Blogs from Inle Lake, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 3

I decided to take a Myanmar cooking class on our last day here. It was well worth it. Sue, the igniter of this programme, is an admirable woman. She has a strong desire to share her culture with foreigners, a trait she learned from her father. She is not in it for the money. Most of her profit goes to helping her extended family and to help local children get an education and a full belly. She also teaches them English with the help of foreigners who have been inspired by her vision. Her husband met us at 8 am outside the market. We followed him closely through the crowd as he shopped for ingredients for today’s class. I’m glad I tower above the locals as it was very difficult and I didn’t dare stop for ... read more

Our driver arrived at the appointed time and then a discussion insured about who sits where. I wanted the front seat for the legroom and view. I was told I had to sit in the back with Claudette and another passenger. Claudette refused to sit in the middle hump, pleading her age. She made the young fellow feel guilty about not having respect for his elders. I was made to understand that the next passenger had paid extra for the front seat. We had to wait about 10 minutes for His Arrogance, outside his luxury hotel. Not once over the length of the trip did he acknowledge our existence. There was a parcel to be picked up and the driver got lost down some back alley in a shanty town. This district was devoted to truck ... read more

What would a visit to Burma be without a stop at Inle Lake? Not being temple or stupa guys, we decided to give this venue a shot. This shallow 13.5 mile freshwater lake is on the tentative UNESCO Heritage list. And much like the klongs in Bangkok, there are no sidewalks or roads, only one person wide boats with outboard propellers. Do you see now, why I find this more culturally intriguing that bouncing around Europe? As we pass both one and two story houses built on stilts, we also dodge the fishermen using a one-legged paddling technique unique to rowing a boat. They stand and row so they can see over the reeds and floating plants for navigation. And can you believe they have been using hydroponics for growing tomatoes since the Sixties? Overlay that ... read more

We headed to Inle earlier than expected, figuring we would do the hike I mentioned in the previous blog and fit in a little biking, which we did on our first afternoon in town. We headed south out of town, along the eastern side of the lake. It was a fairly flat bike ride, and the weather is a little cooler on the plateau than on the plains of Mandalay making it very comfortable -- at least until Darren and Katie decided they wanted to head directly up a hill to a pagoda above Maing Thauk. I was none too pleased with this plan, which I shared with them in the most delicate of terms, but I conceeded to the groups desires. Despite some painful cramps (at the time I was still battling some dehydration issues) ... read more

INLE LAKE Vi hadde en litt utrygg start på flyreisen til Heho flyplass. Flyet var et lite, shabby propellfly og vi startet med å ta en kort runde på bakken og tilbake til startsplassen mens mange menn stod og stirret på flyet. Det så ut som om propellen på vår side ikke fungerte skikkelig. De opplyste over høytaleren at det var et teknisk problem, men at vi bare skulle bli sittende. Inn løp to tenikere og all strøm ble slått av. Det ble fort ganske varmt i denne lille»boksen». Da var det jeg tok opp mobilen og sendte: «Vi er uendelig glade i dere» - melding til ungene (bare for sikkerhets skyld om flyet skulle falle ned). Som dere forstår, endte alt godt og vi kom oss til Heho flyplass via Mandalay. Her ble ... read more