Inle Lake
My original plan was to take the train from Yangon to Mandalay. This would have meant that I would have had to back track to see Inle Lake and Bagan. I had I had already decided to fly from Mandalay to Bangkok.
When I was in the Strand Hotel, I got into a conversation with a German couple would had travelled from Mandalay, south to Yangon via Bagan and Inle Lake. They told me that they had considered going by train, but ended up going by bus.
They also gave me that business card of a travel agent that they were using for the next part of their trip.
I decided to go to the German’s travel agent to buy a ticket to Inle Lake. To cut a long story short, he was a very good salesman and I ended up with the ticket to Inle Lake, hotel accommodation at the lake, a bus ticket to Bagan, accommodation there, and a ferry ticket to Mandalay
Long Taxis Ride
My bus from Yangon to Inle Lake was scheduled to leave at 7.00 p.m. The staff at the hostel suggested that I leave for the bus terminus at 3.30 p.m. That gives you an idea of the state of the traffic in Yangon. It is beyond a joke.
One of the thing Aung San Suu Kyi needs to think about is, restricting the number cars that are allowed in the city and to get cracking in building a metro rail system as soon as possible. It would be fatal for the development of Yangon and the wider country if this wasn’t done. The cars are simply choking the place.
‘Music’ on the Bus
As the bus headed off, we were treated with the driver’s taste in music on the TV screen blaring out of the speakers.
The passengers in my immediate vicinity were as pissed off with this as I was. I asked the hostess (who could speak English) to turn the music off. She went to speak to the driver. She returned and simple struggled her shoulders. I asked again that the video be turned off, and the other passenger also voiced their desire that this was done.
Again nothing happened.
Without any organisation, half the bus (all of the westerners) started chanting: “TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF”.
Finally, the driver got the message and video and the music was turned off.
When we stopped for food about 2 hours later, the hostess thanked me for getting the music switched off. She said “is it very bad music”. She was right.
A bit of Sleep
I keep saying that I am too old for overnight buses. This is because I am.
The air-conditioning on the bus was very cold. I am not sure why they do this. You have to wear warm clothing and cover yourself with a blanket. I admit that it does make it easier to get to sleep if it is cool rather that hot, but they seem to overdo the cold.
I did manage to get some sleep, but not much.
Chilly
We stopped for a comfort stop, before dawn. As I left the bus, I surprised that the outside temperature was close that what it was on the bus.
Taxis into Town
The bus dropped us of a few kilometres from Nyaungshwe which is the main town Inle Lake. Those customer heading into town, climbed in small utilities with bench seats.
At one point we stopped to pay an ‘entrance fee’ of USD 20 which is levied on all foreign tourists. I guess this is fair enough. You only hope that that all the money goes to where it is supposed to go and doesn’t end up in some corrupt character’s pocket.
As we drove it to town, I got into conversation with a couple of Spanish girls. They asked me if I had accommodation. I said I did. They told me that they had been told on the bus that I may be difficult to find accommodation and they had not expected that to be the case.
The taxis dropped me off at my hotel. The Spanish girls ran into the aske if the place had any vacancies and the cost.
They told me that to was too expensive for them and climb back into the taxis in search of other place.
I checked in and was taken to my room, which was very good – a sort of mini bungalow.
After I had had a shower I headed back to the reception area only to be met by the Spanish girls. They told me that they couldn’t find any other accommodation.
Great Little Restaurant
I headed off down the main street of the town looking for a place to eat.
I came across a great little café-bar. The place was busy. They have a very simple formula – a little menu, very cold draft beer, wine (!!) and very friendly staff.
Over the course of the next couple of days, I was to find that place is always busy.
Good night’s sleep
Back at the hotel, I booked a trip of the lake. I had assumed that I would be on the trip with others.
Having had limited sleep on the bus, I tried to stay awake as long as I could. It is possible to get the equivalent of ‘jetlag’ on a bus. In the end I crashed at about 8.00 p.m.
