Nyuangshwe is a smallish town about 20 kilometres up a canal from Inle Lake. It is less hectic than the other places we have visited. There are more scooters than car but not as provincial as to have ox-drawn carts in the street. It seems to thrive on tourism. Most visitors appear to come from Europe. We hear a lot of French in the streets. There are a lot of young people wandering about. I have seen only a couple of 5 star type resorts. Lots of backpacker accommodations. The reason for coming here was to take a boat ride on the lake. There are hawkers on every street corner offering their boat for a ride. They are not pushy and wish us a good vacation when we turn them down. We had booked through our ... read more

Asarranged, Mr.Noproblemwaswaitingformeoutsidethehotelattheappointedhour. Offwewentalong a divided highway toll road until we turned off and headed into the hinterland. We traveled across a vast prairie through small provincial towns. Oxen power and horse-drawn wagons were the norm. Herds of goats, sheep and cows browsed through the dry grasses and several times we had to stop for them to cross the road. Honking the car horn at them had no effect except to calm the nerves of the driver. There were a lot of transport trucks of all shapes and sizes plied the road to the horizon. Some of these trucks are powered by single stroke engines, which replaced the original motor when it gave out. These trucks make a lot of noise and spew a choking black smoke. Even when I donned a mask, I spent half the ... read more

We just couldn't face another day of the madness of downtown so decided to look for something quiet to do. The public park of Lake Ina was close by. The inn-keeper suggested a couple of restaurants. We checked out and left our bags in storage for the day. The trek to the lake was mostly through quiet lanes except for one busy road. Even with a crosswalk painted on the pavement, it was completely ignored by the motorists. We got half-way across but just couldn't catch a break in the traffic for a good 5 minutes. Even the local with it was becoming a bit impatient. Finally on the other side, we had view of the lake. It is a reservoir for Yangon but I could see bits of raw sewage floating near shore. There was ... read more

Found another cheap restaurant for breakfast in the same area as all the seafood joints that we somehow never managed to eat at. We seem to spend a lot of time going around in circles looking for places. We did however find a cheap and efficient way to the airport by taking the subway to the fast train. It cost a little more than the express bus but I didn't have to lug my knapsack as far. Public transport is half price for seniors so Claudette would flash her passport (not really necessary) and the agent would just assume that I was older than her and give me the same deal. So in all, it cost a total of $26 as compared to the $47 taxi ride in from the airport. All in all it is ... read more

A couple more museums are on the menu today so we hop on the metro to cross the bay. First stop is the post office. A whole lot of bureaucracy for a poor selection of stamps. No special stamps available, only the everyday variety. Not impressed with the territory's main post office! The tea-ware museum is located in the Flagstaff building, an old British colonial style affair. It was used by the British up to the 1980’s. Since it is currently being refurbished, only half the private collection is on display and entrance fees are waived. A beautiful collection of teapots dating back to the 1500’s. There is also an interesting film on how tea is produced and the rituals around the drinking of tea. The museum is found in a hillside park and there is ... read more