from 'Delta trip' by zeke7 (April 2007)

Arriving in Gwa 10pm, trishaw drivers ignore you out of shyness rather than mob you, no one including scabby-looking Guesthouse in front of 'bus stop' has heard of the Thin Ga Ha Gusthouse listed in the Blueprint guide. Walk up streets, find likely looking Guesthouse candidate with no English sign, ask in sign language for room, be given their "Special Room" (per the sign above the door) for 5000kyat. Register, find that English name is Royal Rose guesthouse ("Thangesay"). Be given candle for light, wash up & retire. Wake up next day to nice old wooden room, lots of greenery & sunlight outside, very quiet in spite of room being directly across from Gwa's central market.

Get breakfast, meet assorted friendly English-capable folk, be told that Thin Ga Ha Guesthouse really does exist, learn that Gwa, not Chaungtha or Ngwesaung, took the eye of last May’s cyclone; walk to harbor, discover great beachcombing for small seashells, leave them all be, investigate fresh-pounded Ngapi shrimp and small fish drying on bamboo racks everywhere along the beachfront, return for dinner, discover no seafood available (again, all gets exported to Yangon). Next day get a truck to Kanthaya, 800kyat.