N 90       The Gawranji Island

It is going to be 2 years this coming January that I had travelled to the Gawranji Island. I had written a travelogue about it but for some reasons I did not  post  it . But now I want to write about something and  as nothing will come to my mind that I come to think about posting it on my blogpost. I looked for the blog I had written but could not find it anywhere . Maybe I had discarded it as rubbish. So I decided to write it again all over.

It was in January 2016. We saw some posts about Gawranji Island in facebook and as it can be reached by car via Pathein we called some friends ( Ko Aung and Aye Aye Thi as usual ) and decided to go and visit there. So our 2 cars started for Pathein early in the morning but it took more than an hour to get out of the city.

After passing some delta towns and Pathein we reached Nga Yoke Kaung township  where Gawranji Island is. After that the smooth and wide road becomes narrower with rough surface and more ups and downs . The journey from Yangon  to  Nga Yoke Kaung is 200 miles and with the not so good road it took us nearly the whole day and we reached Nga Yoke Kaung at about  5pm. What  people said that it took 8 hours is really true.

 Nga Yoke Kaung is a small unattractive town. We lodged at a guesthouse which they said  is the only one in town. As it was still  daylight  we were taken by some folks to see the beach and sunset which is not far away. We saw palm groves lining the shore but a little distant from the water edge. The sand is not white , so it is not very attractive.

Electricity is available only till 10 pm there. As I can’t sleep without light we paid the guest house owner for the petrol he had to use to run the generator the whole night.

The next morning we were taken to the main attraction places by motor cycle carriers.Each had to ride at the back of the motorist holding tight to him.Thanks that I had brought a pair of pants and sneakers with me. A short ride took us to the water edge where all people and motor cycles had to go onto a boat which would take us to the place where we would continue by motor cycles.

The road over which the motor cycles were driven was rough and narrow as it goes over rice fields and rough terrains. Sometimes passed over sand when the motorist told me not to put my feet down while he steered the vehicle skillfully.

The place we were taken is  a beautiful place, which looks like an island with a wide sandy beach. But  the sand here also is  not white. From the sandy beach,  in the inner part of the island is a rocky island on which stood a gold gilded pagoda. Somebody said we have to climb over 300 steps to get to the top and that we can get a good view  around from there. I cannot climb that high and some were not so energetic that we decided not to go up.

We saw some photographers and some models doing photo shooting with a group of local children  using an old boat as a background. It seemed that they would not finish quickly , so we took some advantage with them. Asking their permission we all took some pictures with the children and the old boat, and so we got some nice photos to take home.

to be continued…..