Inle Lake

Arriving at the lake we boarded one of the long thin canoe like boats, which carried us down a long river and onto the lake itself. It was a nice change from walking and although there were lots of tourists, there were also lots of locals doing their thing; washing, swimming or just sitting on the river bank.

Our boat was like this except it didn't have comfy seats, which was fine with me.

Gondolier?

 

The engine gave a really cool spray as we sped across the water.

On the lake itself we saw some fisherman doing the famous 1-legged rowing, it looked amazing and the driver of our boat slowed and pulled up quite close so we could get a good view. I noticed however that they didn't seem all that concerned about fishing, and they were in an odd place too - they were right next to Nyaungshwe the biggest town on the lake, it looked like a show for the tourists rather than fisherman going about their daily routine.

classic pose: looking off into the distance as if contemplating deep thoughts...

So we arrived in town and went to the hotel to get our bags - the trekking company sent them from Kalaw so we only had to carry our small bags during the hike. They weren't there yet so we hunted for somewhere to stay, the first few places we asked in were full. I spoke to a Polish couple who told me they were staying in the local monastery. We had a look and it was cheap, clean and spacious,. just to be sure we checked a few more guesthouses and they were full too so we stayed at the monastery. Apparently in high season when the town is full the monastery opens up to take care of the extra tourists. After a cold shower we headed out to get some dinner, I had an avocado salad with tomatoes and lemon juice for less than a dollar,. then we stole some wifi from a hotel and had a couple of beers.

The Monastery.

The next morning we got up early and had some strong coffee, samosas and some other fried food for breakfast, very healthy! We picked up some fruit for lunch; a papaya and a watermelon then rented bikes for the day. We cycled some distance! Stopping at a temple and various villages, the scenery was wonderful it felt like we were riding through Tuscany. We stopped at a vineyard too, and sampled some of their wine - I wasn't that impressed but I've been spoiled after working at Kina Beach in New Zealand. All in all a cracking day, my favourite day of the trip actually. 

The breakfast of semi-finalists.

This poor guy looks exhausted.

Red Mountain Vineyard, good views and average wine.

Trekking to Inle

 The second day I felt a lot better so I started to really enjoy the trekking, I could look around and appreciate the scenery. We started early and walked at a really fast pace, I didn't take that many photos when we were walking, I stopped more to top up my sunscreen than anything else. The landscape changed as we walked on, it was much less dramatic and more undulating. We saw more people, some of them walking, carrying things or farming. By now I had mastered "Mingalaba" (hello in Burmese) and traded smiles with a lot of locals along our route.

We passed by some cacti and I asked our guide about them - he said you can make tequila from the plant but no one in Myanmar knows how to make it, definitely a business opportunity there! The second day we stayed at a monastery and along the way our guide said we need to get there early so we get the best place to sleep. So we kept our fast pace and arrived mid afternoon,. so we got first pick of beds and a chance to use the bucket shower first and more importantly before the sun went down. There was one shop in the village which was run by a teacher from the school so she opens it for a few hours each day after school has finished.

The meal was lovely, I ate loads after regaining my appetite. Afterwards we played cards and some of the young monks watched us play. Joan gave them his ipad to play with and got them started with a game where you cut different pieces of fruit flying into the air. They loved it, they played it for ages,. it was really cool to see them all huddled round this wee screen and chattering excitedly.

The last day we set off very early again and got some magnificent views of the valley shrouded in the morning mist. We downhill almost all day so it was a really easy way to finish the trek. Once we arrived there we got lunch and then they asked us to pay our fee for Inle Lake, I was really disappointed at this as I thought you could avoid paying the government fee by trekking there. On this trip I've been trying to give my money to local people and local businesses, but when you are in Burma it's impossible to avoid giving the government money,. they collect fee's in a lot of areas,. they put a foreigner tax on all trains and some hotels. Nobody knows where this money goes, maybe it's used to build hospitals, or maybe it's used to line the generals pocket's either way there is no transparency so it's impossible to tell. 

I think this might be from the first day actually, but I'm not sure. Either way it was a great spectacle and I couldn't believe how slow the train was traveling. This for me was another link between Burma and India.

