What a long day! I am definitely not made to travel by car! Anyway it was fun :) The plane from Heho to Yangon was perfect :) Yangon seems like a big city (only saw the highway though). It is full of cars to contrast all the other places that were full of motorbikes. If I understood right, motorbikes are not allowed in Yangon or something of the sort.
On the way to Kinpun I decided to pass by Bago which used to be an important capital in the past and hence full of temples, pagodas and a palace.. wooow! Ok, Bago is ugly, like really ugly but it is very interesting to see how important each of the sites are for the local people. I was the only foreigner there, maybe because it was already quite late in the day, but I love that!
It was also nice to see the former king palace. Its a nice place but not as flashy and over the top as other places I have seen before.
The trip got fun when we stopped to pick up two teachers and gave them a ride to a junction. It seems that government teachers have a tough job, they get a very bad pay and live very far away from home so if they are not lucky to get someone to drive them it can take more than 2 hours to reach their families. The taxi driver's wife is a teacher and that's why he always stops and helps them :) sweet! The two ladies were super nice, they spoke no English and were really shocked to see me travelling alone as this is not normal in Myanmar culture. One of them has never seen a foreigner, so she couldn't stop staring at me :)
And finally we made it to Kinput and its crazy!!! :) Typical religious base-camp village full of locals and shops everywhere. They offer you food, shower, sleep, anything you need is available! It's noisy and busy and really nice to see the strong energy the people have. Every burmanese person dreams to come to the Golden Rock at least once in their life time.
Now I see that there are a few more tourists around me... jajajja And I'm really hungry so I'm now getting another plate of veggies to make me happier! love it! Mmmm it looks like here the idea is to come to a restaurant and sit randomly in a table with locals, I will try this tomorrow :)
I went for a walk around the shops to find that they sell all types of nuts and sweets you can imagine. I was very curious about some white sweets that looked like coconut and I decided to buy just one pieces... as they only sell big quantities, the girl at the shop just gave it a a present, how nice!!! and it was delicious! :) I love coconut!!!
I'm eating my veggies and will sleep early. Tomorrow 5:30 AM breakfast and then the hike will start :)
Good morning! happy Christmas everyone! :) I just woke up, brrr seems also in Inle Lake its cold in the mornings! Its quite early as I want to go with the bike around the lake and also do a boat trip.. but I guess I will have to wait a bit. I had a nice breakfast and lots of coffee :) I will change hotels to the original one and then take off :)
ha! I now remember that the Pa-long tribe lives mainly from chili, I saw so much chili in the last days.
.... I took a bike and there I went in the mist of the morning.....
and it was a fantastic day! :) Yuppy! I love this country! I had a very nice bike ride all around the lake and among two cute villages. There is really a lot going on around the lake! Kids playing, monks, woman an men working the land, lots of kids and men riding buffaloes full of fishermen with their beautiful technique, families making tofu and rice crackers :) ((nice but a bit too oily...))... juts a strong ''vive'' here!
On the way, I've been to probably the most local market of all! Here every day there is a market in a different village! It was crowded of buses and horse carts with locals coming to do the shopping. It was dirty and smelly but that's the way it is here! so enjoy it!
After passing the market and a village I took a boat to the other side of the lake and the 30 mins trip was stunning :) across tomato plantations, the floating plants and other boats. Arriving to the new village with an amazing long, long bridge was just beautiful!
I biked around a monastery and then took a very long road along some wheat fields to arrive to a winery :) and then it felt like being back home in Lutry :) as with everything else, this was very nice... and here it was clearly full of people, specially french, what else?! I stayed there for a while and continue biking back to the village.
Once there, it was time for a break so I stopped at a very small place where I had the best papaya juice of the trip :) and then I went down to the port to find a boat. I was very determined to go on a boat trip and see sunset and after some negotiation with a few of the guys there, I made it and I got a full boat for myself! :) we went around, really cool... love this feeling of freedom when the boat goes ''fast'' and you get the air in your face! I was just shouting alone, it felt really good!
The sunset was truly magic again, in the middle of the lake, surrounded by floating plans and fishermen doing their thing, there were no other boat with tourist so I felt very special. I asked the guy driving the boat to stop in a nice place and we stayed there until the sun was down.... the different colors in the sky and the water, the fishermen going back home after a day of work, kids saying hi! from the boats, the birds starting to fly around as the sun was down and the sky turned purple and pink.... wow! it's good to experience this!
Absolutely love this place and for sure an area to stay much longer! There are so many nice things to do.
But now, its time to move to the south :) where hikes, pagodas and views of the sea, river and a colonial city are waiting to be explored :)
And the 3rd and last day was amazing! The views were much nicer, specially when we crossed a little ''jungle'' and I almost fall a few times, loved it! :)
After waking up at 6:15 with breakfast in bed, it was super cold (4 degrees) and misty, we started the way down to Inle Lake! How stunning to see the clouds trapped between the mountains, the spider webs, the trees and plants full of the morning mist. There was even a rainbow :) its beautiful to see how nature changes with the first rays of sunlight!
