Inle Lake Day 2

On our second day we had joined up with a group of girls one from England (again she was a bit strange) and 2 Germans for a long tail boat ride around the lake to see the various villages and monasteries that cover the river. 

Emily having some of the locals tradiotioanl make up put on.  From what I could see looked like a mixture of wood and water... Worked as a sun block as well

One of the long necked ladies, the metal coils weigh about 8Kg

A Inle lake farm, growing tomatoes!!

The cat that Emily managed to save from the cold of the  monastery 

Inle Lake was the first place in 2 months that we both felt the cold again... We had to wear jackets!!!

   

In the evening we found an amazing little restaurant that did good food, but even better than that it did these great rum sour drinks, sweet, sour and Myanmar rum and only 90 pence each!!  So easy and nice to drink they easily went down and before long we were both very drunk wishing our best new friend the owners of the restaurant good night and staggering home! Such a fun night J

My amazing meal!!

Inle Lake Day 1

So we got up, had breakfast on the hostel balcony with a group from Holland and one absolute idiot from England (really do ourselves no favours over here!), the balcony was really nice with great views over the canal with their long tail boats coming in to offload there produce to be then loaded onto old style mule carts that would then be dragged by one or two people.  

It felt as if we had stepping back in time to life before the industrial revolution, it was so bizarre!  

After breakkie we hired a couple of push bikes and headed off to find the lake.  Our journey took us along an old dirt track winding its way through never ending rice paddies, passing old tractors and trucks.  We felt like it was off a film set in the early 1900s, with swooping shots over the field as we cycled along.

  

For lunch we stopped at one of the floating villages, much like in Cambodia where we got taken by tiny little boat that swayed dangerously close to the water to a restaurant.  Not the greatest food, but amazing views.  Afterwards we headed back to our hostel and meal out in a lovely restaurant that felt so alien and different to the rest of the area that we stayed in 

Yangon To Inle lake

So I have to mention the last nights bus trip, after a few hours on the one and only highway in Myanmar, with no other traffic except busses on it, we pulled into our service station… And oh wow it was huge, giant signs advertising there places, row after row of food courts… OMG maybe they would have some actual decent food!! (Service stations in Asia are not the best, generally only serving local food, and not very appetising local food!)   

So we sat down, immediately surrounded by about a dozen staff, an English menu quickly appears.  We order two meals, no rice.  Suddenly 6-7 plates fly onto our table full of weird looking raw vegetables… none of the dishes what we ordered… A few minutes later they appear again with huge bowls of rice and our 2 dishes… both of which are stone cold.  

When it comes to pay they try and charge us for the whole meal, including everything we didn’t order!!! After arguing a bit we settle on paying for the our dishes and the rice (in hindsight this was 3500 Kyat!!!... which is $3.50)

So anyway we finally get to our hostel about 3am, and are told “Sorry your room wont be ready until 12pm”!!! you can wait here in the lobby on large wooden chairs… Oh god this is going to be long night!  

The attendant disappears through a door, and we try to settle down as best we can for the next few hours :-/   Shortly after the attendant returns and beckons us into what appears to be a store room… it is a store room… but there he has made up two beds for us.  We settle in, and he goes and settles in on the far side, outside we can already hear the noise and bustle of the morning market setting up. Ems turns to me and whispers “This is so weird!”… erm yep J

Yagon (maynmar/Burma)

So here we were Yangon, Myanmar.  My number one destination I had wanted to visit when I planned my big trip.  A country that had through its own policies and international sanctions been separated from the rest of the world for the last 20 years, only in the last 2 years had the international tourism boycott been lifted. 

We didn’t have any set plans for Yangon, most of the main trips where to see this temple or pagoda… and to be honest after 2+ months we were a bit templed out :/   So we just headed out for a walking trip recommend in the lonely planet, with the main focus being the “Strand” for a good English tea.  

As we hit the streets it was like walking into some post 90s beat em up game, the ones where you walk down the street and have to fight of the various baddies.  The pavement was cracked and giant holes, and red blood splatters everywhere on the ground, the local men looked like vampires with red bloody, broken teeth… no don’t worry we haven’t gone to some civil war country where death lurks at every corner.  

They all chew a strange root & herb mixture that goes red and build saliva, so they are constantly spitting and I mean constantly!! Me and Ems had to dodge on a couple of occasion as giant bloody red phlegm balls hurtled towards our feet… GROSS!!  We also both seemed a bit of a tourist sight for the locals I think as they seemed transfixed on us, staring at us as we walked past... maybe it was my bright blonde hair and Ems vibrant red… or maybe it was Ems hot pants ;-D No where had we seen any reference that Ems would need to cover her knees and shoulders, however this seemed to be what was needed so we quickly headed to the market… after a cup of tea J

Ems to my surprise agreed to join me in a samosa from a dirty grotty street trader… Unfortunately this bit of bravery did not turn out well for her as she fell ill for the following day and we postponed our trip to Inle Lake by a day.  

The next day we got our taxi and headed toward the bus station… and wow the bus station was mental, it put Bangkok to shame for craziness… 100s of old beat up buses, shiny new ones, gutted ones, vehicle carcasses, dirt roads, rubbish, random stalls, shops, touts shouting at the buses, horns blaring, taxi drivers shouting…  Chaos!!!

Our first impression on Myanmar… Well it was definitely the first country that we had suffered from real culture shock, you could not easily put your finger on why it was.. the spitting, the dirt, the staring all played apart but there was something more, not sure what that more was yet…    

Phnom Pehn

So I don’t want you thinking that all there is in Phnom Pehn is the Khymer Rouge as there is so much more!  Like any busy bustling Asian city, there are the giant outdoor markets selling everything from clothes, electricals to building materials, shopping malls, and pushy tuktuk drivers.  They make the drivers from Thailand seem reticent and shy ;-)

However the part we must enjoyed was looking around the small boutique shops, filled full of fair trade wares.  A lot of them supporting small town community projects teaching the locals skills so they can find employment.  Also there was amazing restaurants and cafes, great for chilling in and drinking in each of their unique styles.  Our favourite one was a restaurant that helps train up young unemployed youths to cook fine cuisine.  We had a 3 course meal… and it was incredible best food we had tasted on our trip so far!!

We only had the 2 days in Phonm Pehn and both of us where really sad to leave, it was amazing country but more than that the people where the friendliest and most helpful we have ever met.  We both said that this would be a country that we would definitely be coming back to!  

We jumped on a coach for the trip to the border again, 7 hours of ear screeching local music videos, numerous stops everywhere, been accosted through the window by tuktuk drivers even though we weren’t getting of the bus!  Border crossing went very smoothly and another 5 hours we were back in Bangkok.  

Which had since we left become the centre ground for a mass anti-government protest, that escalated into riots with tear gas been fired, injuries… and all this just down the road from our hostel :/  We set about completing our visa process for Myanmar, had a night out in Kao San Road managing to avoid any protest groups, me and Ems getting into an argument about the contents of a cocktail with a very aggressive waitress (obviously we were right J ) and then we were on our flight to Yangon.