The middle of Myanmar

After Yangon and Bago, my friends and I went north to cooler temperatures and more adventures. Our first stop was to a small mountain city named Kalaw. Our main reason to go to Kalaw was to do a trek to Inle Lake. Before our trek, we visited the city of Pindaya which was just down the road from Kalaw. Pindaya is famous for the Pindaya Cave which contains over 6,000 images of Buddha. While the cave was pretty interesting, the real story was getting to and returning from Pindaya. In the morning, we took the local truck taxis which were filled to the brim with people, food and everything in-between. It tooks us around 3 hours to travel the 30 km. In the afternoon, we found out that there were no truck taxis leaving town. We had two options, rent a private taxi which was super expensive or spend the night there. We decided on option three, hitch-hiking. After walking a couple kilometers we were picked up by a truck which drove us maybe 3 or 4 km down the road. The passengers in the truck took us to their village to inquire about a ride. While we were in the village, a range rover drove through and picked us up. (Actually, my friends pretty much jumped in front of the car and they talked the driver into giving us a ride). Pretty fun!

Our trek to Inle Lake was three days and two nights and we covered around 50 km. Our first day we visited a festival which had gambling and a giant rocket contest. Each village built a full size version of a bottle rocket and the rocket that went the farthest won money. Most of the rockets crashed after take off but one I swear went into orbit. I think it flew almost 300 meters. Our first night of the trek we stayed in a house in local village and our second night, we stayed in a monastery. Throughout our three days of walking, we saw gorgeous landscapes filled with lush green fields and rocky mountains and met the most friendly people. It was a great experience.

Inle Lake is a vast lake that is surrounded on all sides by mountains. The lake is 22 km long and 11 km wide and is home to almost 70,000 people. While we were in Inle Lake we visited stilt villages that were built on the lake, we saw floating gardens on the lake that grew all sorts of food and we visited a monastery where the monks taught cat how to jump through hoops. Also, I enjoyed some of the best homemade woodfire pizzas at a local restaurant.

After Inle Lake, we traveled to Mandalay. Two words that describe Mandalay is hot and dusty. The highlight of Mandalay is Mandalay Hill which gives you a panoramic view of the city and is a great spot to see the sunset. Also, my friends and I ate at a street vendor which offered a delicious curry and chapita meal for $.33. A day trip outside Mandalay is Minguin, Sanguin, Inwe and Amapura. Minguin had a unfinished temple which was 50 km high and a 90 ton bell which they thankfully did not ring when I was there. Sanguin had over a 1,000 temples built there. Amapura had the world's longest teak bridge measuring 1.2 km.

Just north of Mandalay was Pwin OO Lwin. My friend and I took the train there. While we were in Pwin OO Lwin we rented bikes and visited the Botanical garden. Also, there was a golf course in Pwin OO Lwin so when in Rome ... Suffice to say after a hour at the driving range, I realized why I had not played in two years, I suck! But I did meet some cool locals who were pretty good and they tried to talk me into playing but I thankfully declined.

One of the most popular places to visit in Myanmar is Bagan. Bagan is home to over 4,000 Buddhist temples and one Hindu temple. The best way to see the temples is by bike which my friend and I did. There are a plethora of temples - tall, small, wide, short, etc, etc. On our way back on bike, we got caught in a torrential rainstorm. By the time I got back to my guesthouse I was completely drenched and so was my digital camera. Luckily two days later, it came back to life. The temples were very beautiful and definitely worth checking out.

One the last places that I visited in Myanmar was Mount Popa. Mount Popa is sacred to the Myanmese people because it home to 37 Nats or Spirits. Visiting Mt. Popa was an interesting experience. While the temple was really nice, it was the wild monkeys that were the real story. They jumped on people, shit all over the place (no shoes were allowed in the temple), and they were scary. I even saw a monk aiming a slingshot at the monkeys, not a good sign. With that being said, I have a great time in Myanmar.