Blogs from Inle Lake, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 7

As I peddled furiously along narrow winding paths trodden only by the footsteps of those before me who live along the banks of Inle Lake I could only gaze at the extraordinary beauty of this natural bowl of water encapsulated by towering mountains. The sun soaked us with its heat, the roads coated us in their dust and the locals waved at us cheerily as we passed them. The paths narrowed further until they came to an abrupt stop; just in front of the steps of a traditional stilted teak house on the far edge of a tiny village made up of ten or so other similar houses. I pondered the distance debating if it was worth going further considering the pathway had now completely vanished under my wheels. Children we passed playing football only moments ... read more

To say Inle Lake is breathtakingly beautiful just doesn’t do this place justice... We had arrived in Inthein just after midday, seeking refuge from the scalding sun and its seething heat after what had been a gruelling three day, 60km hike across the Burmese countryside from Kalaw. Coincidentally, the local market was scheduled to be in town on the morning of our arrival, so we had rose early from our monastic (literally) lodging and hiked at a decent pace to reach Inthein market on the western shores of Inle Lake. When we arrived however, Amy and I and indeed our fellow hikers were simply too exhausted to really take everything in around the hustle and bustle of food vendors and souvenir stalls. Rather, we settled ourselves with what reprieve a local restaurant could provide and quietly ... read more

THE LONG RIDE TO INLE was about as uncomfortable as it gets. Having booked tickets only the night before our seats were way in the back of the bus and they did not recline, which meant that the guy’s head from the seat in front of me may as well have been laying in my lap. Like really, I could have brushed my fingers through his hair and sang him a lullaby. The road was so bumpy that anytime you tried to lay your head against the window it was abruptly thrown in the opposite direction and then back towards the window with amazing force. The heat was stifling. Sleeping was impossible. Around 1am we stopped at a brightly lit rest stop (think Christmas lights and fake palm trees) for what we thought was a routine ... read more

After a wonderful 15 hour journey that started at 4am and consisted of sitting on a plastic stool in the aisle (bus seats were booked out), we rolled into Inle Lake. On our way to the main town, we passed by beautiful rice paddies and scenic landscape with mountains looming in the background. On our first day, we hired out two bikes and went for a loop around Inle Lake, to look at all the small villages along the way. In this high-altitude area beholding a cooler climate (a great relief from Bagan's hellish heat), we had a pleasant day wandering and stopping to take pictures or saying hello to many of the locals. Afterwards, we cycled down to a monastery and checked out a lotus-lake and a giant Buddha. In search of another temple, we ... read more

Myanmar Part 4 This 'blog' is the fourth describing our time in Myanmar (Burma to some). If you missed earlier 'episodes' in this series, you can find #1 here , #2 here , and #3 here . We've previously described the horrors of trying to use modern technology at 'dial-up' speed in Myanmar. We initially wrote this 'blog' while in Myanmar, and published it without pictures. Since our return to Australia, we've uploaded pictures to show aspects of our adventure. As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, Left Hand 'click' on it to enlarge. ... read more