Part 1 https://th.readme.me/p/1848

Part 2 @ Bagan https://en.readme.me/p/1864

Part 3 @ Inle https://th.readme.me/p/1871

Episode 4 @ Pyin Oo Lwin https://th.readme.me/p/1872

Episode 5 @ Mandalay-Mingun https://en.readme.me/p/1873

Episode 6 @ Bago-Kyaikh tiyo https://th.readme.me/p/1874

We can talk about it here https://www.facebook.com/NotesfromBackpacker/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5: Bagan - Inle

Last night, the power went out around 3:00 am, but I slept comfortably because the weather was cold. I snuggled under the covers and enjoyed it.

6:30 AM. Went down for breakfast and checked out. 3 nights for 45 USD, but I chose to pay in Kyat, which came out to 56,000 Kyat. This saved me over 50 Baht compared to paying in USD. I also paid 1,200 Kyat for laundry.

7:30 AM. The car picked me up at the accommodation and took me to the bus station. On the way, it picked up people at 2-3 other locations.

The two-row car that came to pick up the goods

7.50 a.m. arrived at Bagan bus station (New Bagan bus station). The bus dropped us off in front of the JJ Express building, the same place we got off when we came from Yangon.

JJ Express Company Building

The bus that got

Bago Transport

This place has shops and restaurants, where I also stopped by to buy a 1,000 kip top-up card.

8.20 a.m. Departure

The interior of the car will have 3 seats per row, and the seats are spacious and comfortable with a TV screen and personal headphones.

The overhead luggage compartment has a secure lid.

The staff on the bus will ask where we want to get off.

Each seat also has a plug underneath for charging.

10:40 AM. Parked at the rest stop in Meiktila. 30 minutes were given to eat Mohinga (Burmese rice noodles) with 1 piece of Youtiao sprinkled on top for a total of 600 kyats. Also bought a soda for 800 kyats to cool down as the sun was scorching hot.

Rest stop

The shop inside has a lot of food to choose from.

Steaming hot and flavorful Mohinga

Burmese soda is refreshing and bubbly.

There are many shops in front.

11.10 a.m. The bus will depart and will stop at 2 rest stops for bathroom breaks before reaching the final destination.

3:00 PM. Stop at Kalaw town to drop off passengers before continuing the journey.

About 20 minutes after leaving the town of Kalaw, the view along the way was very beautiful. I'll come back again when I have the chance.

At 4:30 PM, the bus arrived at Nyaung Shwe town and stopped at the city entrance fee collection point. An officer boarded the bus to collect the entrance fee, which was 10 USD per person. Passengers could also pay in Kyat at a rate of 13,000 Kyat. The difference between paying in either currency was less than 2 baht, so I chose to pay in dollars.

Entrance fee payment point for Nyaung Shwe (city before entering Inle)

The officer came up to collect money in the car.

City Pass

4:40 PM. The car stopped in Nyaung Shwe city center, in front of the JJ Express building. When I got off, there were people riding tuk-tuk-like vehicles waiting to pick up passengers for 1,000 kyats each. I had researched 2-3 places to stay, but I wanted to start with Joy Hotel first.

The final stop of JJ Express in Yeongju City Market.

Two-row tuk-tuks waiting to pick up customers in front of JJ Express

After a while, we arrived at Joy Hotel. After looking at the room, we decided to stay here. There was only one twin bedroom available for 12 USD. It was a fan room with a shared bathroom located in the front building on the 3rd floor. It was the only room on this floor located directly under the roof gable, making it very private.

Joy Hotel

Inside the Lobby of the accommodation

Pay for accommodation upon check-in.

The sign says that they do not accept dollar bills produced before 2003.

The room I stayed in was A1, located on the 3rd floor. It was a very private room.

The room has 2 windows on each side, 3 windows in total, with excellent ventilation.

A second-floor balcony for breakfast prepared by the accommodation.

As my schedule for tomorrow includes a boat trip on Inle Lake followed by an evening journey to Mandalay, I needed to book tickets. So, I started by asking my accommodation about

The tour price + various ticket prices and also buy here. The price I got is

The boat has 2 programs, 15,000 and 20,000 baht. This price is a fixed price for one person. I chose 15,000 baht because it goes to one less place, but it's cheaper.

