Myanmar (Burma) - Day 7 - Exploring Nyaungshwe

Morning rain was discouraging for exploring, but things cleared up and we made it out to see a bit of the town where we're staying, Nyaungswhe.  Located 3 miles north of Inle Lake and connected to it by a canal, the town is the jumping off point for exploring the lake.  We explored a bit by foot and bicycle today, and set up our boat tour for tomorrow.

Walking around, it becomes clear that the definition of where the lake actually is, is somewhat confusing.  Acres and acres of wetland and very wet farmland surrounds the lake, making the distinction between land and water ambiguous.

In town, the flat terrain makes drainage somewhat tricky, but the open sewer system slowly carris the morning's rainwater to the canal that links the town to the lake. 

 

Myanmar (Burma) - Day 6 - Bus to Inle Lake

Bus travel around Myanmar is just starting to respond to the tourist influx.  Reports I had read about the bus route from Bagan to Inle Lake were discouraging, but after asking at our hotel in Bagan and confirming that it was air conditioned, we opted for the 9 hour bumpy bus ride over winding roads through the mountains.  Seeing the some of the (very wet) country side and the mountains up close was an added bonus.

During our lunch break, some serious downpours broke out.  The restaurant where we stopped harvests the rainwater and uses as much of it as it can.  

We arrived in Inle Lake just in time for some afternoon downpours and a power outage, but both were quickly resolved.

Myanmar (Burma) - Day 5 - Mt. Popa

Located in the mountains East of Bagan, Mt. Popa is a volcano which includes a sheer-sided volcanic plug (Taungkalat) with a shrine located at its summit.  The 777 steps from the town at the base to the summit include shrines to 37 Burmese nats (spirits), as well as monkeys (and their droppings).  The climb is a sweaty one in the heat and humidity, but the views over the plains and nearby mountains are impressive from the summit.

On the drive there, we stopped at a palm plantation where they make palm oil, palm candy and palm whiskey, as well as some other peanut products using very low-tech processes.  Nothing quite like a shot of very strong palm whiskey to start off the day.

Myanmar (Burma) - Days 3 & 4 - exploring Bagan

After arriving by ferry yesterday, and the morning thunderstorms, Dave and I set out by bicycle into the 95 degree heat (we switched to electric bikes after sweating through the first day) to explore some temples in Bagan.

Located in Myanmar's dry central plain, Bagan is an almost endless sea of Buddhist temples.  Chronicles put early settlements in Bagan in the 2nd century C.E. with most of the temple construction occuring between the 9th and 13th centuries when Bagan was the capital of unified Burma.  After the fall to the Mongols in the 13th century, only a small village remained amongst the ruins.  Some of the temples have been worn away to ruins by wind erosion and earthquakes, some have been maintained over the years, and some have been restored (with much criticism of the materials and methods).

The Bupaya (rebuilt after earthquake damage in 1975) was once located near the center of what used to be the rectangle of Old Bagan, but now sits on the river's edge as erosion over the years has reshaped the river's path.

Myanmar (Burma) - Day 2 - ferry from Mandalay to Bagan

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Just left Myanmar yesterday (Oct 4), and got a reliable internet connection

7am departure on the Shwe Keinnery ferry from Mandalay headed toward Bagan.

The river is high this time of year and we moved relatively swiftly downriver toward Bagan. (about a 9 hour trip)  The Ayeyarwaddy (Irawaddy) River is the main river of Myanmar and before the recent construction of the Yangon - Mandalay highway the main shipping route for the country's major cities.  Development along the river reflects this as the river valley is lined with small villages, agricultural fields, and of course, gold stupas.  The river is given a wide berth through the central plains as seasonal variation in rainfall can turn islands into wetland and wetland into just water.  During our stay in Myanmar flooding was reported in the Ayeyarwaddy watershed, and fixed pieces of infrastructure that we passed (bridges, seawalls, etc.) seemed to be near their maximum allowable water height.

As we arrive into Bagan (technically, we arrive into Nyaung-U, but it's a short ride to Old Bagan and New Bagan), the landscape shifts slightly from wide open plains to clay bluffs along the river.  The original shape of Old Bagan, a rectangle, has been worn away by the Ayeyarwaddy over the past millenium, and now is something more like a trapezoid, or almost a triangle.  The views onto the bluffs are dramatic though.