Andrea Hearts Traveling

After 5 hours of walking down the hill we finally arrived in Inle lake and enjoyed a nice lunch and said goodbye to Pyu, who put us on a boat to Nyang Shwe, the main touristy town in Inle lake.

The only reason people go to Kalaw is to do a 2 or 3 day hike all the way to Inle lake and although I am not a big fan of hikes people had recommended it so I decided to do it.

In order to get to Kalaw we had to take a bus from Mandalay. I first asked the hotel for bus tickets and they said it was a 9 hour ride so we picked a night bus. Later on Zarina told us that the van takes only 5 hours and after inquiring at the hotel it turned out the lady at the front desk knew nothing and in fact the bus was a 5 hour ride, meaning that instead of arriving really early in the morning we would get to Kalaw at 2am. So annoying!

I slept the whole way and once we got to Kalaw at 2am we got out of the bus and it was freezing! Kam and I started walking towards the hotel we booked for the night only to arrive and be told we had no reservation! I was fuming! I had talked to the guy, agreed on a price, and he knew we would be there for only 6 hours and now we had no place to sleep. I kept on insisting and finally the guy handed us a key for a triple room.

Our friend Joke had arrived the day before to Kalaw and she had set up the hike with one of the hiking companies in town. At 9am we were at the meeting point and joined Joke, Zarina, Jayden and the other 6 strangers in our group.

Myanmar had been such an expensive country that the 39,000 kyats charged for the hike (all inclusive) for three days felt as if we were saving money… A lot of money!

We had booked a bus from Bagan to Mandalay from Ostello Bello and they promised a pick up at 9pm but by 9:30pm no one had come for us. Long story short they forgot about us and Ostello Bello paid a taxi to take us to the bus stop. The taxi driver thought he was very funny and started teasing us and saying that the bus had left already; thankfully when we arrived it was there waiting for us.

I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but busses in Myanmar are the best! The VIP busses come with a blanket, a toothbrush, toothpaste, water, soft drink/energy drink, and snacks! They are also very spacious and they recline like I’ve never seen before!

After a couple of hours in the bus we arrived in Mandalay at 2-3am and we had to deal with taxi drivers. Luckily, 4 other tourists were dropped off there too and we were able to negotiate a fair price and split the cab with 2 other people.

Oh Bagan!

I can say that Bagan has been one of the highlights of my trip!

The place is not only beautiful but there is something magical (and fun) about riding e-bikes (or e-bikeys as the kids outside the hostels call them) on dirt roads and see temples come out left and right.

No pictures or words can describe the beauty of Bagan!

After the first sunrise Kam and I decided to go back for some breakfast and then start exploring Bagan.

Just like I did 3 sunrises I did 3 sunsets!

The first day Kam and I decided to go on the free sunset from my hostel, Ostello Bello.

It was at least 15 e-bikes following one guide, at one point a cow crossed the road and we (me and some others) had to wait while the guide and 12 bikes kept on going. Kam turned right thinking that that's where people went but I saw them go straight and had to wait for her to turn around and come back to the main road. By then my e-bike was acting up the battery indicator kept going up and down and the bike wouldn't go fast. Needless to say we lost the group and were on our own. Being lost didn't mean we gave up, I quickly looked at my map and we drove to a spot. Unfortunately, because of earthquakes that one temple was closed and we couldn't go up so we walked around really fast, and got back on our e-bikes and went to look for another temple to climb and enjoy the sunset.

Inle

Kalaw to Inle Lake hike

Mandalay

oh Bagan!!!

Sunset(s) in Bagan

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