41. to 44. Day, Friday, February 6, 2015, Nyaung Shwe on Inle Lake

Mingalaba (Good evening),

I greet you all in cold Germany. It is also cold here when various employees of the bus company once again let the monster 'air conditioning' run wild, even though I always thought that an air conditioner cools down to a maximum of 16 degrees. I have now been taught better, you can even get it down to 15 degrees!!! What drives someone to keep cooling when it is already cold? I can't tell you.

It was a night drive from Yangon at 6 pm, arriving in Nyaung Shwe on Inle Lake at 5:30 am the next morning, and since the town is located at an altitude of 900 m, it is bitterly cold at night and in the morning, about 5-10 degrees! And now again the question of why cool when it is cold and everyone on the bus is already sitting with a thick jacket or anything else that warms them? Well, let's leave it at that and get to the point: the air conditioning is the most terrible invention in human history.

Fortunately, the reward for the torment came promptly in the form of Nyaung Shwe and the entire area including Inle Lake, which is once again wonderfully beautiful. Nyaung Shwe itself (although the main town here on Inle Lake) is small, manageable, and contemplative, and the people here are very friendly again. So, as I said, arrival was in the morning and I could easily check into my beautiful and clean hotel room, which was perfect, so I could sleep for another 2-3 hours before I turned to the town.

10:30 am, it was time to explore the area. So I borrowed a bicycle from the hotel again, this time a model without a front brake and only half a rear brake, perfect conditions for a bike tour in the town and the surrounding mountains. Or what do you think?

As soon as I started, I saw the first pagodas in the town, and there are several of them and each one is more beautiful than the other. In the afternoon, as I said, we went up into the mountains. My destination was the Tha Eing Pagoda, which is beautifully located in a cave. The local monk, who has been living and meditating in the cave for 20 years, greeted me very warmly and promptly invited me for tea and salted snacks. Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye soon and leave because it was getting dark. I ended the beautiful day with a great traditional Burmese massage, which was a relaxing end to the day.

The next day, I headed out to Inle Lake. In the morning, I drove to the pier with my super bike, chartered a boat, and off we went. I already felt a bit like a pasha, as I had my boat all to myself and my driver, who was maybe 15 years old, did a great job. He took me to all the sights that you should see over the following 8 hours. A little side note: when we started in the morning, it was 8 degrees again, and you can imagine how the wind whipped ice-cold into my face. Fortunately, the temperature rose to over 30 degrees in the next 3 hours.

Soon after departure, we saw the first famous fishermen and one-legged rowers with their traditional fishing baskets on the lake. We continued to the first stop at the other end of the lake, the Phaung Daw U Pagoda, with a small market in the entrance area where you could buy a lot of handicrafts.

Afterwards, we went to the village of 'Fabric Weaver Art', where the famous longyis are still produced today. They are worn throughout Myanmar. We also visited the silver factory and the tobacco factory, where the famous clove cigarettes and cigars are hand-rolled. And I immediately tried a clove cigarette, which had a mild and delicious taste. If I lived here, I would probably be a smoker because of that. Then a delicious lunch and a visit to some small shops, and finally to the famous floating gardens, where it was tomato season. Then we returned to Nyaung Shwe across the lake. Unfortunately, this beautiful trip was already over. In the evening, I had a really delicious meal.

Another beautiful day comes to an end.

Then it was time to go to bed, as I had to get up early again, my bus was waiting for me at 8, and it took me on a 7-hour beautiful mountain drive to Mandalay, where I am now and looking forward to tomorrow.

Thwa mae naw (Goodbye)