One Passenger in a Long Boat
After breakfast I was introduce to my ‘boat driver’, who the Manager of the hotel me “ spoke English”. Let’s say that turned out to be a form of English unknown to me.
It also turned out that I was the only passenger on his boat.
We board the long boat on a jetty that was a distance from the main jetty. My suspicion was that this guy was just starting out in the business and had some sort of relationship with hotel staff who were giving him a ‘leg up’.
I boarded that boat and we headed off down the river that leads into the lake.
We hadn’t gone far when we slowed to a crawl.
We pulled up a jetty and the driver started doing something to the motor. He then made call on his mobile phone. He continued to work on the motor. It appeared that it was not secure in the boat.
After a short time, another boke appeared and he and the driver appeared to be trying the secure the motor on the floor of the boat.
Finally, we were off. The bloke who helped ‘fix’ the motor stayed on board.
Market
It wasn’t long before we were on the lake. We were a number on boats speeding east. I was somewhat conspicuous being the only passenger with (now) two crew.
Our first stop was a market.
This immediately, reminded me of Puno on Lake Titicaca in Peru. It looked all very genuine – locals living on an island in a lake – however most of what was being sold in the market was tacky souvenirs for tourists.
When I returned to boat, I found the driver, the bloke who had joined us, and another bloke working on the motor. After a while we were off again.
Indein Village Pagoda
The next stop was Indein Village and Pagoda. This involved travelling up the river that leads into the lake.
We moored the boat quite a long way from the main jetty. This confirmed that my driver was not part of the main tour providers. I suspect they pay a bit more to be given mooring close to the village.
It was a bit of the walk from where we moored to the village along narrow track.
The driver told me that I had an hour to see the Pagoda.
The village was very crowded and basic.
The Pagoda is on the hill above the village. There were people everywhere. There was some sort of Buddhist festival in progress and there were lots of locals preying and making offering to their god.
As I made my way back to the boat, I came across a German couple who clearly lost. They could not find their boat. In our discussion I was able to ascertain that they too, were dropped off at a small jetty away from the main jetty. They followed me and were very pleased to find their boat moored next to mine.
My boat headed back down the river. I was surprised how quick we travelled. The current was quite strong.
Long Necked Women
Next stop was a places where women with long necks were weaving. They are from the Padaung tribe. They put rings around their necks to force their collar bones down. I understand that it is practice that it slowly dying out. The sooner the better, I would say.
Lunch
I had very tasty lunch at the next stop.
Floating gardens
After lunch the driver took past some floating gardens. These are amazing. The main crop appeared to be tomatoes.
Weaving
After the gardens we stopped at another weaving place. It really did look as though this place was only operating as a tourist attraction. It will be interesting to see how much longer places like this continue to operate Burma continues to prosper following the ‘opening up’ of the country.
More Floating Gardens
I think my interest in the floating gardens must have impressed my driver. After leaving the weaving place we headed through more gardens. I didn’t see another tourist boat on the canal we took. I certainly got to see a lot of gardens.
We got back to the jetty about 4.00 p.m. I was a great day and despite the running repairs, the boats made it back home.
Italian meal
In the evening I had an ‘Italian’ meal. It was a mistake – it was awful.
Hire Bicycle and ride to winery
Next day I hired a bicycle and rode out of town. The main purpose was to visit the Red Mountain Winery.
I had no expected see a winery in Burma.
Bus to Bagan
In the evening I caught the night bus to Bagan. It wasn’t a good bus. The trip was a shocker.
I did however have an interesting conversation with a middle aged Chinese woman. She told me that she and her husband owned an IT company in Beijing. She told me that she was “sick of working” and she told her husband that she was “going to travel and if he didn’t like that, he “could get a divorce”. She travels over half the year, always on her own.
The bus arrived in Bagan at about 4.30 a.m.
I caught a taxi to the Golden Rose Guesthouse and crashed.
Flickr Link
Garmin Links
Long Boat Trip
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/970721578
Ride to Winery
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/970721581
billrider2013 