Monks spending some pocket money in the local shop.

Our accommodation for the night. The toilet was miles away in the trees so I was really glad to be feeling better.

Beautiful morning mist.

Getting a bit warmer as the sun burns the mist away.

A couple of locals.

We stayed away from roads for most of the trek. Comfy seat?

Arable patchwork landscape.

Setting off from Kalaw

Leaving Bagan, I took a bus to Kalaw in Shan state. Just 160 miles east of Bagan although again the roads made this a long journey. I can never get any sleep on buses so they are not much fun for me, too bumpy to ride the only thing I can do is listen to my iPod, I had it stocked full of podcasts to keep my mind occupied.

Kalaw, marked by the blue pin.

The town is small and there's not much to do here so most people here are starting a trek. The most popular one was a 3 day 2 night trek to Inle lake, I wanted to trek to Inle but because I wanted to maximise my time I asked about a 2 day 1 night trek covering the same route. It didn't happen and it was probably just as well because I ended up getting horrendously sick on the first day of the trek.

I stayed in the Golden Lilly guest house and it was pretty grim - there must have been a lot of people sharing the same toilet as it was always in use and the flush didn't work!! I won't say anymore than that,.so I booked my trek as quickly as possible and headed off the next morning. I later found out that everyone in the group paid different prices, I didn't even think to haggle so of course I paid the most. For some reason I didn't think to haggle, I was still in holidaymaker mode and not switched on - after this I found you can haggle for everything in Burma and I found it really good fun bargaining, not like in somewhere like Vietnam where it can be really stressful. The Burmese people are so laidback it's almost like having a bit of banter and I think they respect you more if you haggle a bit, because they are used to doing it for everything.

The route from Kalaw to Inthein and then we took a boat across the lake to Nyaungshwe. Each day we walked around 25km.

 

 

The scenery was beautiful as we set off from kalaw. We walked straight into the surrounding hills and the views were great. The group was made up of myself; 2 Brits, 3 Spaniards and a Belgian - we ended up all getting on really well and having a great time. But for me the first day was pretty hard going, I started feeling ill about mid-morning, and it got worse. I couldn't manage lunch and had to stop pretty often for toilet breaks. I was thinking of turning back, but you know how determined I am so I just kept going, hoping it would pass pretty quickly. The scenery as well as chatting to the other folk in the group definitely took my mind off it. I threw up my breakfast around mid afternoon and felt a bit better after that. That night we stayed in a homestay and the food looked great - I just had plain rice :( We played cards and had a bit of banter, I was still visiting the toilet once an hour or so - it got harder to make excuses once the sun went down and there's only so many times you can brush your teeth! So I didn't get much sleep but I felt much better the next day, having some more rice for breakfast. I realise it's not nice reading about me being sick the whole time so I'll post some pictures of the scenery and people:

The view after an hour or so of walking from Kalaw.

A bit further into the hills.

A few kids in a village we passed through.

After he ran past he started asking for pens and money. I guess they get a lot of trekking groups coming through here so they are pretty used to tourists.

I didn't take many photos after this so here are some more from the same village.

This was our homestay for the night, it was pretty nice. Just wish I could have enjoyed the food!

Bagan

So after Rangoon I took a night bus to Bagan, it's only 320 miles away but it took an overnight bus to get there due to the condition of the roads. I arrived at 4AM and took a horse and cart to the guesthouse (winner guesthouse). They told me they were fully booked but he could set a mattress up for me and I could sleep there if I didn't mind. I didn't mind, I was just glad to get somewhere to sleep.

Yangon to Bagan

The next morning I had a nice breakfast and some instant coffee before renting bikes for the day with Mischa a dutch guy I got chatting to. The bikes were in such bad condition and the thin tyres made it really hard to cycle along the dirt track roads, I ended up walking quite a bit. We had a map and basically just went round visiting temples all morning, it was nice but really touristy,. you could see big coaches outside of the temples where busloads of people get off and mill round. So I generally preferred visiting the quieter more peaceful temples. After awhile you get templed-out, awhile can be different depending on the person and it didn't take long for me to get a bit bored. Some people spend days in Bagan exploring lot of these random temples but for me one full day was enough. Had a good buffet lunch in between a full morning and afternoon of temples was enough for me.

