Today, we had an excellent breakfast. The hotel caters for Asian and European. We took a Tuk Tuk into the town - about a 5 minute ride.
We walked down the Main Street - Min Street.
We again saw a number of pagodas,
a Muslim Mosque and a Christian church - it’s mainly Anglican here in Myanmar.
We saw a clock tower and thought it was one of the vestiges of the Empire. On closer examination, I discovered that it was recently built by the Local Council!
Nearby was a park but no seating within. It was a cool refuge from the morning sun
We decided to walk back to the hotel. En route we saw some beautiful colonial houses with pristine gardens
We even saw a thatched house!!
At the crossroads outside the hotel was a vestige of the past - a beautifully maintained roundabout.
Kalaw is far cleaner and more organised than other towns we’ve visited and its roads are paved - unlike Bagan.
There are few flowers in bloom. Sun flowers are cultivated here but I failed to photograph one in bloom. It appears to be the end of season.
We took a Tuk Tuk to the station. The train was due at 14:30 but the ticket office didn’t sell tickets until 14:00!
The train arrived.
- only a few minutes late.
We’ve boarded and are awaiting its departure - it was stationed here yesterday for 20 minutes.
We departed at 15:44, as in places it is a single track, our departure was delayed awaiting another train’s arrival - we were now 50 minutes down!! It’s definitely the slow train to Thazi, though we’re doing it the other way around Thazi to Shwenyaung.
We climbed for a short time
and then a wide valley appeared, where numerous crops were grown - tea, potatoes, green vegetables etc When one considers that the farmers plant with the most basic of machinery - one cannot but be impressed with their industriousness. The symmetry on the fields was to be admired as most of the work is done by hand!
and the land although it appears to a have a rich fertile soil; Tropical red soils lose their nutrients quickly and have to be constantly replenished with fertiliser.
We passed station after station, at times only collecting mail!
We arrived at Heho, the region’s airport. Two passengers alighted. I trust they made their flight considering that the train was running 50 minutes late!
Finally we arrived at our destination. Before the train stopped, a taxi man was on board asking us if we’d like to share a taxi with a couple sitting behind us, whom we had not met. We all agreed and agreed a price with the driver. However, when we went outside, unknowingly, what had we agreed to was one of the public buses which has two benches; one on each side.!! The other couple were young - he from Spain and she was English. They were on s tight budget so they didn’t object. As it was a 30 minutes drive to Nyaungshwe, had we been on our own, we’d have ordered a proper taxi for such s long journey. As we approached Nyaungshwe, the driver stopped and we had to pay K15,000 each to enter the city as we had in Bagan (K25,000). He dropped us to our hotels - it’s Thousand Island Hotel , Inle Lake.
Thousand Island is a good choice if one is short of time, I considered it not feasible to stay on the lake for a day or two. The commute can be long
We checked in at 19:30. The whole town appeared to have retired for the night. Our hotel restaurant closes st 20:00!! We must find somewhere to eat .....more tomorrow.!!
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