Inle Lake (March 8-March 11, 2012)

As famous as Bagan is for its history, Inle Lake is famous for its natural beauty and people. The 116 square kilometer lake is home to the Intha people, who continue to live in small stilted communities along the lake’s shore. They make their living from the lake by fishing, gathering seaweed, making fabrics from lotus flowers, and gardening. The men row distinctively across the lake, standing at the stern and paddling with one leg wrapped around an oar as they fish with large, hand-woven baskets. It is a way of life we can only imagine is fast-declining, but is still thriving here. 

As an introduction to the area we took a boat tour around the lake. While the trip was a little touristy, we enjoyed visiting a nearby market, seeing several of the handicraft shops (including the cigarette rollers and lotus weavers), chatting with the other travelers in our boat, getting up close to fishermen, paddling through stilt houses, and receiving enthusiastic waves from locals busily paddling or motoring across the lake. It was a wonderful way to see the area and a great way to spend Nora’s birthday! That evening we had dinner with a German couple from our boat tour at a local restaurant/bar. It was a fun birthday dinner for Nora, made better by running into two Americans traveling around Myanmar together, dressed as Mario and Luigi. We aren’t sure what the locals were making of their costumes and facial hair, but we thought it was pretty funny.

On our second day here we went on a walk outside of town, through some small villages. The people here, as everywhere in rural Myanmar, were incredibly friendly. Though we had a language barrier, people happily greeted us with a friendly “mingalaba!” and a wave. Our final destination was a winery in the hills where we did a tasting of some of the local wine. It was not the best wine we’d ever had, but it was a fun treat, nonetheless.

The town of Nyaungshwe, where we stayed, had an interesting local market that we liked to browse. It was bustling with locals and full of stands for traditional skirts (longgi), woven shopping bags, produce and meat, and everything your average Burmese person might need. It was also home to some great, cheap food stalls and we ate here more than once, sampling grilled fish from the lake, the Burmese take on Indian roti, and “husband and wife cakes” (mote lin mayar). While we were here the town experienced a terrible fire that took out about half of a block near downtown. It was a chaotic scene with hundreds of bystanders clogging the streets and locals fighting the fire with garden hoses and plastic buckets full of water. By the time the “fire truck” arrived and made its way through the crowds, the fire had nearly burned itself out.Though the mood of the town was decisively nervous, it was amazing to watch locals come together to help put out the fire as quickly as possible and then begin demolishing and rebuilding the next day.

Click on the photo below for our Inle Lake photo album.

Bagan (March 4-March 8, 2012)

Bagan is easily one of the most magnificent sites in all of southeast Asia. In the 11^th century, King Anawrahta began building the capital of his empire on the plains along the Irrawaddy River, and during this period, over 10,000 stupas and temples are believed to have been constructed here. Over two-hundred years later, Bagan fell into decline and disuse. What remains now are the ruins of over two thousand beautiful brick stupas and stone temples scattered across 42 square kilometers. Though the temples and stupas are incredibly beautiful themselves, it is the panoramic views of the unbelievable landscape from the top of any of the tallest temples that really makes Bagan so amazing.

We explored the site by bicycle for two days, riding along dirt trails to visit some of the more obscure temples, and riding in the dust clouds of large tourist buses at the more popular ones. Some of the temples have incredible frescoed interiors while others have intricately carved reliefs decorating their exterior. Some of our favorites included Thatbyinnyu and Dhammayangyi Temples (Bagan’s tallest and biggest overall temples, respectively), and Ananda Temple which was most spectacular at sunset when its golden pagoda seemed to glow. No two temples or pagodas are alike and they are all amazing, which is what makes Bagan such an incredibly special place and one of our favorite destinations of the entire year.

Click on the photo below for our Bagan photo album.

Mandalay (March 2-March 4, 2012)

From Pyin Oo Lwin we headed west to Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. The city is fairly large, with about one million residents, and is located on the Irrawaddy River. Unfortunately, the city’s primary tourist attractions are all run by the country’s military dictatorship, so all entrance fees collected support the regime. We decided we didn’t want to contribute financially to the government more than we had to, so we skipped the city’s main sites, opting instead to do a walking tour that led us to several pretty pagodas and through the extensive markets.

One evening we also attended a “Moustache Brothers” comedy show. The troupe of three real brothers has been performing for decades and their anti-government satire has cost them dearly: two of the brothers, Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw, spent six years doing hard labor after a performance at Ang Sang Suu Kyi’s home in 1996 and Par Par Lay was re-arrested in 2007. Since his release, the government has backed off a little and seems to look the other way as the brothers perform nightly shows in their garage (but the audience is foreigners only). It was a fun mix of comedy and traditional Burmese dance, but it was their unflinching commitment to speaking out against their oppressive government that truly left us awe-struck.

From Mandalay, we jumped aboard a ferry for a scenic, eight-hour journey down the Irrawaddy River to Bagan. Unfortunately, the dry season meant the rivers were running a bit low, and despite the efforts of the two depthfinders perched at the front of the ferry (two guys with long poles), we kept running up on sandbars. Usually, we were able to move off of them fairly quickly, but one particular sandbar toward the end of our journey kept us stuck for over two hours. Fourteen hours later, we arrived in Bagan.

Click on the photo below to view our Mandalay photo album.