Mr & Missy in Myanmar - Day 4 - 22 Dec 2013

We were ready and packed our bags by 7:30 am and headed to breakfast.  The previous night, we had arranged with the boatman to fetch us at 8 am. Our plan was to have breakfast, check-out from hotel but leave our bags at the lobby, go around Inle Lake, collect our luggage from hotel and go back to Nyaung Shwe Jetty.

At the beautiful Royal Inle Resort / Inle Palace Resort

Such a friendly local!

 The people of Inle Lake (or Intha People) are well-known for their leg-rowing technique.

We cruised past a flock of seagulls.  Initially they was just resting on the water surface. When they saw us approaching with our hands raised the sky, they realized we had food for them so started flying towards us! 

Bring a packet of bread and just throw towards them in bite-sized pieces. They would surely catch (:

 At the silver smith workshop, we found an interesting hat - made of elephant teeth! The shop owner lady told us that it is usually worn by village chief for ceremonies?

 Souvenir photo with a Padaung lady inside one of the many shops dotted around the Inle Lake

Padaung is an ethnic minority group, known for their ladies wearing copper neck rings.

I think you should only buy silverware from Inle Lake. Even then, do not be afraid to bargain from 50% of the original asking price or so.  Mister bought 2 dog-shaped jade display pieces for 7,500 Kyats each.  A few days later, we saw the exact same pieces in Yangon's Scott Market for 3,000 Kyats each! So remember, just silver.  But from the sellers in boats, you can buy lotus flowers & seagull snacks.

After about 2 or 3 stops at shops, we finally reached In Dein mini Jetty around 10 am. The creek had gotten extremely narrow for safe travel with boats so we had to walk from jetty to the base of pagoda hill for about 15 minutes.  There is a sheltered staircase (over 2000 feet) to go up to the top of the hill that has a whitewashed pagoda with a Buddha image inside. However, the highlight is clusters of hundreds of ancient stupas around the hill and along the staircase. Over 1000 pagodas displayed architectural designs from 14th to 18th century. While most of them are ruins and are covered in bushes, they still have their own charm. One could not help but imagine what it would have been like during the heydays while enjoy a nice cooling breeze while listening to the sweet sound of ringing bells. 

The restaurant where we had lunch around 12 noon 

A must-try green tomato salad

During the boat ride around Inle lake, green tomato plantations can be spotted easily.

 Shan Hta-Min / Shan Rice 

It tasted like rice salad :D

 Another must-try!

Nga Hta min / Fish Rice

The portions are quite small. Girls can easily eat 1.5 servings of these rice dishes while guys can devour 2 servings! Don't worry about the prices, they were pretty affordable. If I remember correctly, each rice dish was about 1,000 Kyats.

 Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda

It is one of the most famous pagoda in Inle Lake. 

 The pagoda houses 5 Buddha images, which are covered in gold leaf to the point that their original forms cannot be seen.

 Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery is famous for their many cats that are trained to jump through hoops.

We skipped float market so we were back to hotel by 2:30 pm.  We took a few minutes to freshen up and loaded the boat with our luggage and bid goodbye to the beautiful lake. 

We reached back to Nyaung Shwe Jetty around 3 pm and our driver met us there and drove us straight to Taunggyi - the capital of Shan State. We checked in to the hotel around 4+ pm and it was already getting colder! We were left on our own and the 3 guys decided to meet their local friends for dinner. Meanwhile, my sister, Mister & I waited for our cousin to fetch us for dinner.

 It was just 5 pm but we were hungry. So we ate Chicken Noodles & Egg Prata, waiting at a coffee shop near the hotel. The noodle dish was just 700 Kyats and both noodles and accompanying soup were excellent.

 Since we just had some snacks, my cousin brought us to Swe Taw Pagoda first.

DINNER!  There were dishes other than this fish soup, of course. But we were hungry and ate them before I got a chance to take photos so yeah, this was the only evidence of yummy dinner! Remember to eat lots of vegetables in Taunggyi as there are abundance of locally grown fresh vegetables.

Adios!

xoxo

Miss N

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Dec 2013 Trip Itinerary

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2014/03/mr-missy-in-myanmar.html

Day 1

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2014/04/mr-missy-in-myanmar-day-1-19-dec-2013.html

Day 2

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2014/04/mr-missy-in-myanmar-day-2-20-dec-2013.html

Day 3
http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.sg/2014/04/mr-missy-in-myanmar-day-3-21-dec-2013.html