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Another 8:30 start as we left Kalaw to head towards inle lake. On the way we stopped off at Shwe Oo Min natural cave pagoda. The pagoda is situated inside a cave on a cliff face in the Myanmar hills and requires walking plenty of steps before getting a quite a decrepid elevator for the final bit. The cave contains over 8700 Buddha images of all difference shapes and sizes. Upon entering the temple complex I was stopped for the compulsory family photo with a Burmese family, even grandma got in this one. I think I've been in more photos with Burmese families than photos of me on my own camera. Just before we arrived at inle lake we visited a monastery where young monks were having a school lesson.
I would say that inle lake is definitely the most touristy place I've visited in Myanmar. We went out for dinner and I noticed that the streets were not lit which is a common thing here. I think the meal I had was probably one of the few that I've had here that hasn't contain loads of MSG.
I didn't sleep very well that night as I was awoken several times by our toilet making the most ridiculous sound. I realised around 6ish that when anyone within the hotel went to the toilet our toilet would make this horrendous sound when they flushed...never mind only 3 nights in this hotel.
Another early start as we took a 4 seater long boat onto inle lake to visit the floating villages passing the one legged fisherman fIshing with nets. They have unique way using a paddle with one leg to manoeuvre the boat. I thought the fisherman that were comingup to the boat wanting pictures were praying on the tourists entering the main body of the lake. We did see fisherman further away and I reckon that they were the real fisherman as the lake would be far quieter and better opportunities to catch something.
No day is not complete without a compulsory visit to a pagoda, Paung Daw Oo pagoda. I realised that I hadn't bought any souvenirs so I did manage to get a few bargains at the markets on the floating villages. I would say I was still ripped off but I managed to get a guy down from $28 to $10 on a purchase, he told me that 10 was an unlucky number as I walked away, so if my purchase does bring bad luck i may have to give it away.
The last place that we managed to visit was the Nga Hpe Kyaung pagoda which sells itself on having jumping cats. The story behind it is the monks have managed to train to cats to jump through hoops, which I think is rather cool as having owned 2 cats they did nothing unless they wanted feeding. We arrived there and to my disappointment we found out that the cats don't jump anymore, I'm not sure why, but they don't. I can't believe that they are advertised as the jumping cat monastery on all the maps, including the lonely planet, and they don't jump anymore.
I had my first candle lit dinner tonight in Myanmar, not a romantic one, but one through a blackout. We had only just arrived at the resteraunt and then the power went and it was dark, this country is dark when they do have power, so it is really dark when all the power goes. Luckily the blackout only lasted 15 minutes before the power came back on so everything was fine...all I could think of was I hope that they don't have an electric oven. I did however tonight try a few different foods, the main one being a huge delicatessen in Myanmar...fermented tea leaves. All I can say is I'm not sure it will take off in the UK as the taste wasn't quite what I had in mind when someone mentioned tea, but in a nutshell I described it as a taste of leafy tea with vinegar.
After tea a few drinks were in order and we had a look around the town to see what was open and to get an idea for New Year's Eve. I had quite a few cocktails and the vodka they had wasn't great it tasted a bit like mouthwash. It does seem that every place is open to midnight so if we are lucky we may get a countdown if they are open just past midnight.
A New Year's Eve started with being woken by the toilet making its horrendous sound, this was then followed by someone deciding to clear out their throat which lasted for around 30 minutes. Following breakfast 4 of us decided to go out on a bike ride. We were able to find a decent bike shop that had actual mountain bikes and not use single gear bikes that barely peddle. The bikes we got even had suspension which is quite useful here as the roads, if you call then roads, are dust tracks with huge potholes in them. We cycled to a village passing through the Myanmar countryside before asking a local woman if she could take us across inle lake in her boat. She was well up for the business and made a phone call and then the next minute two lads probably in there teens turn in a boat. We made our way across that took about 30 minutes and then cycled the other side of the lake back to the town. In total we did around 24km.
In the evening we all went went out to the wine tasting to sample some of the finest wine Myanmar has to offer. I'm not a wine snob so probably wouldn't be the best person to judge. We had 3 different wines, a white, rose and chiraz they all seemed fine, I didn't gag with any of them. We stayed at the winery and watched the last sunset of 2013 set of the Myanmar hills and inle lake.
I was interested to see what Myanmar was like for New Year's Eve and to see how it compared to the uk. It was definitely a different experience to what I'm used to. The night started with a free meal put on by the hotel which was very nice of them. Afterwards there was Burmese karaoke and a couple of small fires set outside the hotel. The karaoke wasn't the best to be honesty and so we left and headed to a place in the town. I'm not sure what was going on with the locals and time but we were all celebrating about 4 different countdowns, I think the first one started at 11:45...so there watch was definitely out. They did manage to put on some fireworks but I don't think you'll be seeing them on the bbc news. It was more of a case of lobbing firecrackers into the air and onto the road...it was rather dangerous experience especially walking back home through them, although it did light up the dark streets.
Anyway head back to Yangon today to end what has been a fantastic trip. I've had such a great time here and have so many fantastic memories to take back home. I've also have had a such a laugh with the Myanmar people who are lovely and very friendly people, who seem so happy to be able interact with you. The people on the trip have fantastic too and I've had times where I haven't laughed so much.
Myanmar is a great place to visit and I would definitely recommend it for those that like to travel. I don't know if I'll come back here, I suppose it all depends on what happens to this country in the future, but if I I don't return I know I would be remembering it for its raw and untouched beauty and I think the more tourists that come here maybe it will spoil that.
- comments
Toby d Great to hear abt your trip Stevie, always been curious abt visiting myanmar
stevennokes It's a great place to visit Toby especially if you don't mind travelling
Ralph Just finished reading all the posts one after the other as I didn't even try to get them earlier as I thought they wouldn't upload for you. Brightened up my first day back to the grind! Nice one. see you soon.
Johnno This is all brilliant. Just brilliant. I can understand your crushing disappointment regarding the lack of jumping cats. Why would they not have jumping cats if they advertise jumping cats?