl upon request the owner tells me.

Sunset on the river.

The bed is harder than it should be for comfortable sleeping and I am happy to have my clean sheet with me. It saves me from using blanket that is provided by the guesthouse. I am making use of all my supplies tonight, glad to have my soap and shower, towel and sheet. Outside there air con engines working, so even my earplugs come handy. What a place :).
In the morning a fried rice with beans for breakfast makes a pleasant start. My friend Tom decides to move hotels after a rough night. He goes to one of the upscale ones with posh supplies and cold bottled water available on hand. I decide to stay as I have a feeling I will not be staying more than two nights anyway.

Sunset on the river.