before our evening departure flight via Singapore and Heathrow to Dublin.
This morning, we walked around the town. There isn’t much to see. The main attraction is the lake. The night market looked a sorry sight in daylight.
I decided to seek out Viewpoint Lodge, where the Andrea and Elka, our German friends, were staying. We had been unable to reserve a room there as the hotel was fully booked for our dates.
En route, I met a lady who wanted me to take a Tuk Tuk to her restaurant outside the town. She took out her iPhone, a superior one to mine, and showed me photographs of the location. It looked beautiful. When I said that I was departing this afternoon, she said that she would call a taxi for me after lunch. I informed her that I’d already booked one at my hotel. She asked me how much the hotel was charging, I replied K20,000. She said that that was a good price!!!
I arrived at Viewpoint Lodge - a mere 5 minute walk from Thousand Island Hotel.
It is located beside the canal but one is less aware of the sound of the long boats.
The manager met me and very kindly showed me around the hotel. The lodge is composed of cottages located on the canal banks
with a pool -
the largest, the manager informed me, in Shan state!!!
He then showed me the menu. He informed me that the menu had been revamped with a choice of European or Shan food and that their prices had been reduced - slightly less expensive than European prices but vastly greater than some good local restaurants.
I returned to the hotel to pack and taxi to the airport for our one hour return flight to Yangon.
We had lunch in a local pizzeria - doesn’t Italian food travel well ? While we were there, a group of girls, dressed in pink (the monks dress in brown) with shaved heads, arrived at the restaurant with silver bowls. (They’re from the Nunnery; the female equivalent of the monastery). They were seeking food. The owner distributed rice to each person. They continued down the street, stopping at some restaurants, their parasols protecting them from the hot sun.
At 15:00, as requested, our taxi driver arrived. It was a real taxi! As we drove to Heho airport, we had to ask him to desist from using his mobile phone! The phone was constantly ringing, he was replying but when he commenced texting and I could see in the mirror that his eyes were off road, we had to intervene. He apologized and didn’t answer the persisting ringing after that!! I thought him a little odd. Had he been chewing the Betel nut of the acacia tree? . It is a mild intoxicant and it destroys teeth - most had this redness about the teeth from chewing the nut. There is s great emphasis on ‘no smoking’ with signs everywhere but no reference to Betnel.
The road was in good condition and upgrading works were in progress. Interestingly, it was mainly girls who were doing the work, some throwing down pans of stones and another pouring tar on them. Nearby a man was siting on a roller!!!
We arrived at the airport. It is small and check in was expedited quickly. The personal scanner wasn’t working and I got a very cursory body search. I’m here at present sitting in the airport lounge, it needs a lot of TLC!
The airline safety record here is questionable. Some planes arrived, didn’t knock off their engines, loaded passengers and baggage and took off again!! Our plane arrived and did cut the engines and within 10 minutes we were loaded and on our way- (we couldn't face a 10-12 hour bus journey to Yangon)
The Mann Yadansrpon Airlines was our Airline of choice. It did not disappoint. The plane was immaculate unlike the airport and the service was excellent. Throughout our journey, the sun, coutured in its evening finery, accompanied us almost to Yangon.
On arrival, we got a taxi to the hotel, had dinner and retired. Tomorrow is a long day as we make our way west and home.
Until the next trip thwa-me-naw (goodbye in Burmese)
from Myanmar (pronounced Meanmar).
A truly wonderful holiday.
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