Bagan is nice for chilling, there are good restaurants and good coffee (compared with the rest of the country) and it's quiet too, you're not in a big city! That night was really cool, we had a few beers outside and listened to some music. Mischa played some tunes from a guy called Sixto Rodriquez, I liked it a lot so I wrote the name down and made a note to get some of his stuff when I got back to Seoul. He has a really cool story, which this documentary tells:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/
definitely worth checking out if you have the time.

My second day in Bagan I got up for the sunrise and then just relaxed the rest of the day. Went to the market in Nyuang Oo then got some good food and coffee at Weatherspoons. Yeh that's right Weatherspoons..lol doesn't have much in common with the chain back in the UK but the owner was really friendly and he showed us his Italian espresso maker to try and convince us he had the best coffee in Bagan. I took his word. So I didn't spend long in Bagan but it was pretty action packed. Here are some photos:

I waited for the birds to fly round before taking this one.

Pretty famous temple in Bagan, but I've no idea the name of it sorry.

Buffet lunch - this was awesome,. so good I came back the second day.

temples scattered in every direction.

This became a very familiar site in Burma but at this point of my trip it was a welcome break from all the brick style Bagan temples.

Again with the birds.

The market in Nyaung Oo.

Everything's green here except for a few tomatoes. They avocados too!

Some old boys playing draughts at an incredible speed. I had to change the shutter speed and iso just so his hand wouldn't blur!

Sun rise/set

The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful in Bagan and people flock to a few temples that allow you to climb up and get a good view of the spectacle. We managed to find a smaller temple that was pretty quiet for both. The sunset was really nice, not amazing just pretty cool. The sunrise however was awesome. It took a lot of effort to get up really early and cycle a useless old bike down some dirt track roads in the dark but it was totally worth it. You can go up in a hot air balloon but It'll set you back $300, so I opted for the vista from the temple.

I took a timelapse of the sunset, here are a few of the photos to show the progression.

This is taken in the evening just before sunset.

Sunrise:

Sunrise the following day.

The balloons give the picture an almost mythical quality.

It was amazing just watching this scene unfold, the light is changing all the time.

These two kids were at the temple, it was Saturday morning so they were really glad they didn't have to go to school. They were content just to sit and talk about football.

Yangon or is it Rangoon?

I've been so excited about my trip here for awhile. I flew into Rangoon, didn't arrive till 2AM as the flight was delayed. Couldn't believe how tiny the airport was - it's comparable in size to Prestwick, maybe even smaller. I booked a hotel room as I heard many hostels don't keep your reservation if they can sell their room off to someone else and as I was arriving so late that would probably be the case.

I got a good sleep and ate a big breakfast and was out exploring by 7 in the morning. Did loads of walking and exploring the city. It's really interesting to walk about in Rangoon as there are so many things happening there is a real buzz of activity. The buildings are charming and reminiscent of an era long gone, this city is changing very fast and you can see plenty of foreign advertisements on huge billboards. I'm sure that's gonna become even more the case over the next few years as the government looks for more and more investment in the country.

My only obligation on my first day was to change money, so once I did that and collected my huge wad of notes (it ended up being far too much for my trip) I spent the rest of the day exploring and chilling. I'd walk about take a bunch of photos then sit and have some tea or a snack then go and wander about some more. I only realised this afterward but I didn't actually speak to any foreigners till I got to Bagan. The hotel was pretty much filled with old people and I didn't see that many tourists on my walking trail. I actually didn't go to the main site Schwedagoya Pagoda because I wanted to leave that for when I flew out of Rangoon a few weeks later.

Sule Pagoda.

Selling oranges, apples and kids apparently.

Central Rangoon.

Under these umbrellas are snacks and the bettel tobacco for the worker's at a nearby building site.

Overlooking the train station.

These types of dilapidated but still charming buildings are all over Rangoon.

This was by the docks on the Irrawaddy river

The gold hurts your eyes in bright sunshine, is it real?

Around the Botataung pagoda.

This explains the different parts of the pagoda structure.