Trekking, 8th - 10th December
Approx 70km over three days, 10USD per day for Guide, all food by the Cook on the guide and accommodation
Day 1: Starts of uneventfully as the walk through the town and into the mountains is not so scenic. But once we are out of Kalaw and climbing towards our lunch-stop (the Viewpoint) the views are spectacular. We meet two blokes on the way, both carrying a huge piece of wood. They ask our guide where he saw any Rangers on the way. It's illegal to The wood their carrying
We get to the Viewpoint around 12noon. This is a resting place and guesthouse run by a couple of Nepalese blokes and they are the ones that cook our lunch - fresh chapatti and some sort of pumpkin curry which is delicious and only once I start walking do I realise that I should not have eaten so much. The view is fantastic and the place is so serene...
Anyhow, we plug on and after a tea break, various villages and some more amazing scenery later, we arrive at a Danu village around 5:30pm just when it is getting dark to sleep for the night.
Sleeping one night in a village, I find it hard to keep my toes and sholders warm. The blankets are Asian size, so I have to get into an uncomfortable feotal position to get all my body under the blankets. The north of Myanmar gets pretty cold at night...
The next day is fab, lots of villages, hill tribes, Pa-o, Danu, Palaung, Shan and Bamar villages people working in field, a big fat blister on my foot (not so nice)...
We spend one night in a monastery (big blankets - wheay!) and it is fantastic to wake up to the monks chanting their prayers, even though it is 6in the morning.
The final day is tough - hot and tired, we get to Inle Lake....
Nyangshwe, Inle Lake, 10th - 12th December
Teak Wood Guesthouse 5USD ensuite d-room
So after a tough trek through the mountains we arrive on the south side of Inle Lake. Here, after a quick luck of instant noodle soup, we get on a long-boat along with out guide to make the 13mile or so trip to the north part of the lake where the town of Nyangswhe 3 miles upriver from the lake.
Inle lake has no embankments as such. The lake gradually turns into marshes and flooded plains and thick grass. Many small towns are visible along its edges with houses built on stilts above the water. The boat ride into Nyangswhe takes about 45 minutes and gives a great view of the lake.
There are many seagulls living on the river and they follow us about 3 meters above our boat for about 10 minutes. The locals feed them from their boats so whenever they see a boat speeding along, they follow it in the hope of getting some grub!
Anyhoo, we finally arrive in Nyangshwe around about 3pm in the afternoon and after managing to escape from Queen Villa Guesthouse (which is where we are dropped off and where most of the tourist seemed to be staying) I wonder around for a while before managing to find Teakwood Guesthouse and haggling the price of a nice room from 8USD down to 5USD.
I go back and meet up with Clive & Lucette again and we arrange a boat trip on the Lake for the next day, starting at 7:30am for a total of 10,000Kyats for the 3 of us (3.33 each)- and what a start it was.
So it's the 11th December, I'm up at 7:00am and as usual here in Myanmar, there is a nice filling complimentary breakfast of eggs, toast, jam, butter and (unusually so) honey offered by the guesthouse which does the job and I head down to the riverside for 7:30.
Just the boat ride out in the morning is worth the price. There is a blanket of fog over the lake making it even more mysterious and beautiful than it is. As the morning sun rises and the rays hit the lake, the water seems to evaporate and this adds to the fog to make even more of a beautiful sight. The first 10 minutes or so before the sun comes up are really cold and though my body feels warm in my sweater, my ikkle toes are freezing!!
Anyhoo, the tour consists of the usual touristy destinations: gold & silver workshop, silk workshop, cheroot making workshop, bamboo parasol making workshop (so many workshops, so little tourists this year) a floating market, the floating garden and jumping cat monastery.
Though most of the above are self explanatory, I must point out that all the workshops had a friendly and polite guide always willing to explain all to us and there was never a strong sales push in any of them. But I must explain the last two places a bit further..
There are many many many (say many 3 times) 'floating gardens' on the lake and almost 90% of which are used to grow tomatoes. If I am not mistaken the lake is about 10-15 meters (or was that 10-15 Feet) in most of the outer parts. In these parts there are tomatoes plants with about one meter of soil held up by the tomato roots, lotus flowers and various other plants. Every 5 or ten meters or so, a long bamboo pole has been forced through the top 1 meter layer of soil and all the way down into the bed of the river to stop the floating garden from floating away!! The floating parts are arranged in rows of about 1.5meters wide with about 2 meters of water between each row for access by the farmers... INteresting stuff...
Now we come to the Jumping Cat Monastery. It seems that the monks were so bored and had so much spare time, that they trained the numerous cats around the monastery to jump through hoops which they held about 50cm off the ground. That's it basically - except that the monks no longer do this and it is the local kids (of the owners of the touristy stalls in front of the monastery)
Lunch is not so enjoyable though. In our quest to eat at local prices and at the astonishment of our boat driver, we make some excuses and leave the expensive restaurant with table cloths that he takes us to and walk along some bridges to the local market. The market is almost closed and after exploring, we find a pretty cheap looking place with the usual miniature tables and no stools - you have to sit on the floor. We look at the food on offer and it looks like the dogs breakfast - really bad curry! Anyhow, we sit down and after two plates of curry and three plates of rice arrive (Clive & I eat the curry but Lucette refuses - I don't blame her) Then some deep fried tofu arrives, then some fried fish, then another plate of rice and then some soup and a few other plates. As we eat the dishes that look half edible and finish the rice (cant go wrong there), I am thinking why none of us bothered to ask the price beforehand. Anyhoo, the bill arrives 11,300Kyats!! About 10dollars. If we had eaten in the expensive restaurant, it would not have costs that much and I laugh at this silly woman’s attempt to rip us off. Though I would have caved in and paid at least half her asking price, Clive and Lucette are not at all happy and agree to pay 1000Kyat each and no more, which sounds about right. So I agree to pay 2000Kyat (i did gobble down quite a bit of food) so we pay here 4000Kyats and walk off..
Anyhoo, Just seeing the Intha people living, commuting, fishing, cleaning and farming on the river is well worth it though and we have an enjoyable day.
On the way back to my hotel, I buy a ticket for Yangon the next day...
13th Dec - 27th Dec, Yangon
Bus from Nyangshwe to Yangon 14,000Kyats, ...km, dep 13:00 arrive 05:30.
Ocean Pearl Inn single room with bath, air con & tv 10USD
So I get to Ocean Pearl Inn, empty my bag completely and stuff the empty bag under the bed as I feel I deserve a little rest and decide to campout in Yangon for a week to ten days. Among my many strenuous daily activities are: walking around the markets, going to the internet cafe (to type all this stuff) going to a few Beer Stations, watching some Premiership action and lots of reading (own books and also in the British Council Library)..
I spend Christmas day with some dudes from the hotel wondering around town and eating some Christmas Noodles (ordinary noodles :) )
Afte two weeks of resting, hop on the plan back to Bangkok for another round of Thailand!..
Trekking Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76517&l=8df7f&id=672660622
Nyangshwe & Inle Lake Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76523&l=f0c27&id=672660622
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