ROUND THE LAKE CYCLING, THE MANDALAY RUM AND THE SILLY JUMPING CATS!

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Having bought our bus ticket to Inle Lake at least now we know where we are headed from Yangon, we have not a clue on how we will do the country and out on a whim decides to do Inle first, we came back to the Singapore restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building from the footbridge and have a big lunch, we leisurely took our time as pick up time at the bus agencies near the train station is 1pm, arriving in our GH I noticed the time was 12:30pm when we thought its only about 12pm, we panicked and I asked the owner if his watch is accurate, yes, here in Burma you add 30 more minutes! We rushed to get out and left in a hurry walking towards the station, we made it in good time but that was a close call, we've been walking around town for 2 days not realizing the time we go by is 30 minutes behind.

At the bus agency office we got dumped into this truck that will take us to the bus station near the airport, when we got there an hour later we got sorted out quickly, some dude took our passports and wrote the information on the manifest returned it to us and told us to wait and they will tell us when to get on the bus. My friend Kat told me of the horrific bus trips she had here and I was a bit worried we might end up the same way, the bus looks alright, its air conditioned and in decent state. We got our seats all the way to the back of the bus next to the engine! Lots of space though but they put my backpack in front of my seat, Connor forced it to fit in the overhead compartment, our seat move about and we have to reposition it every so often. The drive out of the city wasn't so bad on a Friday night and for the next 3 hours the roads were really good, we stopped at place full of restaurants and had our dinner, we took our time and had some beer only to find out when we got back the bus is about to leave! 3 more hours passed before we had another stop, roads are still good, we had a pee stop, Connor and I hesitated where to go as the people are sat down while peeing we thought they were women but are men with their sarongs/longyi, it's easier and more discreet to pee sitting down, I guess.

It is turning to be a cold night as the a/c is in full gear, we struggled to get some warm clothes on, the roads started to get bumpy and it will be until we got dropped off 12 hours later at some junction at 4am we were surprised to find taxi drivers that will take us to Nyaungshwe, near the lake, for 8,000 kiats we shared it with some Thai tourists, it was foggy and you could hardly see the road in front of you good thing is that the roads here are not busy this time of day. We made it to town and made the rounds of hotels/ GH, Aquarius inn was full so we ended up in Remember Inn which was really good, friendly staff and nice big rooms, twin bed room is $12, Connor and I collapsed exhausted and slept in until 11am.The Thai group asked us if we want to do the lake boat trip with them, Connor explained to them how we need some good sleep now, maybe tomorrow..

Checked in at the front desk after we woke up and then we had a good lunch at Lotus restaurant, 2 minutes from the GH, really delicious grilled tilapia, wow, good fish from this lake. Then we walked to the market to buy toothbrush and toothpaste as I left mine in Yangon in a hurry to make the bus. People here are so friendly and laid back, quiet and chilled reminds me of Laos 7 years ago when I was there. We walked around to find the river and the boat stations to ask around for boat trips to the lake, 20,000 kiats was the 1st quote, we walked around some more and this woman found us, and talked to us about her trips to the lake, her itinerary does not include the pagodas but we couldnt care less she was friendly and so we committed to doing it with her 2 days from now, then walking towards the bridge we met a man that charges 2,000 kiats less than the old woman, oh well, we made a commitment and we intend to keep it. Nice walk, quite rural, we loved it. People on bikes passing us occasional hellos and hi.

We walked back to town and we saw this beautiful temple sheening in the late afternoon sun so we walked towards it, in the meantime Connor got distracted by this woman frying some stuff on the roadside, looks like mini pancakes, we tried it we loved it so we had it, some have chilis in them we dont know what it was but it was delicious, then we explored the temple then time to head back, we bought a moonshine called Mandalay rum and had some while chilling in our GH writing our journals.

