Back to Myanmar...since we skipped the trek, we decided to get into Inle Lake a day ealier. The same taxi guy that took us to the elephant camp in Kalaw drove us to Nyaung Shwe (1.5 hours), the main town accessing Inle Lake. We really didn't know what to expect for this area so we didn't have too much of an agenda, if any at all. Noreen has been really good about pre-reading the places on our list. I have the habit of not reading about places until I've arrived. As I sit here at the French Touch Cafe on a quiet side street in Nyaung Shwe, I'm reflecting back on the last four days here in this area.
Many travelers that come to this area hop on boats to see the lake. We decided to hop on bikes first for a morning ride out to the hot springs. The ride out was one of the most enjoying time I've had on a bike - so much to take in! My night riding in Paris still holds the #1 spot. While trying to find the hot springs, I stopped at a snack stall to wait for Noreen and had an interesting encounter with a local wearing a Chicago Bulls #45 jacket. We had overshot the hot springs location so was back tracking, I asked the jacket guy, "Hot springs?" He gestures to go straight. I said, "Nice jacket! You like basketball?" He responded with, "I like volleyball!" while tugging on his Chicago Bulls jacket. I said, "Your jacket...NBA basketball... Chicago Bulls #45 Michael Jordan!" (MJ was #23 then retired after his dad was murdered in his Lexus from a carjacking incident then came out of retirement as #45 before becoming #23 again.) "I like volleyball!" He says tugging on his jacket. Ok fine...I've got a hot springs to find! We found the hot springs which had a special section for foreigners (co-ed)..played for about an hour and then moved on.
Moving on from the hot springs, our next adventure was trying to get across the lake to a winery Noreen had wanted to go to. We rode to the boat dock and this guy who looked very much like the Chicago Bulls guy but with a leather jacket asked, "you need a boat?" I answered, "yes, how much?" He responded with, "two people, two bikes, today is festival, no boats, so k6000 each." I offered k5000 and he said no reverting back to the festival reasoning so we said fine. We asked him to confirm where he was taking us and after his description, Noreen was convinced he would bring us back to Nyaung Shwe. I was a bit skeptical thinking we are on our own once we get to the other side. He led us to "his" boat, loaded our bikes, then us, filled the boat tank with gasoline then said he would be right back. He was gone long enough for me to ask out loud..is he coming back? I was a bit skeptical that this was "his" boat and that he was a boat operator because we haven't see anyone operate a boat with skinny jeans and a leather jacket. He eventually comes back and navigates us to the other side of the lake...with the most concerned look of facial expressions. He docked our bikes, helped us out the boat, took our money then peaced out. I guess we're finding our own way back to Nyaung Shwe!
After our bike adventure for the day, we had a legit boat fellow waiting to take us out on the lake for the sunset. The day before, we negotiated with a fellow named Minzawoo for a sunset boat trip for k8000 vs previous quoted rates of k12000 from others. We ended up paying k10000 for the boat as we were joined by a French couple who asked if we would share the boat and cost. I wasn't thrilled with Minzawoo at first because he was late but he delivered for the sunset making it one of the most spectacular sunset visions I had ever witnessed with legit fishermen finishing their evening on the lake (fake fishermen hang out in the AM for throngs of camera happy tourists). Inle Lake is probably the only place where I've seen the sun setting on the west and the moon rising from the east at the same time.
Our third day here, we finally did what others come here to do. A full day boat cruise on the lake guided by a local man who I will refer to as a Myanmar gentle giant (MGG). He is an average man by my standards but larger by Myanmar standards. MGG's first stop for us was the Nam Pan market an hour away. Getting off the boat, I was overwhelmed by the amount of vendors trying to sell us and the amount of boats. Noreen asked, "how will we find our boat?" I responded with, "I think our boat finds us." The market did not disappoint in tourist price gauging or visual stimulation. A huge pig walking through crowds was probably the most random. An example of price gauging: I wanted a particular necklace and was given starting price quotes of k26000. At that starting price, I wouldn't even entertain them with a counter. I ended up buying that particular necklace and two bracelets for k21000 from a lady that Noreen said I should buy from cause she was holding a religious book. Her first quote was a respectable k16000. While exiting the market, our MGG did indeed find us as he did the remainder of the day as he brought us to boat makers, iron makers, silk workshops, you name it, we've seen it on Inle Lake. Once our boat docks at a destination, we are greeted by the shop owners telling us about their product and trying to sell us in the process. I tend to tune out pretty quickly, most apparent at the boat making hut. I had meandered to another stall other than the one we are being told about, Noreen prompts, "you're visiting another person's stall." "I'm an equal opportunity deal maker!" I responded. By mid trip, we made it to the iron workshop. MGG sat us down and gave us each a rice cracker twice the size of my head. He then opened up a jar of maple sugar bars and ushered us to have some. "That's how my teeth was so screwed up as a kid!" I said to Noreen. One of my youngest memories as a child is my dad sitting down with me in the kitchen with a jar of sugar cubes.
After about 7.5 hours, MGG carefully maneuvers and docks his boat at Nyaung Shwe. Noreen still had both her flip flops- it was a successful day! I'm amazed by the amount of life the lake provides for the local people here. They do laundry in the lake, they bathe in the lake, they cook in the lake. Their life is this lake. It was all so interesting to take in. Our experience at Inle has been pretty awesome overall. For a tourist destination, it doesn't feel much like one aside from boat operators. The one thing I need to research more when I get home was why ladies are prohibited from praying at the higher level of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda where five gold pieces resembling Buddha sat. We did have an incident while on the bike though- a man in a motorcycle ride up to Noreen and brushed her arm before making a hand gesture that I won't describe. Just a little reminder for us to keep our alert guards up! Now if I only had a shirt that said "no more boats" for every local that's tried to approach us offering their boat services today. I'm officially boated out!We've been at this cafe for 3 hours now and am currently chatting it up with an Aussie and German. The Aussie fellow is telling us about his excitement with the e-bike in Bagan!
No comments:
Post a Comment