The kiteboarder returns

The Beach weekend on the Bay of Bengal was fantastic. The weather was good, it only rained for an hour or two everyday and then the sun shone through the sky. We spent our days swimming in the ocean, boogie-boarding, walking the beach, playing volleyball and of course Kiteboarding (at least Andrew did). Both days, there was wind to kiteboard, which satisfied a long needed urge of Andrews and I was thrilled to see him so happy. I think Andrew is the first person to kiteboard in Myanmar or at least at this beach. Once he started, all the people from the village came onto the beach to watch. Even the school kids were let out of school to check out the gigantic kite in the air.
The town is more like a village surrounded by resorts on both sides of it stretching for a few miles in either direction. When I say resorts, there are about two very nice ones, but nothing compared to the development you would see elsewhere in the world like Cancun or the Caribbean. No resort is over 2 stories and everything is very minimal. There are no snorkeling tours or boat tours or even advertisements.
We stayed in a run-down type of beach bungalow that was overpriced for $40 a night. It was minimal, kind of shabby and only had electricity from 6pm to 6am. Luckily it had air-conditioning during the night as it did get sticky. The bathroom was literally a watercloset in that you stepped down into it and it contained a toilet, a sink and a shower head sticking out of the wall where the water would flow down onto the bathroom floor (no separate area for the shower) and drain out near the sink.
It would have been a great place for $20 a night, but not $40. I think whoever booked the teachers’ getaway got overcharged due to the color of our skin. Andrew and I are going to go back to this beach for a week during our October break and will find something for a similar price but much nicer. The redeeming quality about this place was the funny free breakfasts you would get every morning. The first day was cold toast and cold eggs with a strangely colored yolk and thick, thick coffee I like to call cowboy coffee (we are talking syrup here). The second day was 2 small pork burgers with fries and cowboy coffee. And the 3rd day consisted of thin tortillas with oiled up lentils and spices, and cowboy coffee. You just never knew what to expect here in Myanmar.
The beach itself is not developed, very relaxed and has tons of areas to explore. It is mostly sand except for a few places that have rocks. There are hermit crabs and fiddler crabs everywhere, in addition to the occasional pig on a leash and ox cart on the beach.
We walked to town for dinner and had some good food ranging from the normal stir-fried vegetables with prawn to some new treats like fried clam strips and steamed crabs (the crabs are exactly like Maryland crabs but without Old Bay Seasoning). I saw some gigantic spiders at this beach area, which freaked me out a bit. I don’t think there are deadly but just huge, like the size of your hand. I wanted to wash my hands at one of the restaurants, so I asked where the toilet was and this boy who works there led me to the toilet. Like many restaurants outside of Yangon, the bathroom was a type of outhouse on stilts that I was led to by flashlight. Once there, the boy unlocked the door and gave me the flashlight. When I stepped in, of course there was no sink but there was a gigantic spider in the middle of the squat toilet. Yikes-Stripes! Needless to say, I just held it and didn’t really get to wash my hands.