TIME OUT IN TIZIT

OVERVIEW

Accompanied by a community-based guide, try your hand at various traditional fishing techniques (tide dependant), before tucking into a locally prepared beach-side picnic under shade. With refreshing ocean waters just a stone’s throw away, packing a bathing suit and towel comes highly advised.

PACE

Medium-paced

TOUR PERIOD

Half day (afternoon)

HIGHLIGHTS

Visit a traditional fishing village located approximately one-hour away from Dawei
Tour with a community-based guide, thus making sure your money and time directly benefits the village
Meet with a Tizit resident to learn about life in the village and slip into traditional dress
From casting a traditional net to catching shellfish by hand, try your best at these hands-on community activities
Relax on Tizit’s whitesand beach before enjoying a community-prepared sunset picnic

ITINERARY IN DETAIL

(Click to read)

After lunch in Dawei, drive approximately one-hour to the fishing village of Tizit. We’d recommend that you don’t eat too much beforehand as a selection of Dawei snacks will be served up to welcome you when you arrive. In the interest of keeping it local, these will be prepared and served by the so-called Tizit Community-Based Tourism Cooking Group.

At the same time you’ll be introduced to your community-based guide for the afternoon. Assigning another guide may seem unnecessary, but this is a way of ensuring that the money you spend flows back into the community, other villagers we meet feel comfortable, and that someone is available to interpret the local dialect at all times.

Having received a brief overview of the village, its people, history and customs, you’ll next be introduced in a hands-on manner, to some of the village’s most prized possesions – their fishing tackle. Various home-crafted nets, rods and traps are carefully selected by the fishers, based on tides, time of day, and the types of fish they wish to catch.

Next, we’ll knock on the door of a Tizit resident. One of the benefits of being accompanied by a community-based guide is that they’ll know the person in question, so you’ll feel less like a stranger and more like an invited guest. You may wish to start with a taste of betel nut, or areca nut, which is a centuries old Daweian tradition – be warned, it doesn’t have a great reputation in Myanmar due to health concerns and the associated blood-red saliva stains (your guide will elaborate!). They will then continue to give you a guided tour of their abode, pointing out interesting design aspects, whilst at the same time shedding some insight into local beliefs. To conclude your visit, and assuming there’s a size available that fits, slip into some rarely photographed traditional dress for a snap-happy ending.

Say farewell to your hosts and enjoy a 30 to 60-minute ramble through the village, over sandflats and into a luscious mangrove forest with a tranquil lagoon – what’s possible on the day will be entirely dependent on the tide. During low tide, those keen can learn how to hunt for shellfish and crabs. At high tide, there may be an opportunity to cast a hand-woven, lead-weighted fishing net.

Assuming you’ll have worked up a sweat, now would be a perfect time to refresh yourself in Tizit’s frequently calm, emerald blue waters. Alternatively, you may wish to sit under shade and enjoy the feeling of sand between your toes, and as they say, that never fails to takes away your woes…

End the experience with a sumptuous sunset beach picnic, which will also been cooked by the Tizit Community-Based Tourism Cooking Group.

Return to your hotel in Dawei shortly after having polished everything off.

INCLUSIONS

Transportation to Tizit
English-speaking tour guide (for other languages, please enquire)
Community-based tour guide
Traditional snacks
The opportunity to wear traditional dress
Fishing lessons (this is tide dependent)
A sunset beach picnic

EXCLUSIONS

Accommodation
Bottled water, soft drinks or alcohol (these can all be purchased separately on the day)
Anything not mentioned

NOTES

This is a relatively active excursion, so a moderate level of fitness is required. The lead-weighted fishing nets for example are quite heavy, and it’s not uncommon for certain parts of the trek to be boggy. The experience can be adapted to suit, but it’s unlikely you’ll get as much out of it.
Water bottles will not be provided, so it is essential you bring your own. You can then use these to fill up free of charge at the community water refill station.
The experience will start at 13:00 (from the time of pick-up in Dawei), ending at approximately 19:30 (at the time of drop-off in Dawei). This is recommended due to the midday sun being uncomfortably hot and it will enable you to conclude the experience—more often than not—with a stunning sunset vista.
This experience includes the use of two guides: an experienced English-speaking guide from Dawei and a community-based guide from Tizit. This might seem unnecessary, but we have purposely chosen to work with community-based guides to help with the development of the region. Not only do they benefit financially, but they will also gain important first-hand touring experience, which can then be used to improve career prospects and educate others. As mentioned above, thanks to them being from the village, it also helps to ensure you are treated more like a guest as opposed to a stranger.
The fishing activities will be carried out in a sensitive and sustainable manner. The aim is not necessarily to reel in a big haul, but more to learn about the time-honoured techniques and to source what the villagers actually need.
Wearing comfortable, closed footwear is advised. Flip flops or sandals will not be suitable for the short trek. You may also want to bring some mosquito spray for the mangroves.
Expect to get wet. As such, packing a towel and change of clothes is highly advised – the towel can be borrowed from your hotel in Dawei.
There are three options for the beach picnic: a ‘Special Seafood Picnic’ (as the name suggests, this is mostly seafood), a ‘Grandma’s Recipes’ version (this has one seafood dish, with the rest being made up of meat and vegetables), and purely vegetarian.

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