= The bus fare to Mandalay that I wanted was from JJ Express or Shwe Nan Taw, but both were full, so I got Shwe Thit Sar as a VIP bus at 7:30 PM. It's a 3-seat row bus for 16,000 kyats.

And since I bought the bus ticket here, I talked about leaving my luggage at the Lobby and taking a shower after returning from Inle Lake before the bus picks me up tomorrow.

Tour details for Inle Lake tomorrow

Bus tickets from Shan Thit Sar to Mandalay

I walked by the market and stopped for dinner at this restaurant.

Today, I ordered a Shan noodle salad with chicken for 1,000 kyats and a Myee Shee noodle soup for 500 kyats.

Order another plate of pickled tea leaves, 500 kyats.

After that, I felt like getting a little tipsy, so I went to Inle Palace to have a beer. The place was nice and cozy, so I ordered a large bottle of Mandalay beer for 1,500 kyats, down from the regular price of 2,000 kyats because it was happy hour. If I had ordered two bottles, I would have gotten one free, but one was enough for me. I also ordered a side of cashew nuts for 1,500 kyats, but it turned out that they already gave me a free snack of crispy fried dough. If I had known that, I wouldn't have ordered the cashews. Oh well!

Come and have a drink at this shop.

The ground floor is mostly empty, most people sit upstairs.

Mandalay Beer

There is free wifi to play with.

9:30 p.m. After having enough fun, we returned to our accommodation to rest and recharge for tomorrow's adventures.

*** From the JJ express parking lot, you can actually walk to Joy Hotel comfortably. The distance is probably 3-400 meters. If you are planning to stay there, it's better to prepare a map and walk there yourself instead of paying for a tuk-tuk. It's not difficult to find. This was my mistake. 55

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 6 : InLe Lake

7.00 am. Woke up to breakfast at the accommodation, which looked just like what I had in Bagan - fried eggs with salt ^^ Today's weather is pleasantly cold, with the phone app showing 20 degrees.

Cool and cold weather

During breakfast, a boat driver named Kay who was looking for accommodation came in and asked if we would like to share the boat with 2 more people from Vietnam. If we did, the boat fare would be reduced from 15,000 JAT to only 5,000 JAT. Hehe, let's do it! We can save a lot of money. He said he would refund the difference after the tour was over, but in the meantime, we had to wait for the 2 people to finish their breakfast. So I went out to take some pictures in front of the accommodation. Joy Hotel is located next to a canal, and in the mornings, boats bring vegetables and fruits to be unloaded here. It's a great way to experience the local way of life.

8:30 AM, we boarded a boat at the pier right next to our accommodation. It was so close! During this time, we saw tourists boarding boats and leaving periodically from the pier in front of our accommodation. The boat would travel along the canal for about 11 km before reaching Inle Lake. Our travel companions for the day were a couple from Vietnam with difficult names to pronounce, so they suggested we call them Bamboo and Chicken. The weather was very cold, and the wind was blowing hard. Brrr!

Leaving the canal in front of the accommodation to Inle Lake, there was thick fog all the way. I met other tourists and waved to each other.

View on the way to Inle Lake to the first place at the market

9.00 a.m. The boat docked at the pier to continue walking to the morning market. It was a very long walk, probably taking half an hour.

The traffic at the pier is very heavy.

On the way to the market

After walking for almost half an hour, I arrived at the fresh market. Kay gave me 30 minutes to finish shopping and then meet him at the market entrance.

The atmosphere of the fresh market, just walking around and looking.

Stopped by the market to buy ice cream to cool down for 100 baht (it's really sunny right now)

Then continue traveling to various places according to the program.

Umbrella shop, including souvenirs and handicrafts from the Karen Long Neck tribe.

Next is a silversmith shop, Gold & Silver smith work shop

I was walking around and saw a very beautiful necklace with intricate details. I asked the price and it was 660 USD. I just asked to see it, that's all.

It was exactly noon when the boat driver took us to this restaurant. The food was expensive, but we had no choice but to eat. So I found a simple menu that wasn't too expensive. As for Kay, the boat driver, he went to eat at the house next door, which had food prepared specifically for boat drivers.