Once down, we could start hearing music coming from a village, we were getting closer :) It's beautiful to arrive to the lake area. We took a boat to cross the lake for a bit more than an hour, some rest at last! The landscape changes completely again and now we have water everywhere! With water the lifestyle is different. Local fisherman use a special technique to fish, people collecting veggies and plants from the lake and a wonderful and bright sunshine!
I checked in in a different guesthouse as the one planned as my plan had to change and so I arrived one day earlier, but here is good! the pleasure of a hot shower and a toilet. I think I enjoyed this shower as if it was the first one of my life! I had a super easy day at Nyaungshwe which is the village close to the lake, walk around a bit, read, planed my last week in Myanmar and rested!
And tonight is Christmas Eve so I had dinner with Mathias, a British-Spanish and a German couple and I met Mariam who was in Inle with a friend. We went to a nice place where kids were singing Christmas chores and the whole atmosphere was super happy, warm and sweet :) I imagined that these kids practiced so hard to do such a performance. The full restaurant was clapping and singing with them, really lots of joy :)
Hike day #2 and I start to feel the need of a proper shower and toilet... maybe this is not entirely for me?!?!?! The walk was nice but far less interesting than the one from yesterday. This time more flat and through mainly chili plantations from the Pa-laung tribe. We also saw rice, ginger and some garlic. Sesame and mustard.
Before Mathias, the German guy, joined us, I had the chance to step in two very nice villages.
Then somehow my mood went down, today was really hot, I couldn't wear my lenses as there is too much powder and didn't manage to put them on, they guy was super delayed and we had to wait for almost 2 hours!! and I cannot go to the toilet, jajajajaj but I know I should not complain. When I look around I have to say I'm very lucky for who I am and grateful for the chance to be here :)
We got a nice house after a moment we though we would sleep in the floor outside as the agency we book through didn't arrange a house for us... oups! Our guide was amazing and got us this super nice place that belongs to a sweet old couple and cherry on top of the cake, they have the best toilet ever :) jajajaj
Now I am writing while the sun goes down in the rice fields and dinner is being prepared!! :)
And I'm sitting outside a little house from a village in the middle of the mountains in the hike between Kalaw and Inle Lake. How Amazing!!!!!
I walked with my guide across tea plantations, pine trees, rice plantations, garlic flower (cauliflower) plantations, saw cows, chickens, buffalos, sesame. The landscape changed all the time. Ah! full of orange trees!
The Pa Laung tribe/people are the ''wealthier'' ones as they live from the trade of tea (5 crops a year) and orange (1 crop a year). We've also passed a few Danu villages and made it to a school. This is a simple bamboo building with 3 boards where the teacher divides the class in different grades in the same place! I admire her!
Lunch was delicious at the viewpoint with just ripped avocado, pumpkin, chapati and bean soup! yummy! :)
Going back to the Danu village, it was very interesting to see them. They are less wealthy than the Pa Laung as they live from trading garlic and some kind of plant from which curry paste is made. These people were much more friendly and smily! We rested at the house of an old man. He was very sweet, with a simple house and was very proud of a goat horn he used as decoration. The living room was full of white rice bags and to contrast with the simplicity he showed me his TV and said they have their own supply of electricity some time during the day!
The hike went on down to the train rails and a wonderful tunnel! It was so much fun to go through it :) shouting and playing with the echo like a kid :) The stop in the train station was nice and relaxing and I discovered the ''regular tea'' which is quite a strong tea with condensed milk on the bottom. Super good!! so much that I took 2 of them and begged my guide to get me another one tomorrow! :)
It was sad to see that along the train rails it was full of rubbish, lots of carton and plastic... people don't know that they are destroying their beautiful place, they need to be educated on this...
And now in this little house, where they are all so friendly! I have the full top floor for myself. They prepared a simple bed with looots of covers, yes! No frio tonight! :) They have a mirror, they put a little table, some colorful clothing, a radio and posters of a Myanmar band the woman who lives here likes. From the balcony I can see beautiful rice fields while the sunset reflects on them! Soon I will have a wonderful dinner cooked by my guide who keeps showing me the veggies to se if I like them and I love them all :)
In the meantime I played football with the grand child of the old woman of the house! It was great fun, I clearly lost the ball most of time, which made him very happy and made me run a bit more! :)
Mmm delicious dinner: rice from the garden, cauliflowers, lady finger (a new veggies), another new veggies I don't remember the name and mixed veggies. Soup with ginger.... my veggies paradise. I am really getting my favorite food here! :)
And I arrived in Kalaw after 1,5 hours drive among rice fields, so beautiful!!!!! and Kalaw it's empty! I'm the only person in the hotel, jajajaja Am I so crazy?!?!/ No! it seems every year this week is like this due to Xmas, so I'm happy I am here and there are no tourist, I can have a better experience :)
Tomorrow I leave for the 3 days and 2 nights trek :) really cannot wait! I then decided to rest, write and read to have more energies for tomorrow! I will do the hike alone on day 1 and day 2 a guy will join in some village, great! I will sleep in home stays this time. According to the guide, staying in Monasteries is not so polite as we eat in front of the novices who are actually not supposed to eat.... Anyway, no WiFi until I get to Inle :) Time to read now :)
Wow! I'm in a village called Yazagi which is at my speed about 3 hours hike through the mountains and other villages from Pindaya and probably one of the most specials hikes I've ever done...
