After visiting the temple, we got back on our boat and headed into another floating village. This one was even more photogenic than the first and I shot another 200 photos. By now the sun was at its hottest, but I still had no interest in holding an umbrella while trying to shoot photos. I'm pretty shocked I didn't come away from this outing with a horrible sunburn. Outside the … [Read more...]
Village Life on Inle Lake…Yes, it Includes Souvenir Shops
After puttering down the lake for a while, we eventually arrived at the village of Ywama to visit a local market. Our driver parked our boat and dropped us off at a long, covered walkway lined with makeshift stalls manned by local vendors. The vendors might have been local, but the market was not. It clearly existed almost solely for our benefit. Luckily, you could continue … [Read more...]
Real and Fake Leg Rowing Fishermen on Inle Lake
"Skip it. It's too touristy." If you've done any traveling, you've probably heard this phrase. Some travelers shun any destination or activity seen as popular and will even go so far as to berate others for not doing the same. They don't seem to understand that places become touristy for one simple reason: they offer something worth seeing or doing. If you skip them, you miss … [Read more...]
A Good Day in Hsipaw Spent With Kids, Cows and Trash
If you spend a reasonable amount of time in any country, visiting that country's top tourist attraction will never be the most memorable thing you do while there and in many cases, it will actually be quite disappointing. Instead, the best moments are unplanned and generally come when you least expect them. Knowing this, I've actually started skipping the main attractions in … [Read more...]
Bagan by Horse Cart: The Best of Three Bad Options
When most people think of Myanmar, they imagine a hazy, flat plain with hundreds of reddish-brown stupas poking up above the patchy tree cover. The area they are picturing is called Bagan. It lies in Myanmar's dusty central plains on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and is characterized by not hundreds, but thousands—over 2200, to be exact—temples and stupas. Due to its … [Read more...]