Journey to Inle Lake

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Day three sees us preparing for our journey to Inle lake, but not before a planned visit to one of the most famous sites in Myanmar, and one of the most admired and respected religious monuments in the world, the Shwedagon Pagoda.

This golden temple is located in the center of Yangon, surrounded by a large roundabout of traffic. We learn quickly that we’ve come at a bad time, just before midday, simply because of the intense heat, as well as the fact that the sun was reflecting off the golden pagoda so much, it hurt to look at it. Liam begins to smell. Aside from the incredible heat, the Shwedagon is an awesome and humbling experience and a great send off from a unique city.

We also are given the opportunity to meet with the owner and manager of several language schools to discuss the need and demand for learning English in Myanmar. His valuable insight will hopefully lead to further development of teaching programs and great job opportunities in his country.

The day ends, and it’s time to take the long overnight bus from Yangon to Inle lake, a 12-hour journey. We arrive at the lake at 5:30 am after a nightmare bus trip, dirt roads of potholes, Liam trying to sleep on the floor.

The trip is long, but the arrival in the town of Ngyaungshwe couldn’t have been timed better—just before sunrise—and although our eyes are heavy and somewhere a bed is calling, it’s worth staying awake a little longer for breakfast, coffee and Myanmar’s morning sun, which we watch on the roof of the Remember Inn hotel.

We wake at about noon for some exploration of the town, and what a place this is, stuck in time, with horse carriages and bicycles as common modes of transport. But the feel of the old western saloon is broken by the scattering backpackers who frequent Inle a little more than I expected. Turns out Inle lake is a hotspot for backpackers.

After a pretty decent lunch of Chinese noodles, fried buffalo wings and a few beers in a surreal saloon-like restaurant, Liam and I decide that today’s sunset will be viewed from the comfort of a long boat out on the lake. The sun setting behind the backdrop of Inle lake’s valley is beyond incredible, and puts the cherry on top of our introduction to this beautiful region.

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