The Black Rose was our restaurant of choice. Last night I regretted ordering prawns - my tummy felt a little queasy this a.m. - I ought to have known better but I was taken in by the waitresses assurances!!
Tonight, on the basis of reviews, I ordered a local white fish cooked in limes. It was delicious and CC had roasted duck (a little too roasted for our liking ). There is one Myanmar brand of wine, as far as I am aware - red and white. We’ve tried both and both are acceptable. Wine is only produced in Lake Inle and as we’ll be there in two days time we’ll check if there are other varieties.
As in the previous evening, the restaurant was patronised by foreigners. On our way in we spoke to two young girls from Bristol. They were in the final days of a three month tour of Asia. It is possible to take an early morning balloon ride over Began (US$300). I considered it but I am always worried about the safety features in countries such as this. The girls said it was their last spurgle to end their trip on a high note. I agreed and acknowledged that I now regret not taking this balloon ride.
We tuk tuked back to the hotel.
This morning, we had a hotel pick up at 07:30 - a mini bus that would take us to Thazi . As we awaited the bus the balloons were returning from their journey - they leave in darkness, fly over the temples, the sun rises and return at dawn to a real champagne breakfast - more regrets!
The mini bus arrived within minutes of the appointed time. A few passengers were aboard but the bus filled to capacity as we departed the area at 08:30. The passenger profile was not as I expected - with the exception of one young man, the age profile was 60+ !
At 14:30, the driver announced that we had arrived in Thazi - earlier than we had expected. The driver had made great progress - the main road is quite good unlike the dirt roads of the towns. Were the driver not to have informed us, we’d still be on the bus!! Taking down our bags, he pointed to a nearby hostel. We had already booked Moon Light closeby.
We checked in. The lady and her daughter spoke excellent English. She even allocated us her only ground floor room as there are no lifts.
NOTE: In the GB, the Moon Light had been recommended but when we tried to book through sites such as Bookings.com etc. , all sites advised us that it was full and the nearest alternative was 12 miles away!! Untrue, the hotel receptionist rang and booked us a room. On arrival, we saw another guest house next door. GB only listed the Moon Light.
We walked around the town.
It is remote.The only people who come here were those interested in taking the slow train to Kalaw, a former British station situated in the mountains, as a relief from the lowland heat.
Amazingly, we met up with two ladies, Andrea and Elka whom we had met on the boat on the Irrawaddy. It reminded me of similar meetings when we drove Route 66. Andrea had perfect English, Elka was not as fluent but pretty good. They are from Freiburg; both met in kindergarten. The former is a financial analyst married to a German professor, the other a travel agent. As we came out of our room, they were sitting in our guest house having drinks. We left them to go to the Railway Station !
Foreigners are a curiosity here. The only tourists are rail buffs taking the train from Thazi. It was a surreal experience with children waving to us in the streets and adults wishing to shake our hands!! The railway station was a shadow of its colonial grandeur - very run down but continues to be an active station.
Later, we walked down the town checking out a restaurant the girls had been recommended. We were not impressed and thought our guest house was a better bet.
En route a train passed. Having just left Tsazi station.
On our return, the girls were already eating in our guest house. They had the only bottle of French wine in the house which we had earlier said we would have with dinner. All the other wines. didn't impress so the lady of the house went to her cousin to get bottles he had taken from her previously. She returned with one though as the girls ordered another, we needed two!! The lady of the house took off again but returned to report that there was no more!! There is no liquor store in the town -population 20,000!! The girls then decided on whiskey - again the man of house went off and returned with a premium whiskey and coke. In the interim, we had both eaten a fabulous soup and beef curry, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water and two large beers K20,000 The Burmese people retire early. We retired at 20:30 , the girls a half hour before.
Tomorrow a man will collect us from the guest house, in his pony and cart, drive us to the railway station, buy our tickets and load our baggage on board - the charge K1,000 (60cents)- we must give him more.!
Tomorrow is another day....,
No comments:
Post a Comment