I'm alone with my guide, Bruno, no tourist at all and just happy locals around. Some collect and move the tea leaves that are drying in the sun, others are cleaning route vegetables in the polls of water getting ready for the market that is starting tomorrow, kids are learning the lesson before the Xmas Holiday exam.
Here they only use horses and motorbikes which are the new invention of the last 4 years! During the wet season (June - August), they have to walk through the rain and mud, but for them this is totally ok! They told me they have to take care of the roofs if they have a bamboo house and be be careful as winds and thunderstorms can be very, very strong. Some people lose everything every year.
The lucky ones have houses made of brick which takes years to build. One year they can afford the roof, the other the walls and so no... a true long term project.
The lunch stop at the house of a local in another village was unique: there is no electricity here so he lit the fire in the traditional way. We had green tea, veggies, rice and the tofu his wife prepared (this was the best!). He showed me the machines he has in his backyard to work: he has an old scale he uses to weight and sell his tea and other vegetables. Is this old fashion scale that works with weights; he uses something to pump wheels to press liquid out of some roots and he said very happy that he was finally able to get a ''new and modern'' machine for the tea leaves process... just amazing!
I got to know a few new vegetables but I cannot remember the name... I am a disaster with remembering names! jajaja
And then we continue walking and made it to Yazagi where happy kids were waiting before reaching this empty monastery! Wow! I have the full Monastery for myself, crazy!
The three mini monk novices working the land outside have the energy of any other 10-11 year old boy! They smile and play around and really cannot get still :) As with the other kids they are all so so soooo happy to take pictures and see themselves on them later on, they just go really crazy with this :)
While walking in the village I met a very special group of kids and we made a photo shoot session. I gave them poses and they would do them and I would take a picture Then they were shouting and running to me to take a look at the picture, the energy that they had is hard to describe. They were bursting with joy and happiness :) Of course I thought them to do my signature jumping picture and this was their favorite with no doubts :) and yes, I jumped with them as well. They were so happy, I could see it in their beautiful faces and smiles.
Now the sun is down, is getting cold but I feel so good! No matter what, today this place and these people brought me a lot of joy! :):) Soon I will eat in the Monastery, in the middle of the mountains in Myanmar... really in the middle of nowhere, its incredible and it feels so good!
And the dinner was amazing, the best since I've arrived. Bruno cooked some delicious dishes: lentils soup, fried tofu with tomato sauce, cabbage with peanut and haricots with tomato: all of this paradise for me :) Bruno learnt to cook when he was 9 as his parents are farmers and were all the time working, so someone needed to take care of the kitchen! I should learn from him...
While I was eating, my favorite 3 little mini monks were around me. So much energy! they really couldn't get still. We played a lot and when dinner was over they started singing songs and I was dancing with them. They even started making music with a flute and the pans and it went on and on! There were also two beautiful grey cats joining the party :) At the end I asked Bruno if the kids could eat, as normally monks don't eat after noon, I was not sure they could, but they could as they are only there temporary. This made me really happy as there were lots of left overs and I could tell they were hungry.
And now while I write this, I am in this big room, well its a full floor, there is no light, just one candle next to the Buddha statue and my flash light. Outside is ''dark moon'' day, so no moon today, but I can see up to deepest starts in the universe, its stunning! :)
At the same time, I have to admit that I will need to go to t he toilet and I am a bit scared! But it's ok, there is really no one around.. maybe this is what makes it a bit more scary!
What an intense experience, very humbling... These kids have nothing and they are really very happy, from the heart, full of smiles and joy! like all the rest of the people.
How grateful I am to be able to have this experience, lots to learn from these people.... time to sleep at 7:30 PM, good night!
I guess that it was only this morning that I realised where I was. When I opened my eyes and I saw a Buddha statue next to me and realised I was indeed in the monastery. I went for breakfast to find the joyful 3 mini monks having rice, curry and other food. The Monk that runs the monastery was also there having his breakfast. I had some coffee and gave the croissant to the kids.... and something happened on me but I couldn't stop crying. I still don't know how to explain it... it's just these 3 little ones have nothing and probably they never will and they are happy from the heart, happiness is really simple and within each of us...
