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Mergui
in
southern
Myanmar,
Myeik,
Mergui,
Asia,
Mergui,
Myeik
Archipelago,
Myanmar,
Burma,
Myeik.
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Mergui or Myeik, 189 kilometers by air south
of Tavoy or Dawei.
Mergui
is another secondary port and important town
of this division. Mergui is directly
connected to Yangon by sea, road and
air, it also has air, road and sea links
with
Dawei,
Mawlamyine
and
Kawthaung.
It is situated on a tidal cut-off connecting
the Great Tanintharyi and Kyaukpya rivers.
There are plenty of secluded beaches around
the city and on the islands but all is quiet
and nothing like
Patong Beach
further south in Thailand.
Myeik or Mergui, one of the
last real smuggling centers in Asia, has a abundance of marine life.
Mostly ancient boats arrive continually to unload lobster, stingray and a
great variety of other species. Payagyi Pagoda in town is an
interesting place to visit. The Pahtaw
Phtet, on an island off the coast og
Mergui is
well known for its annual festival
conducted on a grand scale. Like the
people of Dawei, the natives of Mergui
or Myeik
are Bamars but speak the language with a
distinctive accent. Exports from Mergui
or Myeik
include tin, tungsten, dried fish, dried
prawns, ngapi or fishpaste, salt and
rubber which is particularly important
to the regional economy. Tanintharyi, that's the Myanmar province Mergui
is situated has been the
country’s largest rubber producer since first introduced into Myanmar via
Myeik port in 1876. Edible birds’ nests made from the protein-rich
saliva of swiftlets (Collocalia inexpectata and Collocalia lowi), are an
exotic and valuable product of the region.
Believed to be of medicinal
value, birds’ nests are prepared in soups and fetch as much as $6000 per
pound in Yangon and abroad. Swiftlets nest on the steep walls of the many
rock caves, crevices and
rocky overhangs
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in the mountains
of a few islands such as Mali Don Island
along the South Tanintharyi coast. From
May to October the weather in the Mergui Archipelago or Myeik Archipelago
wind and wave take over, during the Monsoon time after the Mergui area
becomes a real wet hole with incredible amount of rain bouncing down every
day since the clouds from the Indian Ocean stall at the hill ranges and
empty everything they carry.
- The Mergui or Myeik Archipelago which includes over 800 pleasant and enchanting
islands, lies in the Andaman Sea along the south Tanintharyi coast.
Myeik or Mergui on the Tanintharyi coast
Andaman Sea Myanmar Burma |
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The Mergui or
Myeik Archipelago is a island world hidden
from most traveler. Only a few Chinese junk
trade vessels came into the Mergui
Archipelago to barter pear, amber, wood and
other goods for earthenware and porcelain.
Some European adventurer followed and
reported in some travel diaries.
The first
European was a Frenchman who published a
travelogue in 1675. After came some
Portuguese trader and pirates, after the
Dutch tried some trading but there was still
nothing really going on.
This changed
when the British colonialist took over Burma
and started to explore the coast downwards
from Yangon into the Mergui Archipelago or
today Myeik Archipelago. |
Mergui
Archipelago 17 Century and Chinese Junk |
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Probably the
best writing about the Mergui Archipelago or
today Myeik Archipelago was done by Maurice
Collis in his book "Siamese White" published
in 1936. He wrote the very lively story of
the area around present day Mergui during
British colonial times in relation with the
British East India Company, the local people
and the Thai Kingdom since at that time
Mergui and the area around. Maurice Collis
presented a incredible insight' into the
minds and actions of the earliest Europeans
who have come to Thailand seeking to realize
different goals, the idea was always trade
and fortune. The Mergui area was Thai
territory until the 19. Century.
From the end of
British colonial times until recent days
foreigners were kept away from the Mergui
Archipelago and this southern Myanmar
Tanintharyi / Tennasserim province.
The Myanmar
Andaman Sea around is dotted with more than
800 islands, densely forested with jungle
and great white untouched beaches with some
limestone rocks and granite boulder
sometimes, actually one of the very few
“virgin” places in the world. In 1990 the
Myanmar government changed the most English
names of the islands and towns to native
Myanmar names, more or less to the names
they had before the British conquered
Myanmar Burma. This way Mergui became Myeik,
Victoria Point became Kawthaung, Tavoy
became Dawai Rangoon became Yangon and so
on.
There are not
hotels or resorts on the islands if one
wants to stay there the best is to ask for
permission from the local Sea Gypsies or
Salon, also called Moken Thailand to stay in
one of the beach huts, sounds romantic but
isn't. Only one island beach resort is
operated by a Thai company opposite
Kawthaung in close proximity to Ranong
Thailand. Since the end of the 1990 - ties
some diving companies operating out of
Phuket, Thailand, got permission to explore
the waters for liveaboard trips out of
Phuket.
Myeik or Mergui two Novices Myanmar Burma
Mergui Archipelago People
Mergui Archipelago Houseboat
Pearl Diver in the
Mergui or Myeik Archipelago
Mergui Sunset
Mergui Archipelago Totempole |
Mergui Archipelago Sea Gypsies on Houseboat
Mergui Harbor
Mergui Archipelago and Beach Cottages
Mergui Archipelago Island in the Andman Sea
Exploring the Mergui Myeik
Archipelago Andaman Sea Myanmar
Salon Houseboat in the shelter offered by
the Mergui Myeik Archipelago
Salon Houseboats on Makyonegalet Island
Mergui Myeik Archipelago Andaman Sea Myanmar
Salon Harpooner Mergui Myeik
Archipelago Myanmar
Salon Harpooning at Mergui Myeik
Archipelago Myanmar
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