Hastings Island is one of more than 800 islands in Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago. Seen here with the smaller South Phipps and Barwell islands, Hastings is covered by dense mangrove jungle and has white sandy beaches on its western side. The Mergui Archipelago is one of Asia’s last virtually untouched island regions, sparsely populated by indigenous people and visited by only a couple thousand tourists per year.