A FIRST TASTE OF MAGICAL MYANMAR & THE MAGNIFICENT MERGUI ISLANDS

Myanmar is a country that naturally arouses curiosity and intrigue in any traveller.

Just saying the name out loud makes it seem like a far off exotic land…..

Our visit to Myanmar - Mergui Archipelago Islands Andaman Ocean. Life Out Loud Travel & Lifestyle blog. www.lifeoutloudofficial.com — **Are you ready to explore Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar?**

Like an author’s tool for immediately implying remoteness… “The relic was lost for centuries but later surfaced in an ancient cave buried deep in the jungles of MYANMAR.”

Having been based in Thailand the past 7 years with Myanmar as a direct neighbour hadn’t diminished my own curiosity about visiting ‘one day’.

Myanmar had of course been closed off to tourism for many years, and has certainly gone through a fair amount of unrest since it’s independence from British Rule in 1948.

These decades of isolation certainly gives you a feeling that it holds many wonders that are waiting to be discovered.

Though the mainland itself offers a wealth of potential adventures alone, one thing that has long piqued our curiosity was the growing talk from friends in the diving community of the untouched Mergui Archipelago running up Myanmar’s west coast in the Andaman Sea.

Rumours of spectacular dive locations teeming with marine life – all without the throngs of lifejacket clad daytripping snorkelers. It seemed too good to be true.

So you can imagine that when we got the invitation to visit one of these very islands, we had zero hesitation!

Life Out Loud proudly presents our video on Nyaung Oo Phee island! Check it out–you won’t be disappointed!

Nyaung Oo Phee Island lies at the southern end of Mergui’s 800 scattered islands. Formerly known as McKenzie Island whilst under British rule it has since changed to it’s far more exotic (though harder to pronounce*) name in honour of one of Myanmar’s historical heroes.

*Pronounced NYOW (Rhymes with NOW) OOO (Rhymes with Poo) PEE (Rhymes with…you get it!)

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ACTUALLY before I start…. I should point out MYANMAR IS 30 MINUTES BEHIND THAI TIME.

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This may affect you being on time for your trips and your checkout etc. Honestly we barely even looked at our watch the whole time…. but we were also occasionally late a bit (in a very fashionable manner of course…)

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Travelers can do day trips to the island with various tour operators, but if you wish to stay overnight, you will need to go with Victoria Cliff. We got an all-inclusive package with Victoria Cliff (the only resort on the island) and they arranged our speed boat trips as well as our e-visa application process. There is a segment with detail information on this at the bottom of this post.

THE RESORT

Victoria Cliff is the name of the only resort on Nyaung Oo Phee Island and they were our hosts for our stay. It is important to know this is a separate Victoria Cliff resort from their other property actually on Kawthawng Island (where I believe there is actually a cliff and the name makes sense ?)

The best way to describe it is that it is a work in progress. The basics are all there but you can see that work is ongoing to get it to where it needs to be to match other 4 star style resorts.

They have a ‘Glamping’ option with upscale tents on the Northern end of the beach.

Luxury Tent Glamping - Nyaung Oo Phee Island Victoria Cliff Resort

Then there are standard and deluxe ensuite bungalows…

Deluxe Rooms - Nyaung Oo Phee Island Resort

…and also a few luxury beach villas on the Southern end.

Luxury beach villas - Victoria Cliff Nyaung Oo Phee Island Resort Myanmar

The accommodation is clean and has all the amenities you need for a basic stay. No TV, but if that is an issue you shouldn’t be here. Wifi is patchy at times but does the job in general. Don’t expect any high bandwidth stuff to be done easily.

There are buffet style meals as part of the package with a la carte dishes available on top at extra cost. The prices are pretty hefty so make do with the buffet.

They catered for vegetarian meals and vegan also but not a wide range of options to be honest. Consider bringing food across if you have special food requirements. Of anything I expect the food will improve as the resort grows.

I can tell you what is sensational at this place though. The service. It comes back to the natural and effortless friendliness of the Myanmese people again. Nothing was too much trouble and someone was always there if a hand was needed. The beautiful smiles of the Myanmese people will be one image I will carry with me when I think of this trip.

Myanmese people smiling - Friendly staff of Nyaung Oo Phee Island Resort with smiles and great service. — **Smiles of Myanmar. Photo by Life Out Loud**

You can view more information on this resort via this link: https://www.nyaungoopheeresort.com/

THE ISLAND

Nyaung Oo Phee island itself is a significant sized island. The resort is located on the north eastern side and is just one of 4 beaches. The main resort beach is already very beautiful as you can see in the photos below.

However, once you see the other main beach known as Madame Beach ,you will see that this is the true jewel of Nyaung Oo Phee. It is SPECTACULAR and is reachable only by boat.

Wading through the water there is like being inside a Maldivian Postcard. There are some well placed sea swings from a frame in the lagoon perfect for photo ops and the sand is as white and powdery as you will ever see. It is truly sublime. An absolute MUST SEE.

Our visit to Myanmar - Mergui Archipelago Islands Andaman Ocean. วิคตอเรียคลิฟ เกาะนาวโอพี ทะเลพม่า Life Out Loud Travel & Lifestyle blog. www.lifeoutloudofficial.com

McKenzie / Nyaung Oo Phee Island Myanmar 0 Couple's getaway beach destination. — **A photo of us on Madame beach. This is actually the ONLY couple photo we took from the trip…as we were so “in the moment” that we forgot about taking couple photos haha!**

The other (nameless) beaches similarly can only be reached by boat and as far as we saw weren’t an excursion option. But you won’t be disappointed with just the main beach and a trip to Madame.

