Myanmar/Burma: Unspoiled Ngapali Beach & Raucous Rangoon (Yangon)

With our Burmese adventures coming to a close, we enjoyed 4 sun-filled and relaxed days at lovely Ngapali Beach, a quick 40-minute flight south-west from Inle Lake – our previous stop. Ngapali (the “g” is silent) is a beautiful, long beach that is mainly visited by an older European crowd, and the wealthy Burmese elite – of which there are not many. We stayed at the luxurious Amata Beach Hotel, a seaside resort that would easy have cost us four times the price at a comparable establishment in Hawaii, or some other, similar US beach destination.

Our daily program – or more accurately, lack of program, took on a languid pace, and we basically lounged the days away. There were no day trips or excursions for us while at Ngapali; the most active part of our day included extended beach walks along the crescent shaped, tranquil bay – and an occasional fling of a Frisbee that we’d brought along. Often the most excitement we had was watching a few giant jellyfish wash up onto shore, then observing how the security guard and beach attendant would bury it in the sand.

Each morning we secured two of the comfortable lounge chairs which were set underneath the multiple, thatched-roofed sunshades available to resort guests and read our books, drank cold beer, napped, and played games of scrabble (on the iphone). The thin and inexpensive blow-up rafts that we’d toted along saw quite a bit of action in both the soothing sea and in the expansive and impressive hotel infinity pool (which sported a sculpted poolside mermaid statue).

On one especially lazy afternoon we took advantage of the serene hotel spa, enjoying firm Myanmar-style massages; Deb had a sticky honey/seed body scrub treatment as well. Our late afternoon activity usually included the hotel’s happy hour, which featured bargain cocktail prices and beautiful sunsets that dipped straight into the ocean ahead – what a life!

In the evenings we strolled along the small, newly-paved path behind the hotel grounds, looking for, and enjoying the inexpensive local restaurants and small shops that dotted the roadside. We had a delicious dinner consisting of a whole-fish stuffed with cloves of garlic and slices of ginger, at one such eatery, but the majority of our meals were enjoyed seaside, at our resort’s open-air dining area.

After leaving our relaxing seaside oasis, we flew onward, returning back to our starting point, Rangoon (now known as Yangon), for our last 2 days in Burma (aka – Myanmar). One day we walked around the hot and busy city streets, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells that only a large Asian city can provide. The day’s highlight were the two (more) beautiful and ancient pagodas that we visited, which were juxtaposed with the modern noise of traffic, cell-phone towers, and high-rise buildings that dot the downtown scene.

We saw lots of typical city street life in Yangon, including tiny tea shops with small plastic tables and chairs, booths selling western-style jeans and t-shirts, and lots of unidentified and “strange-to-our-eyes” foods, fruits, and fish.

We spent the morning our final day at a huge shopping market, liquidating ourselves of the last of our kyat (sounds like chat), the Myanmar currency, buying up goods and trinkets before heading back to California. We avoided the afternoon heat by relaxing at our hotel pool, playing table tennis on the indoor ping-pong table, and packing up our bags in preparation for the long flights homeward.

Our 3-week adventure in Burma has been an absolutely amazing spiritual, cultural, and eye-opening experience. Once again we’ve gained fresh perspective, a reminder as to just how fortunate and blessed we are to lead the lucky lives we live - able to globetrot the planet with the freedoms and choices available to us. May the future hold the same such blessings for all of Planet Earth’s inhabitants!

Travel on in peace,

The Grateful Globetrotters

Myanmar/Burma: Life on Inle Lake

Inle Lake is in the mountainous Shan State, home to many indigenous tribes and traditional people. We based ourselves at the northern end of the lake in the tiny, unpaved town of Nyuang Shwe, which had a small semblance of an international traveler/backpacker scene.

We noticed tourists of all ages (mostly older Europeans), and though small in comparisons to other backpacker destinations in SE Asian countries, we did find a few more internet cafes and tour/travel guides along the dusty main road then we had elsewhere in this country.


The town was a good place to both explore and “chill out” for a few days, and we filled the time doing a bit of each – day tripping around the lake area, investigating pagodas, getting massages, reading, watching “ordinary life,” and eating typical regional foods.

We were fortunate to arrive in town during market day, which brought together some of the neighboring hill tribe people, and the farmers and fishermen from the surrounding area, who were all gathered into a tarp-covered, open-air marketplace selling, buying, and bartering their fish, produce, flowers, and wares - most of which looked fresh and fantastic and exotic (and smelled so too).

There was crowded and excited vending all about, as well as small “restaurant-type” stalls with tiny plastic chairs and makeshift tables, where people were selling meals and many unidentifiable items to the hungry shoppers and patrons. Of the things we could identify, we saw giant cloves of garlic, massive ears of corn, purple eggplant, a variety of greens, colorful flowers, and fruits of all shapes and sizes.

However, the real reason we were visiting the region was to experience and explore the huge and shallow Inle Lake, and one morning we hired a long-tailed boatman named Mo-Mo to assist us in doing so. Our all-day outing began just after sunrise, the cool lake air was brisk and a refreshing relief from the daytime heat.

Inle Lake is home to many people who live precariously in over-the-lake stilt homes built of bamboo and wood, many of which seem like they could tumble down and wash away during the rainy season.

These are crowded into water villages, where there are also floating vegetable gardens, floating stores, floating markets, and floating restaurants. In fact, virtually everything on the lake is floating!

