When the alarm went off at 4.45am I had to remind myself how much I had been looking forward to our holiday in Myanmar. I had arranged early flights so we would have a whole day in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), we were visiting three places in Myanmar so we wanted to make the most of each day.
On arrival at Yangon airport we were greeted by our travel agent and taken to The Governor’s Residence Hotel which is in a quieter part of town surrounded by foreign embassies.
With the exception of the flights from Bangkok I had booked the whole trip through the agent in Yangon, I provided the itinerary and they dealt with the hotel reservations, internal flights, and provided all transfers.
Without even unpacking we set off to explore Yangon, our ‘must see’ was the beautiful Shwedagon Paya. Kipling called it ‘a golden mystery…a beautiful winking wonder’, and it truly is. Shwedagon is the most sacred of all Buddhist sites in the country, and one which all Burmese hope to visit al least once in their lifetime.
Our next stop was the 70-year-old Bogyoke Aung San Market in town. Although US dollars are used everywhere we needed to exchange some for the local currency Kyat (pronounced chat) for small purchases and tipping, and we had been advised the market was the best place for this. Whilst trying to decide where to begin looking we were approached by someone who said his jewellers shop was also an exchange bureau and this was common practice. Being naturally untrusting we followed cautiously through the market, and at the point we decided we had gone far enough, we reached his shop. Sure enough they were able to exchange the dollars at the current rate, with the devalued currency we acquired a huge wad of kyat in exchange for a single $100 note.
On the way back to the hotel we drove through the centre of town and could see evidence of how lovely Yangon once must have been. Although now sadly in a bad state of disrepair, there are many beautiful old colonial buildings interspersed with the Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples. In the evening we went back into town to eat, we caught a taxi from the hotel, a 1954 Mercedes-Benz. Tin-Su, the driver, proudly explained it had been his grandfather’s, and the once glorious vehicle seemed to epitomise the ambience of Yangon.
The following day before leaving, we visited The Strand Hotel which has been restored to its former glory. Although only 11am it was wonderful to sit in the elegant Stranded Bar in one of the famous Raffles hotels sipping cocktails. After a short flight North East to Heho we were driven to Nyaung Shwe which is the main town at Inle Lake. From there we transferred to our hotel, The Inle Princess Resort, by a flat-bottomed long boat as this is the only means of access to the lake. The boat engine had to be turned off about 200 yards before we reached the hotel to preserve the peace and quiet. Inle Lake is famous for its leg-rowers who stand at the stern of the boat on one leg with the other wrapped around the oar to propel the boat forward, we stopped to pick up two leg-rowers to complete our journey.
We arrived at the hotel just before sunset, I have to say it was the most serene setting of any hotel I have ever seen, placed at the North of the lake with a mountainous backdrop. Inle Lake is 22km long and 11km wide with very calm waters around 3m deep which is dotted with floating vegetation, there are high hills on both sides of the lake. We had arranged a boat the previous day, so after breakfast we set off on a tour of the lake. It was amazingly beautiful, the vastness of the lake was enhanced by sitting so low in the water. We passed many floating islands where the Intha people grow crops such as tomatoes, beans and egg-plants, we saw the fishermen with cone-shaped nets stretched over bamboo frames, and visited several of the villages.
Each village is supported by a different industry, there is silk-dying and weaving, a silversmiths, a blacksmiths, cheroot making, umbrella and paper making, and of course there just had to be a floating market. We spent two days at Inle Lake,
it is so beautiful and peaceful and we enjoyed having time to absorb it all. One of the most surreal experiences was being rowed away from the hotel at 6am. On reaching the main canal we passed some women doing their washing in the lake whilst others bathed their children.
As we drove away from Nyaung Shwe young monks filed along the streets collecting rice in their alms bowls. Another short flight took us West to Bagan, an ancient city on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River with over 2,217 monuments in an area of 40 sq km.
Our hotel, “The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate” was at the city gates of Old Bagan. The best and most interesting way to see the temples of Bagan is by horse and cart, and many of them were parked just outside the hotel entrance. After negotiating a day rate we jumped up on the cart, although in my case in a non too ladylike manner, and trundled off along the sandy tracks. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to make it through the day without disappearing off the back of the cart, as with each bump in the track I seemed to nudge closer to the edge of the seat, however I managed to stay put and began to enjoy the experience.
Each time we stopped to look round a temple we were surrounded by local residents selling souvenirs, they were persistent in trying to persuade us to buy, which is understandable as for many this is their only source of income. The older girls and women asked us for lipstick and shampoo, whilst the children wanted pens for school. Being unprepared for this we had nothing to give them apart from the lipstick I was carrying, so the next day we went to a local market where we were able to buy shampoo and pens and took all of the toiletries from the hotel room to give out. I would recommend anyone visiting Bagan to take pens, cosmetics and toiletries with them as so many of these things have limited availability. Myanmar people welcome tourists in their country, tourism being one of the few industries from which they benefit.
Visiting the country was an unforgettable experience and I would recommend it to anybody!