Learn to Ride and Roadtrip to Nabule Beach

Nabule Beach

In Maungmakan, unless you know the Myanmar language, there is no public transportation.  While Maungmakan Beach was gorgeous, we wanted to travel further to other deserted beaches that we had heard of.  To do this, we needed to rent a motorbike.  It took some persuading from me, but finally K agreed to learn how to ride a motorbike.  The plan was for her to drive and for me to double on the back.  Why couldn’t I drive? Well, we knew that I couldn’t steer particularly well, after trying with the much lighter ebike in Bagan.  The guesthouse owner, who rented us the motorbike, kept on asking us ‘do you know how to ride a motorbike?’.  I think it was pretty obvious our lack of experience.  However, K jumped on the motorbike and did a test run down the driveway and back.  She seemed to get the hang of it, so I jumped on the back and we were off on an adventure to Nabule Beach.  

Empty red dirt roads

Just like everywhere else in Myanmar, the roads are not labelled.  And even if they were, we wouldn’t be able to read the Myanmar script.  The guesthouse had a rudimentary map that they provided to us.  We cross referenced with the other available references and developed a more specific set of directions to get there.  Nabule beach is located 25 km away from Maungmakan.   

Map we used to get to Nabule Beach

We knew this would be an all day trip, so first we hit the market and stocked up on fruit and snacks.  Then, we bought gas at a roadside stand.  Across Myanmar, people sell gas in glass bottles at the side of the road.  Finally, we were off on an adventure!  The road quality varied greatly on our journey.  There were paved sections, potholed sections, dirt sections, and loose gravel.  We finally made it to Nabule beach, and were delighted to have the entire golden sand beach to ourselves.  A bonus was the large shade trees at the beach’s edge that protected us from the midday rays.  The downside to Nabule was that the waves were quite large and there was a very strong undertow.  Have you been to the Pacific side of Cabo?  Well, the waves felt exactly like that.  I was too scared to go any further than my knees.  

 

The journey back followed the new ‘expressway’, built for the planned super port nearby.  Once this project goes through, the entire area will change with the increased traffic.  I am very thankful we were able to experience it now, in its pristine, secluded state.