Blogs from Inle Lake, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia

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Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake December 13th 2018

Breakfast today required you to hand in a voucher given by reception when you check in. Very odd system. It was a somewhat disappointing buffet containing mostly noodles and chicken stir fry. No cereal options. We ended up having banana and honey on toast which was quite good. Just opposite our hotel there are a number of places you can hire bicycles. For the grand total of £2.50 we hired 2 bikes. Stephens has more gears but mine has a bell and a basket. We then peddled off to go around the west side of the lake. En route we stopped to buy bus tickets for Bagan tomorrow morning. Not only is the day ticket K10000 cheaper than the night bus but it won’t drop us off at 330am which seemed rather unappealing. Peddling down the ... read more
Child on buffalo
Drying out crops
Getting the boat across the lake

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake December 12th 2018

This morning I woke up to the sunshine coming through into our room. We opened the curtains to see the view and went back to bed with tea to enjoy it. Despite the good weather forecast it wasn’t long before the mists descended over the hills and the clouds got worse. We went to enjoy a very good breakfast instead. Having splashed out on quite an expensive hotel it had a swimming pool I had been planning on using. Despite the clouds it wasn’t that cold so I went for a swim anyway - it was rather bracing and definitely not sunbathing weather but I enjoyed it anyway. I then used the outside shower in our room which was quite a fun experience. Packed up we checked out and got in the boat back to Nyaung ... read more
Silver smith
Ywama village
Paper making

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake December 11th 2018

Unsurprisingly the bus journey from Yangon last night was bumpy and it was difficult to get any sleep. The new highway from Yangon to Mandalay is poorly laid and so rough despite there not being any pot holes (yet). The chairs were wide and fairly comfy, although there wasn’t enough leg room for taller people once the chairs in front were pushed back. We were relieved to find that they stopped regularly for loo breaks, provided some water & a small snack and made sure you were awake for the right stop. We even enjoyed on bus entertainment of a relatively good film just with subtitles so it didn’t disturb those doing other things. We were dropped off slightly earlier than expected in Nyaungshwe (6am as opposed to 7am). Here we were surrounded by tauts ... read more
View from hotel room
The village.
Our transport to the hotel

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake August 20th 2018

We all travel for different reasons. Some of us are attracted to famous places, and sights. Others are attracted to food and culture. And yet others want to get away from crowds, find quiet corners of the world, and just relax. Turn off all of the electronics, veg out, so to speak, and just enjoy nature and solitude. But those places are harder to find. On my last trip to eastern Europe, we found both Poland (Warsaw) and Hungary (Budapest) to be relatively quiet, uncrowded, with lots of locals enjoying themselves, especially in the evenings. Going further out, places like Botswana, Antelope Canyon (AZ), Nepal, southern Chile, Medellin (Columbia), and some of our National Parks, provide a break from people, noise, high rises, and commercialism. I am decidedly in the middle, having seen and visited the ... read more
And the earth is round???
Too many long lines
Long lines have character?

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake August 15th 2018

SURPRISING LAKE INLE MYANMAR The bus was cold and uncomfortable and the trip was long. I endured. When we were close to our destination I had to change vehicles. Now I was traveling in the early dawn in an open tuk tuk…a small bus with the sides and back cut away…I was even colder, and I had to find a toilet. I was the only passenger so the driver kindly took me to his home and allowed me to use the facilities, kind of like a primitive sani-can. The rest of the drive to my hotel took about 45 minutes, with me huddled against the cab, wrapped in my trusty scarf/shawl (never leave home without it). We arrived. Except there was no hotel in sight. Soon several people gathered, my luggage was unloaded and we walked ... read more
A ROOM FIT FOR A PRINCESS
BOAT TOUR
SUN PROTECTION

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake April 27th 2018

Yes, I still watch some Andrew Zimmern or Tony Bourdain on the Travel Channel or CNN. My personal opinion is the shows have become stale, mundane, and almost boring. But once in a while, they hit a double, though I prefer a home run. Zimmern, you can tell, has been placed on a dietary restriction of sorts. He is superimposed on the place he is visiting, not really there. I can only assume his physician told him that 300 pound TV stars who eat anything and everything will not live very long. Bourdain has become rather mainstream, from his faux macho and fearless American persona. But I do agree wholeheartedly with his biggest travel tip: When he goes abroad, he looks for neighborhoods that are "in the center of things" so that he can explore his ... read more
Small, but ???
No choice!

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake January 8th 2018

He Ho was a nice little airport to arrive at and we got some stunning views over Inle Lake as we approached at sunset. We were a bit worried as our bags were last off the plane and there was no information at all about how to get to Nyaungshwe, where we were staying. Luckily there were plenty of taxis around, although the journey from the airport was a little more hair raising than we had expected. The road from the airport has major construction works in progress and that meant driving perilously close to what must be breathtaking views during daylight hours! Once you leave the main road, there is little or no street lighting as you get towards the lake, until you pass a little booth where you have to pay your National Park ... read more
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Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake November 6th 2017

Animal, vegetable and human sustenance apart, I’ve come to the conclusion that water in Myanmar has three key roles. With fishing and tourism, it is a way of life, of making money, surviving. In a country that has what I’ve seen politely described as “erratic” roads, it is a vital conduit for transport. And here, where over 65% of the population is still rural, it can be a welcome place to relax and have fun. My watery travels managed to reflect all three roles, but, for the sake of your digestion, I’ll post these as separate blogs. After scampering round the capital-fest that is the Mandalay region and to fortify myself before the temple-a-thon that is Bagan, I opted few days of luxury on the shores of Inle Lake. There’s the option of staying in the ... read more
Inle fishermen
a forest of zedis, Inthein
waiting for the tourists

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake October 28th 2017

Inle I am not sure what time we arrived at Shwenyaung but it was 7:30 at the cottage on the lake. The taxi to the jetty in town was about half hour then it was an hour to the far south in an open boat with little wooden armchairs for seats. For approximately half the distance the sun was going down then we arrived in darkness. I have already spent an hour admiring the room. It is actually a chalet on stilts over the water. I get the feeling that Myanmar has so much variety that you would never be able to know it as a country, just one small part. Now that travelers are going into new areas it would be interesting to see if they are different again from the familiar ones. 28th October ... read more
Golden Island Cottages
Sunrise at GIC
The sun appears




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