Myanmar, December 2016: Tucked at the southernmost tip of the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar, at the point where the mystic currents of the Andaman Sea meet the glorious tides of the Bay of Bengal, is Haigyikyun, a rustic seaside town of Ngaputaw Township. While its stunning beaches and glimmering pagodas would easily qualify it as a tourist spot, the place is still relatively obscure due to its remoteness. It takes at least 6 hours of land travel through winding roads from the nearest city of Pathein or at least 10 hours from the nearest airport at the country's capital of Yangon.
But the long travel I had to endure to get there in December was greatly rewarded - I got there just in time to witness a strange fishing activity. The shores were teeming with people - not avid surfers or bikini-clad sun-bathers - but village men in the water combing the waves with fine nets attached to bamboo poles or on the boats using very large nets. The activity was both strange and amazing to me. It was almost as if whole villages were in the water, doing the same activity.
