Experiencing the magic at Inle Lake then relaxing on our very own Burmese paradise - Ngwe Saung Beach

22 Feb - 2 March 2013

We caught another pick up truck back to Mandalay from Pyi Oo Lwin. This time it was way more uncomfortable as it was the middle of the day by the time we got going and were driving back down out of the mountains into the heat, the seats were hard wood unlike our first one which had padded seats. The tray roof was way lower and we kept whacking our heads, backs and shoulder blades on the metal poles on every bump. I developed a headache which got worse by the minute; by half way I was feeling incredibly sick. I had to spend the last hr with my head between my knees trying not to vomit. It was super packed with locals too so we were so squished and uncomfortable the entire ride. Finally we reached Mandalay by 2pm and I  jumped out in the stinking hot busy street ready to vomit. The traiffc, noise, pollution and heat made it worse. All these locals on the side of the street were so nice and quickly got me a seat in the shade of a shop, gave me some sniffing stuff that's meant to help with nausea and the lady who owned the small shop was trying to give me refresher towel saying it was for free. Again we were being treated with genuine kindness. After a few minutes of trying to vomit, we got some scooter taxi guys to take us to the bus station so we could see if there was a bus to Inle lake that night.  Lucky for us there was one for 7pm! But we had to wait 4hrs and the bus station was dusty, dirty, noisy and nowhere to sit down. I was still feeling like shit so we decided to head to an airconditioned restaurant with couches to wait the time out. I eventually felt better once we'd moved on.

The overnight bus to Inle Lake left at 7.30pm and arrived at 4am. We got no sleep what so ever as it was so uncomfortable. We thought we were going to another town where we'd arrived at 7am then changeover buses there to Insle Lake so we'd arrive in the day time. We had no idea our bus went direct to Inle Lake. We hadn't organised any accomodation beforehand as usual and this was the first time we regretted it. Well it's not like we could anyway as we had no idea til we booked our bus ticket the afternoon before that we were even coming that day. Anyway, our trishaw taxis rode us around at 4am from guesthouse to guesthouse trying to find us a room. Every single place was booked out. It looked bad, real bad. Finally we had to settle for a hotel for $50 a night. Waaaay out of our price range but we had no choice. We settled there after an hr of riding around having no luck. Plus it was freeeeeeeezing!! The temperature was 14c and felt like a freezing Darwin dry season morning. We were not prepared, wearing light trekking pants and thongs. The hotel said we had to wait in the lobby til 8am when our room would be ready and the lobby was not indoors, so we had to wait 3hrs freezing our arses off. About 6.30am more staff got up and saw us uncomfortably cold, so they got us some blankets and pillows then even made us a comfy warm bed on the floor. That was much better. Except the lobby was also the restaurant where the guests came for breakfast so we were lying in the corner on blankets and pillows while they were eating around us. It was so embarrasing that I hid my head completely undercover.

We spent half the day sleeping and then the afternoon trying to find cheaper accommodation for the next night. No luck, every single guesthouse was booked for days and days more. We eventually decided to just stay 2 nights at this $50 hotel, get a boat for the day to see the lake then leave the following day. We still have plenty to see in Burma anyway.  I was walking down the main street trying to find Sam as we had been separated earlier when this really nice local guy stopped me. He pretty much sold me on his services with his excellent English and very informative itinerary of the lake. I couldn't make a decision without Sam so I told him I needed to find my boyfriend first and we would decide together. This guy was so persistent that he said he'd follow me. I was thinking it was pretty funny as Sam could be anywhere. I was walking and he was on a scooter so he couldn't exactly stay at my pace. Anyway he disappeared up ahead which made me think he'd given up on me. I walked for maybe another minute or two when I see Sam in the distance talking to a guy on a scooter - it was the same guy! He had pinned Sam down and knew that he was my boyfriend! I have no idea as I didn't explain his appearance at all. He just stopped and asked if he was from Australia and that his girlfriend is behind looking for him. It was quite amusing. So off again he went on his services and he was so damn convincing that we both decided to hire him and his boat for the next day for only 30,000Ks ($33).

We were picked up at 7.30am by trishaw taxi and taken down to the boat dock then proceeded to have the most amazing day we'd had in Burma so far. It was spectacular. First we visited a morning local market that was just chaos. We hardly saw a single tourist, just locals everywhere selling all sorts of herbs & spices, fruits, strange foods, basically anything and everything. Sam and I both went crazy with photos as it was like no markets we had ever seen before. We really felt like we were mixed in with the locals of Burma and not in a tourist hot spot. Our guide even gave us breakfast at a little teashop there where we had Burmese baked treats and tea. They put condensed milk in their tea which makes it really sweet and is quite addictive! it's funny because 5 months ago I never drank coffee or tea and now all of a sudden I drink tea and I'm actually starting to really get into it.

