Inle Lake

Bright and early on April 27, we headed to the airport for our flight to Heho. Only a 35 minute flight, we were told to arrive at the airport 2 hours before our scheduled departure time. The airports in Myanmar are small and like our friend Kelly told us, it all seems a bit strange but somehow everything works out! The hand written airline tickets, being identified by sticker color for your flight, the two guys you watch bring your bag to the plane, walking on the tarmac, you know, are the usual things you do to get on a plane.

Another flight

Arriving at Heho Airport

After the flight, we drove to Innlay where we had to get on a boat to reach our hotel

It was really, really hot so I had to use the umbrella to shield me from the sun (since I wasn't wearing my usual SPF85)

Arriving at the Paramount Inle Resort

We got to watch a beautiful sunset while we had dinner

Pretty colors during twilight too

The next morning we were picked up at 8am for our tour around Inle Lake. We didn't exactly know what the itinerary was except it was the "usual tour plus we would get to see a bamboo forest and some waterfalls." We were told we'd be back around 4pm.

Locals around Inle Lake

First stop, Paung Daw Oo Pagoda

Self portrait in front of the pagoda...Capt'n is getting crazy

Locals selling some fried fish

Paul looking to purchase a longyi

Click here to watch the video of Paul trying on the longyi

Traffic around the lake

Great scenery around the lake

Panoramic view of the lake

It was really pretty here - I loved the mountain ranges

I love the imagery of the fisherman and the mountains

Our second stop was a silk and lotus clothing factory.

She is collecting lotus fibers

The lotus fibers are then spun into thread

One of the many rooms where they make the silk/lotus scarves

The pattern is laid out so that the colors can be added to each thread before the scarves are made

Cotton threads

At work

The lotus plants used

Floating neighborhood

Locals floating by

Our next stop was a cigar making shop - Paul had to give it a try

These ladies roll the cigars

Concentrating

Paul is enjoying the cigar

Here are the finished products

More fishermen

Back in the lake

We stopped by another shop where we saw a "long neck lady"

Where they also made umbrellas

We passed by some kids playing and some water buffalo

This was the bamboo forest we were promised - we passed by it on our boat

Local kids checking us out

More locals

After lunch, we arrived at Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda

The Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda is home to over 1000 stupas which are being actively preserved and renovated by the department of archaeology, national museum and library.

Lots and lots of stupas

It was really hot to walk around the grounds barefoot

Paul wanted a picture of this donkey

More stupas!

Wait, there are more stupas

Our boat driver standing on the floating garden

More floating gardens

The view outside of the ngaphechaung monastery

Where we were promised a jumping cats show...here they are

After a long day, we got to watch another sunset while having dinner

Mandalay, Myanmar

We arrived in Mandalay, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on April 26. We were really looking forward to seeing Myanmar because there aren't hoards of tourists there. Yes, I know we are tourists but we have found that when there are a lot of tourists in one place, the locals get a little pushier. Mandalay was a nice town - one of my favorites actually because the locals were friendly and especially because they all thought Paul was a celebrity...which made me even cooler for scoring a big American white guy celebrity. I got a lot of thumbs ups and big smiles from the local girls and women.

Country #8

When we arrived, we found a taxi to take us to our place for the night.

Paul and Capt'n enjoying the scenery

After resting for a couple hours, we got a driver to take us up to Mandalay Hill (we didn't realize we were going to a temple) and then to Amarapura to walk across the U Bein Bridge and watch the beautiful sunset on Taungthaman Lake.

Driving by some temples 

We arrived at Sutaungpyai Pagoda where we encountered the first of the giggling crowds who loved to stare at Paul (Paul is convinced they were all saying, "look at the hairy monkey man!"). After walking around the temple a few times and experiencing the first of many dirty feet episodes, we headed to U Bein Bridge.

Locals praying

Walking around the temple

Stupa

The view from the hill/temple

Another view of Mandalay

A different perspective of buddha

U Bein Bridge is the longest teak bridge in the world and the location of where a few locals asked Paul to take a picture with them. They included me too so my feelings weren't hurt (at least that was my theory). I'm sad that I didn't ask them to take a picture on my camera too. But I knew Paul just wanted to just get to the other side because this wooden footbridge, around 200 years old and 1.2 km long, was scary to walk on. The bridge was wobbly and it didn't help that people would whizz by on their bikes. I'm not sure how well it is maintained but we made it across safely so that's all that matters!

U Bein Bridge

Locals were fishing

Lake Taungthaman

Paul was looking under the bridge because a cow was mooing

I loved taking these reflection shots

More reflection shots of locals

Self portrait - Paul is really getting good at these!

Another boat

I liked the colors in this shot and you can see a stupa in the background

We decided to take a boat back across since it was questionable walking across the first time. Plus, the sun was setting and it only cost 5 USD!

And I got photos like this so it was well worth it!

More of the calm lake

The sun is starting to set

Paul is contemplating life

Paul took this pic

More sunset shots

I like this one with our boat and reflections

There were a lot of other folks with the same idea

This is one of my favorites

This one too! It was just beautiful on this lake.

Another one with the boat but with the bridge and sun setting in the back

I liked this one that Paul took too

This one makes me laugh

We headed back to the Peacock Lodge to get cleaned for dinner before heading to see the Moustache Brothers - a live performance by two brothers and a cousin (as well as many other family members) that include some cheesy jokes, videos that feature the famous group (the movie "About a Boy" mentions Par Par Lay), cultural dancing, and subtle criticism of their government. Par Par Lay, Lu Zaw and Lu Maw are the Moustache Brothers (Par Par Lay and Lu Maw are brothers). Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw served about 6 years in a labor camp after criticizing the government in a performance at the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in 1996. They are only allowed to perform for foreigners in the garage of their house. Here are a few snapshots from the performance.

This is the stage where they perform

This is Par Par Lay

Lu Maw and his wife - who was on the cover of Lonely Planet circa 2003 (ish)

This is Lu Zaw and Lu Maw

The cultural dancing is a family affair

We were beat by the time we got back to the Peacock Lodge - close to 11pm. And lucky us, we had a 6am pick up for a flight to Heho where we visited Inle (aka Innlay, Inlay) Lake.