The rest of the island is covered with lush green jungle and a small water reservoir at the backside of the resort. There is a trek you can take to a newly constructed lookout on the otherside of the ridge behind the resort.

Trekking through nature on Nyaung Oo Phee Island Myanmar — **Trekking through nature on Nyaung Oo Phee Island.**

It offers not only a solid chunk of exercise but also a very nice view across the ocean and overlooking the neighbouring islands.

View point on Nyaung Oo Phee Island Trekking Route — **View from the viewpoint at the top of Nyaung Oo Phee Island trekking route**

As you walk up keep your eyes open for the tiny flying lizards. Take some water and snacks and there is a nice small area for a picnic at the top.

THE MARINE LIFE

THIS…. is what I had been waiting to experience. This is what I had heard rumours of for several years. And I can now confirm… the rumours are true!

For our stay we did about 9 separate freediving trips across about 4 dive locations located super close to the resort itself. I thoroughly enjoyed EVERY SINGLE ONE. They were all vastly different but had me not wanting to leave on each occasion.

Diving in Myanmar - Freediving and marine life - dive spots

Laem Tuptim is one of the more memorable spots as it is up against a pinnacle with a sea wall that drops at least 20m straight down. Along the wall you have a stunning variety of sea fans of all colours sizes and shapes with a myriad of tiny fish and decent sized schools of big fish in attendance.

It is a PERFECT freediving spot as it offers a true depth to explore with great rewards if you do make the effort.

Across the board the variety was quite astonishing.

We saw: Turtles, Boxfish, Cuttlefish, Banded Sea Kraits, Huge Jellyfish, Flutefish, Stonefish, Stingrays as well as the usual Andaman Sea crew of clownfish, parrotfish, angel fish, fields of sea anenomes and stag coral.

The water was crystal clear for all but one of our dives and most remarkably the normally more skittish marine life like the cuttlefish showed no fear of us as we hung out with them and filmed. It was pure underwater heaven.

I was left craving the chance to do more and see more of dive spots in Mergui Archipelago. ESPECIALLY as I know that in the same region there is talk of regular sightings of some other incredible marine species: many varieties of Sharks, Moray Eels, Mobula and Manta Rays, Whale sharks and even Manatees!!

GETTING THERE

This has long been the biggest headache for travellers wishing to visit Myanmar in general, even since tourism was welcomed officially by the government back in 1992.

Getting to Nyaung Oo Phee has a few steps but is honestly actually easier than we expected and all contributes to the adventure you are experiencing.

In a nutshell:

90min flight from Bangkok to Ranong. We recommend Nok Air.

Nok Air flight to Ranong for Myanmar Trip

30min car trip to Grand Andaman Pier from the airport.

**The speedboat leaves the pier early in the morning, and we were required to get to the pier by 8.15am. In order to get to the pier in time from the airport, you will need to take a 5.45am flight which lands at 7.10am. Otherwise you will need to get to Ranong and spend a night there before getting on a speed boat to the island the next morning.

10min speedboat across the estuary(?) (which is the border) to Kawthawng Island for immigration formalities (Around 30 min – More on this later)

1.5 hours on same speedboat from Kawthawng Island to the resort.

On our boat there were only a few non Thai’s and we were shepherded through the entire process by the Resort representatives, which certainly would be the easiest way to do it for a first trip.

In future trips we will see if we can explore further and will update you on how that works exactly…

As you will read… It is definitely an area worth discovering more of…

IMMIGRATIONS / VISA STUFF

While Thai nationals can easily go across the boarding using their Thai ID cards, as Non-Thais you will require a visa to enter Myanmar.

This takes the form of an E-Visa that the resort arranges for you a few days before by sending them a scan of your passport and a picture of your body… that sounds weird… I mean not just a passport profile head shot, but more of a waist up shot… Don’t ask me why… Just do it.. ?

The resort the prepares this in the background.

AT ANDAMAN GRAND PIER

You complete DEPARTURE procedures at a special THAI IMMIGRATION counter within the main building, just as you would if it was at an airport. You show your Passport and your other half of the ARRIVAL CARD that you should have from first entering Thailand (VERY IMPORTANT BTW)
You then board the speedboat with your passport and proceed to take the 10min trip to Kawthawng island

AT KAWTHAWNG ISLAND

Here you enter Myanmar officially and complete THEIR immigration procedures. You will be separated from any Thai or Myanmese travellers and taken on shore from the pier. From there you will walk through the most lax border gate you have ever seen in your life and be taken to the Immigration office by the Resort representative. Here he/she pairs your passport with their e-visa and they get you officially stamped in.

Then, you head back to the speedboat and continue your journey. Total time: Approximately 30min.

When you come back, it is everything in the opposite order, and it seems that they allow a bit of time for everyone to explore Kawthawng Island before the final leg to Thailand – WELL WORTH IT BY THE WAY. You will get a far deeper sense of just how sweet and friendly the local Myanmese people are even in the short time you spend wondering the streets. It was very reminiscent to me of Bali before it got overrun with tourists–SUPER friendly people with huge smiles and a natural curiosity to travellers. Beautiful people. Trust me!

A short visit to Kawthaung Island, Myanmar — **Very excited about our short visit Kawthuang Island!**

SUMMARY

This first trip has scratched the surface and has whetted our appetite to get back as soon as possible and continue the exploration and adventure in this magnificent country.

Is it a hassle to get there and get accurate info? Kinda… But it is all worth it and it is the reason why (for now) it is not overrun with tourism. Be grateful… It won’t be this good for long, daytrippers from Thailand have already started in the area…

The time is now if you truly want to explore UNTOUCHED MERGUI ISLANDS. There is a whole lot of touching that is already starting…. 😉