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| Knoungse village school, in the hills above Inle Lake |
Mon 19 Feb
We opted to fly from Bagan to Heho (town north of Inle Lake) : 45 minute flight versus 9 hour bus! We landed at Heho and found our driver who took us an hour south, chatting all the way.
South East Asia travel tip that’s not in any of the guide books: if you don’t follow Premier League football, have a quick refresher session before you travel and pretend you support a team! Almost everyone we’ve met in the last 3 months supports Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal - and they stay up until midnight at the w/e in local cafes to watch the games. They are diehard fans - and saying you are English but you don’t like football just doesn’t make sense to them!
We checked into the Little EcoLodge about 2km outside Nyaungshwe, recommend by a friend. It only has 6 rooms, which are lovely, and the most amazing bamboo dining structure.
We took a couple of the hotel bikes and set off on a loop around the countryside to the Shwe Yuanghwe Kyaung Monastery - passing some wonderful scenery along the way.
Then into the small town which is the focal point for Inle Lake tourists, but somewhat underwhelming- except for the lake boats which give the town a slight ‘Venice’ feeling!
Back to Little Eco Lodge for a quiet supper.
Tues 20
We were met after breakfast (fresh avocados and yummy eggs) by our young guide San (Lin Htike San) and set off on our 2 day hike at 0830. We pushed up and then around the hills overlooking Nyaungshwe - passing some novice nuns and then pausing at the impressive limestone caves full of Buddha’s
Then on up the single track path - into wonderful countryside.
We paused at a tiny hut where a family kindly donated two lengths of bamboo and cut them the right length for walking sticks for the two old farts
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| San (left) cuts Jess’ walking stick to size! |
We reached the little village of Nan Nwe for lunch (population 100: no elec or running water) - and joined a trio of French girls.
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| Drying turmeric |
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| Nan Nwe village: lunch stop |
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| Lunch house: upstairs (can see guide washing up on ‘balcony’ |
After lunch we headed up above he village and crossed the ridge line into a hidden valley, and then down the other side
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| “Burning off” is a regular occurrence |
After a welcome beer purchased from the village ‘shop’, we left San to prepare supper and went up to the school on the hill to watch the sunset over Inle Lake.
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| Celebratory beer in main room: note hostess cooking in kitchen! |
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| Sun setting on Knounsge |
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| Can just make out Inle Lake in distance - and bemused kid at selfie photo! |
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| Our hostess helping cook supper |
San cooked a truly delicious supper - with 8 dishes - on a single open fire!! Impressive – but it turned out he had worked in a restaurant previously. Then time to bed down in the same room. It’s quite chilly so let’s see how good a night we have.
Wed 21
Slept well on the hard floor. Up at 0630 with the cockerel (it started at 4am but we’re wise to this and have earplugs) and a quick walk to watch dawn across the hazy lake before an excellent breakfast by San.
| Breakfast - and where we slept on floor. Note family shrine on far wall. |
We bid farewell to our hostess, and set off to walk approximately 12 km – mostly down thankfully – to meet a boat that took us back to Nyuangshwe.
Once we dropped below the trees it was cooking hot – and (another top tip) when your guide says you need to carry one litre of water, take two!!
We finally reached the shore of Inle Lake, and took a boat back to the town. Lunch, farewell to lovely San, and a relaxing few hours at Little Eco Lodge.
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| Jess and our guide San |
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