Our Burmese morning tea paid for by our guide

I had been pestering Sam since we got to Burma that he should get a man skirt and wear it while we're in the country. I thought it would be so much fun and I wanted to seem him in one! He didn't really say no, so I thought I would eventually convince him, until this day when our guide needed to pee as we were leaving the market. He went off the path to the side like men do, but then he went into a squat like women do! Sam caught him at it and after that he noticed men squatting to pee all the time. We realized it's because of the skirt - so that idea went out the window completely. I would never see my man in a skirt because he would never resort to squatting while peeing! Men are such babies sometimes right? lol. Squatting isn't the worst thing is it ladies?

Men in skirts leaving the markets

Next we sailed straight through the middle of the lake and saw what we were both looking forward to the most - the local fishermen and their very unique way of paddling. They wrap one leg around the paddle and do a circular paddle motion while pulling fishing nets out. I got some good close ups with my SLR but the photos don't show exactly how they moved in reality. Burma has so many things about it that are unique to anywhere else in the world and this was just another thing. Watching the fisherman was so much fun and very bizarre. Our guide got the boat driver to circle up close to one so we could really see.

We reached a floating fisherman village mid morning. The bamboo houses were built on stilts out of the water and there were locals going about their morning duties, always smiling and waving at us as we passed through. It was amazing. Our $30 for the day got us further then most people go and we went all the way down to the end of the lake, eying off the millions of floating villages on the way. Our guide was very informative, telling us about the different villages, where they specialized in (silk, pottery, fishing etc). Some were really very poor and you could tell by the way the bamboo houses were barely standing up out of the water - they looked like they were going to fall apart any second. Those poor villages had no electricity or education, so the kids didn't go to school. The other villages that were doing better had power lines built up out of the water providing them with power and there were floating schools around. Our guide also told us as we passed a poor village that it's doing much better since they were educated a few months ago on crops and that they can grow crops all year round instead of just one season like they were - already they are a lot less poor then before.

Local mum and son waving to us

Floating village

When we reached the very end of the lake about midday, we got out at this rice paddock and walked through a bamboo forest to a local village specializing in pottery. It was just us and the locals. I couldn't believe how lucky we were to be visiting this village where no other tourists go! I went crazy again taking photos as we walked through, admiring them at their work and then we actually went inside and upstairs of a locals home to sit down on their bamboo floor and have tea with them. I wanted to take photos so bad, but I felt kind of rude being in their home and all. I did take one of this mum and her child but it's a little blurry.
They had these amazing dried beans that were real crunchy and so delish! We hung out with them for about half an hr before heading back to the boat. On the way we passed these local boys playing this common Burmese game where they kick the ball up in the air with the side of their feet around in a circle. Next second our guide is in on it playing with them and he was excellent at it!

Dried bean chips!

Sitting in a locals house

We stopped at a few more places on the way back up the lake, jewelry workshop, cigar workshop (where we were greeted with  tea and these delish sweet rice crackers!). We had lunch at a floating restaurant where we found a new favourite Burmese dish - green tomato salad! It was AMAZING!! Both Sam and I don't understand the people who said Burmese food was awful because we are loving it so much! (except for the organs of course lol). One stop we walked into another local house and these young girls poured water over Sam then all giggled like crazy - haha it was so strange! They were giggling and smiling at us nonstop of course while asking us how we were and where we were from.

We got back  to town about 5pm and thanked our guy greatly, telling him how happy we were with our day. I'm glad we went with a local guy instead of booking through one of the many travel agents as we had the most amazing experience. Even though Inle Lake is one of the main tourist hot spots of Burma we couldn't tell while out on the lake! Our guy kept us away from the general tourist places and showed us the real Burma - and we fucking loved it!!

The next day we decided to book a bus to Yangon then head West to a small town called Pathein before continuing to the West coast and lapping up some beach time. We waited at our hotel in Inle Lake for the taxi to pick us up between 4 and 5 for our 5pm bus to Yangon. Yes another over nighter - joy. At 4.30pm when we still hadn't been picked up I asked our hotel staff if they could call and find out where they are, but the lady told us not to worry as our hotel was the last point of pick up and they'd get here soon. As we'd had a similar experience in Bagan waiting for our bus to Mandalay we didn't worry too much about it and it wasn't til about 20 past 5 that we knew something was very wrong as the bus would've left by now and they hadn't stopped to get us on the way out.

