#11--Inle Lake

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Happy Birthday to my big brother Chris. I will have been celebrating your 36th birthday for 14-and-a-half hours in Burma before you are "officially" 36 in California. I'm bummed I wasn't able to speak with you, but only leave messages. The phone call was $6 per minute and not always available at choice times. Just know I thought about you and was sending birthday wishes in my time zone and in yours.

----------------- We left Bagan the morning of the 7th to fly north to rural parts of Burma. Our intentions were to see Inle Lake and some caves in Pindaya, but with only two days remaining were told the caves would be difficult to schedule. The flight to Heho (Heyyy!!! Hooo!!) airport was brief, but no one told us it made frequent stops...like a bus. Instead of staying seated, we deplaned at the first stop and, unbeknownst to us, were roaming Mandalay airport. It was kind of funny. I think the airport officials were more embarrassed at their lack of security then we were at our stupidity. They drove us out to the tarmack and we were back on the plane before any real damage was done.

Once we arrived at the correct airport, we hooked up with a couple from Basque (a French-Spanish region that wants to be its own country) to share taxi costs. The one-hour ride was bumpy, but quite scenic. The topography of this area was very different than other parts of Burma. We swerved along mountainous roads, overy hilly terrain, and through lush, tall, green, prairie-like grass. We arrived at our hotel, the Teakwood ($12 USD), and were impressed by all the...well...teak wood. After lunch on the deck (made of teak), Chris took a nap and I explored the Inle Lake area.

The people seemed a little more Chinese in their appearance than in the south. I also saw less traditional clothing/make-up and more western styles. There were elements of the town that were bustling, like Yangon, but it was much more organized and neater. Most people seemed employed in industries outside of tourism and were busy working. There were TONS of tomato growers, pickers, sorters, boxers and truck loaders. I've never seen so many tomatoes in my life! I heard when they get behind in their job it is difficult to ketchup. LOL

I walked down the lake which looked more like a sunken river. I talked with a motorized canoe/taxi driver and learned most of what we wanted to do was accessible via water tramsportation in a one-day trip (which I arranged for tomorrow). The weather today was pretty rainy, so Chris and I piddled around town and watched the world go by from a restaurant located on the lake shore. It was lowkey and peaceful.

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