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See great photo and
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from trips and Thailand visa run. In resent
years this south Myanmar town became also known
for the nice girls from all of
southern
Myanmar who come for some business.
They have very pretty girls and the
prices are quite low, it's somehow a heaven for guys
who want to have fun -yes not only girls
want to have fun- as Cindy Lauper wanted
to tell us ! The owner
of the casino, Thai businessmen made a deal with
the Myanmar authorities to get the
island on long term lease,
built a excellent beach resort
with a casino and make a lot of money.
They also offer sightseeing and
scuba dive trips into south
Myanmar and the
Myanmar islands
around. But there is a big difference
compared to
Thailand Islands.
On
Thailand Islands there is almost
always some kind of infrastructure, on
Myanmar Islands there is usually no
infrastructure. This is the main reason
why all scuba diving trips via
liveaboard are done out of Phuket which
is just 300 km to the south.
The problem with the
city and
Ranong
area is, climate is very wet.
Actual one of the most wettest
areas on planet earth because
the clouds coming in from the
Indian Ocean or here the
Andaman
Sea, stall on the
hilly coast and empty the water.
South Myanmar
and Kawthaung
is easily accessible from
Yangon bz several daily
flights and there is a
daily shop connection
between Myeik or Mergui
and the city. But it is
not possible to use this
ship with a visa issued
by the local
immigration.
From
Phuket,
Samui,
Phang Nga
and around, there are plenty of buses
everyday. E.g. the bus
ticket from Phuket to
Ranong is Baht 350,-,
where the bus stops walk
down to the main street
there are continuous
pick up trucks carry the
people to the pier. Take
a longtail boat on a
shared base for Baht
50,-. If you want one
for you only it's Baht 300,- and have
a short sea trip
for an hour. After
back to Thailand for a new
entry visa.
Since the Thai
government only
issue entry visa to
Thailand via road or sea
for 2 weeks business is brisk.
Nothing left of golden Myanmar, if you ask one
of the younger guys if
they know Victoria Point they
smile I say "mate ou"
this means I don't know
in Myanmar language.
A few Kawthaung hotels are
around very close to the
waterfront as you can
see at the picture
above.
To give you a better
understanding what was
going on in the past
in this area here is
some text of an old book
describing the area in
about the 18. Century
actually not much has
changed, the ship got
engines, the pirates are
gone and the buildings
are made from bricks,
that's the main
difference.
The ports of
Indo-China and
the islands have
changed little
with the
centuries.
Mergui, about
300km north of
Kawthaung, to
day is much the
same as before.
This is not only
true of the
scenery. The
ridge, the woods
and the heavy
greenery, the
shimmering
islands farther
out are
naturally the
same. But the
town itself has
changed little.
Its thatched and
bamboo houses,
winding streets,
roadside bazaars
and monastery
stairways are
still what they
were in the
seventeenth
century.
The ridge
round which the
town is
clustered is not
high, hardly
more than one
hundred feet,
but it rises
nearly as steep
as a cliff. On
the highest
point is a
Buddhist pagoda,
which by its
design alone
stamps the place
as Indo-China,
an
art-integration
distinct from
India. The
houses nestled
into the steep
hillside and
looked towards
the water of the
harbor, which at
full tide washed
underneath the
piles on which
they were
perched. At low
tide there was
an expanse of
mud and
mangrove.
Many of these
houses had their
own jetty, at
which lay long,
thin boats, the
hull made from
one piece of
wood, a cabin
roofed over with
thatch occupying
the centre.
These boats
carried sail,
and with their
racing cut were
capable often
miles an hour
with a good
breeze aft. As
the street
continued along
the harbor face,
it began to
multiply, where
the ground
permitted, until
at the southern
end it had
become a block
of roads and
houses creeping
round the ridge
and eventually
enclosing it up
to the northern
extremity. The
whole was
protected by a
stockade of
earth and
bamboo.
In these
streets there
moved a
cosmopolitan
crowd, Burmese,
Siamese,
Chinese, Indian,
Malay and
European. Though
the town was
within the
kingdom of Siam,
Mergui changed
later to Myanmar
or Burma, it
seems that the
middle and lower
classes were
chiefly Burmese.
In this
connection, the
Jesuit, Nicolas
Gervaise, a
contemporary
writer, is quite
explicit. He
says of the
whole province
of Tenasserim:
'Its
inhabitants, who
are fairly
numerous, are
almost all
foreigners. The
language of
Burma and Ava is
still much more
in use than
Siamese.' |