A plate of chicken fried rice costs 3,500 kyats, which is about 100 baht. I also ordered a can of Coke for 1,500 kyats, which is about 40 baht. The prices are expensive and the customers are many and have to wait a long time ^^

The next one is Wat Phra That Doi Phra Chan.
Inside are 5 Buddha statues. People who come to worship also come to pray and apply gold leaf. The strong faith has led to the application of gold leaf in so many layers that it is impossible to see that it is a Buddha statue.

The atmosphere of the temple around

The next stop was the Lotus Fiber Handicrafts Shop. This shop has tours from Japan and Korea. Many people picked up one or two pieces, including two friends from Vietnam. They showed us every step of the production process.

The fabric shop here is observed to use teenage girls to sell goods, probably more than ten people, each of them is very cute. Like the girl in the picture, the real person is much cuter than the picture. Who goes to try to observe, hehe.

The boat that parked to drop off tourists to go shopping. The color is beautiful like candy.

The leisure game of the people here, I don't know what it's called, let's call it a checkerboard. I saw them take turns flicking colored discs to hit each other into the four corners.

The next stop is the ancient cigarette village, or "khii yo" cigarettes, made from some kind of leaves. Here, there will be small chairs in front of the villagers who are rolling cigarettes, and there are many different flavors of cigarettes to try for free. If we smoke, just pick up a new one or two and then throw it away in the ashtray. They don't mind. As far as I can see, this shop is probably the most popular among guides and boat drivers. After taking tourists around all day, they can come here and smoke as many cigarettes as they want, in as many flavors as they want. The look on everyone's face is pure bliss. 555 It is said that this is the largest cigarette production area in Burma.

Tourists can sit and roll their own cigarettes with various equipment provided. My friends are already testing them out and have bought several packs. They said many of their friends asked them to buy cigarettes from here. The small packs cost 1,000 kip, which is not expensive.

Today's travel companions from Vietnam are Bamboo and Chicken.

The Nga Phe Chaung Monastery, also known as the "Jumping Cat Monastery" by Thais, is a popular tourist destination. However, when I visited in the evening, I didn't see any cats. The temple also has shops selling local souvenirs.

The village of the Intha people

The last stop of today's tour was to watch the fishing. Actually, it was more like watching a show from the fishermen. If we wanted to get pictures of the fishermen with multiple actions, the boat driver would take us closer, with the agreement that we would pay a tip for the show. There were three of us in my group, and we each paid 2,000 kip. We wanted the pictures to be either normal or backlit, and the guy did it all. And luckily, this guy had a great costume, very colorful and contrasting with the atmosphere. ^^

"I got two already! Bring them closer so I can see."

But if you don't want to spend money, you can zoom in and see it periodically, but if you're not satisfied with the acting, that's it.

4:55 PM. Arrived at the accommodation and received a refund of 10,000 kip from Kay because someone helped share the boat fare. I also paid Kay a tip for the day and said goodbye to my Vietnamese travel companions. Then I went to take a shower on the ground floor of the accommodation so I could change my clothes and pack my bags neatly.

After that, I went out to find food to eat. This restaurant has delicious fried rice. I ordered chicken fried rice served with omelet, a large bowl of soup, and pickled cabbage salad. The rice is plentiful and everything is delicious. The damage was only 1,500 kyats. If you come from Joy Hotel, turn right at the first small intersection. Walk straight ahead and you will see two restaurants on the left. Walk into the second restaurant. After paying, I walked back to my accommodation and waited for the car to pick me up. I sat and played until 19.10 pm when a tuk-tuk came to pick me up at the bus company.

7:40 PM. Arrived at the bus boarding point. Gave my luggage to the staff to store under the bus. Then went up to my seat, which was 9C. It was the rightmost seat, as I had booked it because I wanted a single seat. But what I saw was that the bus of this company had 3 seats per row, which were all separated from each other. Although the condition was older than the JJ express that I wanted, overall it was not bad at all. In addition to the blanket and headphones provided, there was also 1 bottle of water, 1 can of soft drink and a set of toothbrush (brush + small tube of toothpaste).

7:50 PM. The car departs.

9:00 PM. Stop at the rest stop for 30 minutes.

10:45 PM. Stop at the second rest stop for 30 minutes.

1:15 AM. Depart and meet in the morning at Mandalay - Pyin oo Lwin

Episode 4 @ Pyin Oo Lwin https://th.readme.me/p/1872