Day 238 Cool reception in Inlay

Brrrrr. It's freezing cold. The air conditioning in the night bus from Yangon to Inlay is running at full speed, cooling the bus down to 15°C. And I had thought of bringing a sweater, but not long pants.

When we made our breakfast stop at 5 o'clock in the morning, I was glad to get off the bus because it was warmer outside. At least I thought so, but I was completely wrong. The thermometer showed 9°C...

When the bus arrived in Inlay 2 hours later, the first thing I looked for in my backpack was a pair of long sweatpants and a jacket.

Then I took a tuk-tuk directly to the hostel where I could check in right away. After exploring the hostel, I wanted to talk to one of the staff members on the veranda. When I went outside, I couldn't believe what was happening. By that time, the sun had risen and was now scorching from the sky. I started sweating immediately in my warm clothes. It must have been around 30°C in the sun. So I had to take off all my warm clothes and switch back to my summer outfit.

I asked one of the staff members for a map of Inlay and then headed straight to the center of the small town. I went straight to my favorite place, the market.

It's so cool, in almost every city in Asia there are these food markets where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables. I strolled along the stands and stocked up on various fruits. Since I hadn't had breakfast yet, I also bought fried bananas and a type of potato croquette. Very delicious.

After the market, I walked around the city a bit, watching women wash clothes in the river, men repairing their vehicles, and tour boats heading towards Inlay Lake.

The center of Inle is perhaps just under ½ square kilometer in size, but it has around 15 temples and pagodas on this area. And they are still busy building new ones. There are also ruins of old pagodas that are left to decay, with new ones being built next to them.

I walked out of the city for a bit,

passing by a tomato shipping station and an artist.

And of course, I found more pagodas and a monastery.

When I wanted to make my way back to the city, I came across a small hut. The owner said he was a hairdresser and asked if I wanted a haircut.

Since it was about time for a haircut, I decided to let him cut my hair. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But he did a good job.

When he's not cutting hair, he produces drums for the monks together with his son.

When I returned to the city, rain clouds were forming, so I made my way back to the hostel. 10 minutes later, it started raining. The power also went out in the hostel. After about half an hour, the rain shower was over and the sun reappeared. The hostel owner played badminton with his daughter while the sun was setting.

And as soon as the sun was gone, it became cold again. Time for a hot shower.

Dressed warmly, I made my way to the night market to get something to eat. It was quite crowded at this market, so there were no free tables at the food stalls. I sat down next to an older lady who also looked like she was traveling alone. We immediately started talking and she turned out to be 65 years old and traveling alone in Myanmar for 3 weeks. She even offered me the rest of her beer because it was too much for her. We chatted for a while before heading back to our respective accommodations.