 
The unusual floating gardens were literally patches of fertile islands with lake water just a few feet below, and small waterways and canals are used by the men and women who tend the “fields” - which are barely possible to walk on. It was the season of tomatoes, cucumbers, and flowers, and rows of these could be seen in many areas.

Many of the floating villages had some specific craft that they specialize in, such as lotus and silk weaving, canoe making, cigar rolling, or silver and goldsmith-ing.

We visited both a silversmith village and a weaving village, where we were educated on the various processes, and of course were encouraged to make small purchases (which we did). Each stop told a fascinating story of the lake people and what their everyday life entails - an environment that certainly requires hardiness beyond the ordinary.

Mo-Mo took us to a large floating pagoda, and since it was a full moon day there were many people praying and worshipping, making it a very special experience.

We also visited a floating monastery that not only had glorious golden Buddha images within, but also featured a bevy of monk-trained cats who would leap through a small hoop for the small groups of onlookers (Jumping Cat Monastery).

Inle Lake is famous for the uniquely coordinated way in which local fisherman use their leg to paddle a slender canoe. By wrapping one foot around an oar they can simultaneously cast their net and move about in hopes of catching lake fish. As far as we know, this is the only place on Earth where this method is used, and we saw many examples of men and boys utilizing the technique.

One highlight of the day came when we docked at the lakeside village of Indein – the only place we visited on Inle that wasn’t afloat. Here on the banks of the inlet we witnessed bulbous water buffalo wading in brownish water, experienced more local life in the surrounding village, and eventually hiked up to an area filled with old, crumbling, stupas, many of which were overgrown in jungle-lush foliage, but still contained their ancient Buddha statues and elaborately carved outer walls – very “Indiana-Jones-ish.






Our all-day outing was long and full, lasting until sunset, and we watched thousands of birds and waterfowl come out to do their thing on the lake as we headed back to the traditional wood dock in the town of Nyuang Shwe.

Even though living conditions of the lake people seemed dire and difficult, these seemed to be some of the happiest people we had come across.

One of the day’s most unforgettable and favorite memories were the many waving hands and “hallo’s” from nearly every mother and small child we saw - perched in their doorways, on wooden platforms, and from the unscreened square windows of their watery homes as we boated past and through their floating villages.

Myanmar/Burma: The Magical Kingdom of Bagan!

Our adventures continued in the ancient Burmese capital of Bagan, Burma’s greatest architectural site, which features over 2000 stupas and temples in a 40 square mile radius. 

 Some of these sites date back to the 11^th century and probably even earlier. As far as the eye can see there are magnificent structures with pointy spires that are reminiscent of Buck Roger’s spaceship.

 We based ourselves in Old Bagan area for a 3-day exploration of the region, because it was nearest to the largest and most impressive of these temples. 

 We began with a day of self-guided walking under cloudy skies, which later that afternoon turned to an unseasonable rain storm – helping to cool the warm air and making the walking quite enjoyable in this normally hot and humid town. 

We climbed narrow, steep stairways within some of the temples to get some fantastic overviews of the sea of stupas, winding through inner chambers, and often being tailed by local salespeople hoping we would buy their handicrafts and lacquer wear. 

 Some of the structures are massive, while others are smaller in comparison, yet each had their distinct differences. Virtually every temple had several, if not dozens, of carved deities, spirit images, and Buddha statues of all sizes in the nooks and alcoves fashioned in the walls within. 

At almost all of the temple sites there were vendors selling their wares, and we haggled and bargained for locally made sand paintings, bought postcard-drawings from adorable kids, and spent our kyat (Myanmar money) on other various exotic-looking trinkets from the men, women and children. 

We also found a fabulous restaurant across the dusty street from our hotel grounds, where we ate almost all of our meals. It was named “The Moon” and their motto was, “be kind to animals.”

Supposedly it was the first all vegetarian restaurant in the area, and their meals were prepared with love and care (and everything was washed and made using clean mineral water). The food was far and away better than anything we had eaten and it was fun to be regular customers. We especially loved their homemade guacamole made with locally-grown avocados and served with Indian-style and pappadom chips.

The town of Nyuang U is at the northern end of the area, and there we visited the local market and saw rows of vendors selling all kinds of food, a lot of which we couldn’t recognize or discern. 

 Beetle nut is found everywhere, which is very common in Burma. It’s “chewed” in a quid wrapped in a small green leaf, giving the user a pleasant buzz (and staining their teeth blood-red). 

That same day, we explored more of the area’s temples, and then had a lovely lunch at a restaurant on the banks of the Irrawaddy, which is Burma’s largest and most important river. Still later that afternoon we went to New Bagan to see Bob’s hotel, which was surrounded by many smaller temples, so we could lounge around the cool pool, a welcome respite to this sunny, hot day.

Enjoying relaxing massages at our hotel during the mid-afternoon heat, late afternoon and evenings were spent climbing some of the larger temples to get the view the glowing sun setting in the mountains beyond the plains. 

 

This was usually the time when we saw the most tourists and travelers, but compared to other places, like Angkor Wat or Machu Picchu, it was still rather untainted by hordes of foreigners. 

 Our favorite sunset was an afternoon trip via horse cart over the dusty roads to some of the outer temples, with our excellent driver Ugo, (and his trusty steed Thu-Thu), who took us down paths with fewer people and less vendors interrupting the otherworldly splendor. 

 

Our three days in Bagan were our last travelling with our ever-amusing friend Bob, who set off for Vietnam the following morning - while we will continue onward to the Inle Lake area further east in Burma. Stay tuned for more adventures and photos from the Grateful Globetrotters!