Decided to bike towards Inle lake for a day activity, was a bit hesitant as I am not good at biking,well for some reason I don't have good balance! The bikes from Remember inn were alright, while Connor was dilly dallying in our room I took the bike for a spin and nearly landed on a ditch! Took me awhile to get used to it, we started slowly, we crossed the bridge and started headed to Inle lake and the woman whom we committed the boat trip the next day found us and stopped us for some snacks, I had some delicious fried tofu, Connor hated it so I finished it by myself, the woman told us where to go, the hot springs, the temple etc. the roads were rough but not so bad and my confidence about biking was growing, then comes the hilly bit where my legs started to tighten up and cramp, I was slow but 1 1/2 hours later we arrived at Hupin hotel complex where you get an excellent view of the lake, we climbed up a pagoda thing and smoked some local ciggys there while chillin, then headed back down for some lunch, the ritzy, glitzy hotel/resort was surprisingly reasonable for meals.

Then we headed back slowly, stopping at a few stupas, then tea with the caretakers of one then went up another pagoda thing thinking that is where the hot springs were, we never found it we asked 10 people I think but nevertheless, we are sore and tired we just want to get back. By now my bum is sore and every dip and bumps hurt me more, we got to the junction somehow on sheer determination and had some tofu again for snack, then back to town we bought more of the good Mandalay rum which is like a moonshine, we polished it off that night after my relaxing Burmese massage, similar to Thai massage. We went back to our favorite restaurant, Lotus next door and I had the tilapia fish again, the owner is so friendly and its reasonably cheap. we had some bug problems in our room, and Connor wasted no time scorching them with his lighter and like a true karma that night the bugs pestered him on his side of the room, crickets, ants flew about in his bed. We watched a stupid movie on my computer then fell asleep quickly.

The next day after a good breakfast at the rooftop of the GH we walked to the pier where we met our woman guide for the boat trip to Inle, the boatman speaks no English so the woman went with us too, first stop in the village of Ywama, where there is a pagoda thing and we have to visit some souvenir shops with long neck women , right away we knew it's gonna be a trip to mostly workshops of this and that but it's actually just to entice us to buy souvenirs, nevertheless we played along, stopping at a silver making factory, lotus fiber making and weaving factory, cigar, knifes, and what ever else, I cant remember all. We stopped at Phaung Daw Oo monastery where there is also a market on the back, we walked around there for a bit and had some tofu snacks again, there is a lot of tourists we were surprised as we dont see them in town a lot, mostly for what it looks, package tours, retired people with money, only a handful of backpackers, we know who they are as their boats have no company name sign in the front of the long boats, like ours as we hired them from the docks, we are paying 12,000 kiats which is the same price as the GH quote but this lady seems very nice and she was, very informative and friendly so we took her.

Finally in the afternoon after lunch we were able to see some cool things, as we went on a trip around some quaint stilt villages, with nice flower strewn floating yards, quite scenic and we watched as kids jump and have have a bath in the lake, we also passed by immense floating gardens, tomatoes,. beans, cauliflowers very ingenious this gardens are, they actually float and they use sticks/poles to keep them in place so as not to be washed away by tides, Also we were able to go to this monastery where the "famous" jumping cats are, the inside of the temple smelled of cat poo! Mind your steps as they poo everywhere! You have to pay apparently to see them perform, so our guide told us to just wait, when hordes of rich tourists come they will make a performance and we can watch it too for free, well a disappointment, they jump through hoops alright but not very high and the whole "show" lasted only 5 minutes,then the cats take a nap again. Connor spent more time chatting and debating with this monk who kept asking us what we think of Aung Suu Kyi being freed from house arrest which happened just days ago, he is obviously against the current military regime but so are most of the people here, we have never met anyone who is all praise for their government, but it seems they just take it in stride and live their lives as normal. Dinner at Unique restaurant, we ordered Filet Mignon and it's everything but.. overly done and tough medallions of what we think is actually buffalo meat! We ate it anyway we were famished, then back to the GH to pack for the next day's hike and of course some more moonshine. goodnight..

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Photos

Inle lake
school teachers on the way home

Inle lake A
no women allowed!

Inle lake
the long boats

Nyaungshwe
Connor chillin' at our room

Nyaungshwe
water cooler station

Nyaungshwe
local ciggies

Nyaungshwe
portable gas station

Nyaungshwe
young nuns seeking alms

Nyaungshwe
locals bathing in the lake

Nyaungshwe
mmm delicious balls of something!