Sam went down to the travel agent we booked the ticket through. He was gone for about 20mins and when he finally returned he was followed by two local guys in car who pulled up quite abruptly in our driveway. Sam yelled at me "grab your stuff, we're literally chasing the bus down'. Apparently the lady who booked our ticket had called the bus company and went off at them in Burmese. She was going nuts over the phone apparently. Turned out the bus company had mixed up our dates and thought we were going on the next day and so they sent over two locals in a sedan and got them to chase down the bus with us. They were driving insane! Sam and I were laughing at the whole situation, thinking we could very well die trying to reach this bus. We finally caught up to it about 10 past 6 as they were waiting on the side of the road for us and then it was a long uncomfortable ride all the way to Yangon, arriving in at 4am. We decided to keep traveling so we waited for a 7am bus to Pathein. While waiting Sam went wandering for food and found this old Burmese lady sitting on tiny plastic stool with a table of different noodles and buckets of different sauces. He basically picked his noodle then she put a scoop of everything from every bucket in and mixed it up with nuts and cabbage. He came back raving about how awesome it was so I was determined to try it to. Off I went and WOW! It was so funny because I was sitting on this tiny plastic stool with other locals while more locals stood up around and they were all staring at me and laughing as I was eating this amazingly tasty noodle dish. One guy asked me if it was good and I gave him the thumbs up - it was soooo god damn good! We keep finding these amazing new dishes - when will it end! Oh and when she said that would be 200Ks I was shocked - 20c for a big bowl of yummy, spicy, crunchy tasty noodle dish!

Pathein didn't really have anything to do but it was nice to just relax in cheap accommodation and enjoy the town. We spent two nights there and visited their umbrella workshop where I was almost pressured to buy one of their beautifully coloured parasols. We then spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Draught Myanmar beer at their local pub. We got scooters there and when I jumped off I went the wrong way catching the exhaust with my leg which shocked me into a stumble and I almost fell over. It hurt like hell. As time slowly passed while we had beer after beer my burn got worse and soon it was a massive blister that Sam had to pop for me back at the room and I got some burn cream to stop it getting infected.

My nasty burn from the scooter exhaust

Pretty parasols

The next day we headed towards the bus station by the river to catch one of the several buses bound for Ngwe Saung Beach. We were expecting to catch the 11am one for 4,000Ks ($4.60) but our taxi trishaw riders took us to a very over packed local bus that only cost us 2,500Ks ($2.80). It was insanely full. Sam and I went to jump on and there were locals all packed in every spare space of the aisle and the front of the bus. There was no way in what so ever and we thought we'd be standing there on the front steps the whole trip until two lovely girls in the front seat got up and made us sit in their seat while they sat uncomfortably on the floor with the rest of the locals all packed in. I was like 'What about you?" But she just smiled and sat down. It was an insanely uncomfortable ride as there were 3 of us in a 2 person seat along with lots of shit all piled under our feet. I lost feeling in  my feet and legs. As uncomfortable as it was I had fun and enjoyed the experience for what it was.

Packed local bus - there is no aisle anymore!

The lovely girl who gave up her seat for us

We arrived at Ngwe Saung about 12.30pm and decided to eat at one of the local stalls before heading to our hotel.  No one spoke English and the lady just pointed to noodles so we said yes. Neither Sam or I know what was in it, but it tasted good and only cost us 300Ks (30c) - bargain!

Our room was a beach bungalow literally 15meters from the beach itself. It was very spacious and clean with air con and a fridge. We were happy. Well we were paying $40 a night as unfortunately that was the only place left available. We hit the beach straight away to cool down after our sweaty and squished bus ride there.  The waves were pretty decent so you could actually body surf and the hotel had tubes they lent out to guests for free. There was hardly anyone around considering every accomodation was booked out. The sun lounges on the beach under dead palm tree shades were free, we had to fight for that sort of thing at Koh Lanta!

We spent our three days there lazing around, drinking beer and the local Burmese whiskey, eating amazing seafood and basically doing jack shit. It was nice.  We got pretty wasted on our last day drinking Grand Royal - Burmese whisky and had a blast playing in the waves in tubes. We then each got a $15 lobster which were huge and soooo damn delicious! It was my first time eating lobster and I was super fucking impressed. Too bad it's so expensive back home.

The next day we were sad to be leaving our little Burmese paradise but if we were to see more of Burma we had to move on. We got a day bus to Yangon, stayed overnight there then got the next day bus to Mawlamyine a town as far South as you can go without a special permit.