Myanmar

Friday 24th June 2016 – The explorer returned at 8.00am…showered and slumped into bed. Jungle Jim slept for a few hours as I tidied up the muddy, wet, sopping clothes he left in his wake and put them in for washing. My rucksack that he had borrowed for his expedition was a little worse for wear to say the least…covered in mud and wet from sweat with an unpleasant musty smell about it…oh joy…while explorer’s bag was still in mint condition…I made a mental note to myself not to lend him my rucksack ever again! We vacated our room at 12.00pm and enjoyed cappuccino and cheese toasties at a local coffee shop. The humidity was stifling so we returned to the AC of our hotel and sat in the dining area playing Spelltower on our Ipad and reading. We caught our bus destined for Inle Lake at around 5.00pm, encountering a one hour delay when torrential rain caused a lorry ahead of us to get stuck in mud on the road. The road itself had literally turned into a river after the original river had burst its banks. There was flooding everywhere…it was rainy season after all! We dozed on and off into the night…the journey bumpy and uncomfortable…but we knew that arriving at the lake was our prize.

Saturday 25th June 2016 – Rudely awakened at 5.30am we were given a toothbrush, toothpaste and a freshener at our morning stop…’The Golden Highway Tavern’. After sprucing up a bit we sat down to enjoy some local tea while a friendly cat bombed my feet and insisted on some affection. Surrounding us were cool, misty mountains…it was so peaceful and untouched. We eventually arrived at Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake) at 8.30 am and booked into Joy Guest House. The communal balcony looked right onto the canal where people were arriving on boats to sell their wares at the local market. The manageress kindly allowed us into our room straight away and we gratefully accepted sleeping until 1pm. After showering and freshening up we had lunch and strolled through the streets enjoying the last day of the monks’ festival where they celebrate finishing their exams. The streets were packed and everyone was entering the party spirit. On returning to our guest house we booked a boat trip for the next day…siestaed…and then dined at French Touch Restaurant where we were treated to a local film about monks living by the lake. Pleased with our day we settled down into our comfy beds for the night.

Sunday 26th June 2016 – Our boatman for the day, Baw Si, picked us up from our guesthouse at 8am. His traditional, long tailed boat was moored on the canal. Amazingly there were two wooden chairs positioned in the centre of the boat with cushions and a life vest…it was VIP boating…that was for sure. Two large umbrellas awaited us too to shelter us from sun or rain on our trip. Sunglasses on we headed off up the river towards Lake Inle. It was sublime…the sun shone down…mountains lined our way and then we reached the open sanctity of the lake. Plants floated by us as dragonflies and cormorants raced our boat in competition. First we saw the fishermen of the lake. They have their own unique way of fishing here. They balance at the end of their long tailed boats, standing on one leg for three hours at a time. With the other leg they steer the paddle of the boat. Their hands’ job is to bring in the net and pluck caught fish…throwing their catch into the middle of the boat…it’s quite a balancing act indeed! Next we saw tomato plantations floating in the centre of the lake…easy to water no doubt. Stopping at a market place, in one of the villages, Aaron tried betel nut…a local habit is to chew the betel nut and gradually spit out the orangey brown liquid…gross as far as I was concerned…especially when you see the damage it does to the locals’ teeth. I declined this chewy substance, not wanting my teeth to turn orange for the rest of the day. We then visited a silver smith, a cigar making factory and a weavers. Cheroots are made here as well as cigars in all sorts of flavours…banana, anise and honey, cherry flavour were some of the varieties. Cheroots are the shape of cigars but wrapped in a different leaf. At the weaving factory they use silk and lotus fibre to make all manor of clothing items. The lotus silk fibre comes from the stem of the lotus flower which is considered extremely sacred and is therefore seven times more expensive than silk to buy. The workers are only able to get a few fine, silk threads from each stem and it is a long process to get enough to make the fibre. When woven it resembles a soft, hessian texture and is of a natural colouring. Afterwards we lunched on stilts admiring all the stilted wooden buildings surrounding us. Lastly we visited a temple inundated with cats and kittens…they were everywhere…I was ‘feline’ good about that! On our return trip we picked up Baw Si’s wife and two year old son (it was his birthday) and enjoyed a scenic ride back to the canal. We had absolutely loved our day on the lake and celebrated with a slap up meal at French Touch Restaurant.

Monday 27th June 2016 – Today we would begin our journey out of Myanmar and back into Thailand. We had been told it would be a 20 hour journey to the border…we really weren’t looking forward to such a long stint on a coach…but it had to be done! Our guesthouse had been wonderful to us and had even said we could have our room till 4pm for no extra cost…this was the time we were being picked up. We chilled for most of the day until our coach arrived. On the bus we met Drew from Canada, a lovely chap who swapped travel stories with us. The bus was practically empty which gave us plenty of room to spread out…we even managed a bit of sleep using 4 seats across the aisle. Passing jungle and mountains as we travelled, we saw our last sunset in Myanmar. The sky was ablaze with pink, red, yellow and oranges…it was like a Michaelangelo sky. I realised with a small lump in my throat that tomorrow we would be saying goodbye to Myanmar…goodby to the gentle, generous people…goodbye to the enchanting , pink nuns and goodbye to a land rich in beauty and spirit. Tears trickled down my face as I realised how much I would miss this wonderful place.