This gallery contains 19 photos.
For this afternoon Sai had organized a trip to a small Inle Lake community, that – so far – is fairly untouched by tourism. We made it by truck to the head of the bridge, that later on led us … Continue reading
This morning I found myself on a bike again. We were a group of five, making the 10km from Nyaung Shwe (our Inle Lake base) to the pools of the Khaung Daing Nature Hot Spring.
At the hot spring they had four pools with water of different temperature – covering anything from warm to boiling hot. We spent about two hours here, before making it back to town for an upgraded lunch experience at probably the best restaurant in town.
We continued the drive from Pindaya after lunch – now heading straight for Nyaungshwe, our base for the next few days around Inle Lake.
On the way – what else could there be – we had a further stop at the Shwe Yan Pyay Monastery to visit the stupa and the temple. For this one, it is not the building or the artistic value that makes this outstanding – it is rather the whole atmosphere, peacefulness and tranquility of the place, that sinks in – – a worthwhile stop … even for someone close to or already being templed-out.
This gallery contains 15 photos.
Today we left Kalaw and were on our way towards Inle Lake. We however did a bit of a detour and had a stop at Pindaya and the Shwe Oo Min Natural Cave Pagoda. This pagoda is different (and certainly … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Today was another active day with an included hike to some of the hill communities around Kalaw. The hike was led by local guide Obama, who provided us with ample information about the local communities, the local flora and fauna. … Continue reading
In the Kalaw area a rotational market scheme is in operation. This means the farmers’ market is in a different location every day – and only returns to a location after five days. Today it was market day in Kalaw.
The farmers’ market is all about fresh produce, hence the market starts early in the morning. I therefor got up around 06:00, to have an early morning stroll around the market and see the market being set up.
When we got back from Mandalay Hill the hotel reception was packed. A group from India had just arrived and had started digging into the breakfast buffet. So – good timing to leave Mandalay.
We were now heading to Kalaw, further South and higher up in the mountains of the Shan state. A drive of about 250km was ahead of us. The first part on a modern highway – the last bit on a curvy mountain road. The trip took us about eight hours (including a good number of breaks … for coffee, lunch, toilets and banana cake).
We finally made it to Kalaw around 17:30 – with some time to spare to explore town (and its downtown Auung Chan Tha Pagoda) before meeting up for a Nepalese dinner.
This morning once more started with a quick temple trip. After breakfast we did jump on a truck to head up Mandalay hill to the escalator building heading for Su Taung Pyae Pagoda (yes … a building with a series of escalators leading up to the actual pagoda).
From the pagoda on top of the hill we had great views over town and towards other temples, but also the palace.
This gallery contains 18 photos.
After the palace things turned to the spiritual side again. We were now heading for Shwe In Bin Monastery (ရွှေအင်းပင် ဘုန်းကြီးကျောင်း), built in the late 19th century and made entirely from teak wood with loads of detailed wood carvings. The … Continue reading
After lunch we made it to Mandalay Palace.
While the palace dates back to the 1850s, most of the buildings were destroyed during world war II – the buildings on display today are mostly reconstructions done in the 1990s.
The original palace was the last palace of the kingdom of Burma, indeed the last two kings used to live here. Buildings all feature one story only (even if that may look different – exception of course the watch tower); the levels or spires of the roof though indicate the importance of the respective building.
We did enjoy a guided tour of the palace, including background on the last king; we also had the opportunity to get a view of the area from the watch tower.
