January 12-15. We left you after a day on the boat on Inle Lake. We still have wonderful memories of that day. But let us bring you up to date.
On the 12th, the 4 of us took a 5 mile hike from the Aquarius Inn into the surrounding countryside. It felt good to walk after being on the boat all day. We walked about 3/4 mile to get out of town accompanied by a potpouri of motorcycles, bicycles, tractor-carts, passersby, cars and buses. As we continued beyond Nyuangshwe on a dirt road, the traffic lessened considerably and soon we found ourselves basically alone walking amidst crops of sugar cane and vegetables. Before long, we found ourselves in a small village. We hiked up to a cave we had read about. There we were met by a monk who had flashlights and gave us a guided tour of the small recesses of the cave. Meditation areas and Buddha statues were everywhere and the cave was more extensive than we originally thought. On the way out, the monk proudly pointed to a small solar panel which we think will eventually provide lights to the cave.
We walked further uphill past a little school with children singing (for us?), a few more small villages and finally a view of the lake. Gradually we meandered our way down the hill and back to our inn. We ate an an Indian restaurant that night. The next day we rented bikes and biked out to the 5 day market in MaingThauk, about 8 miles away via flat road. We passed a place where the paving of the road was being done by hand. They poured tar on the surface and placed rocks on top of it (women doing this part). We made it to the market just before it closed at noon, but in time to buy a few souvenirs. Then we had lunch at a lakeside restaurant--noodles of course. On our way back, we stopped at Red Mountain Winery to sample 4 of its wines--one red (Tempranillo), one rose (sweet), two whites (Sauv Blanc and Late Harvest). The Late Harvest was excellent--surprise! Roger liked the Sauv Blanc and Kathy liked the Tempranillo. The rose was like syrup (yuck!). Then we were invited to join, but begged off on, a winery tour conducted in Russian. Finally we mounted our trusty bikes and wobbled downhill to our Inn. The bicycles were designed for Asians, so seats don't raise high enough for us....and the brakes are questionable. But we had 5 gears and relatively good seats, so who could complain. That night we had a wonderful Inle Lake fish dinner in town at Thanaka.
Yesterday was a travel day. I (Kathy) was nervous about it because Myanmar airlines don't always go as planned. For instance, if there are not enough passengers, they just don't fly. And the flight from Inle Lake to Yangon was the first leg of our trip home. So we wanted it all to work. And it did. We are now back in Hanoi (Inle Lake to Bagan to Yangon to Hanoi) and discovered a new airport since we were here last 6 weeks ago. It is stunning! We don't know what happened to the old airport, but we certainly agree that the new one is an improvement.
Today, we will do a little shopping, a little sight-seeing, have a fancy Vietnamese dinner and then tomorrow morning head back to Hong Kong and LAX. It has been a wonderful adventure! Signing off...unless something stupendous happens today. Oh wait! The four of us made a list of funny things that happened on our journey as well as a list of our "Best" and "Worst." We'll post this later. So maybe you will want to return.
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