Myanmar 2013 : Getting to Heho

Itinerary summary :

Day 1

Arrival at Yangon - Botataung - Shwe Dagon Temple

Day 2

Departure for Bagan - Explore nearby temples - Lacquerware Workshop tour - Sunset at Loka Nanda - Dinner at Si Thu Restaurant

Day 3

Horsecart tour around Bagan temples - Soe Min Gyi - Myin Kaba Village - Ananda Temple - Star Beam Bistro - That Bin Nyu Temple - Htilominlo Temple - Shwe Zigon Paya - Kyan Sit Thar Umin (Temple Cave) - Sulamani Temple - Dhamma Yangyi Temple - LakaouShaung

Day 4

Departure for Heho - Visit local villages

Day 5

Boat tour at Lake Inle

Day 6

Departure back to Yangon

After 2 days in Bagan, we bade our goodbyes and made our way to Heho!
Look at the beautiful landscape when we were up in the air. It's like a beautiful piece of puzzle!

And that's how we landed from our Air Bagan flight. We just walk all over the tarmac area without any restriction.

Now, this is probably something of interest to future travellers. Beginning 1 October 2013, tourist will have to pay an entrance fee to enter into Lake Inle area. On our way to the town centre, we saw their toll booth, which is a manual lifting of poll and collection of fee when the vehicle pass by. Initially we were hesitant about the payment because we've not read about it in any forum but upon reading the sign boards put up by the authorities, we obliged by the new rules. The fee was USD 10.

We stayed at Princess Garden Hotel in Nyaungshwe. We decided against staying on the lake partly because it is more expensive and also because you'll be confined to your living area on the lake. Living in town allows us to visit the nearby villages and in a sense, have more flexibility over what we want to do at night although it is a pretty quiet town.

The local folks in the hotel doing some washing.

People living in the same area must have known each other since young. They could just pop by and say hello.

This is our room. It's like a chalet for 2 and the wall is woven! How awesome handiwork! It can get quite cold at Lake Inle at night, although there is only a fan in the room. The chalet is surrounded by plants, so you're bound to see insects and mosquitoes. The owner of the hotel also has 4 dogs and he's very helpful in helping us to arrange our boat trip!

The staff were busy preparing dinner for the night and I saw them peeling this bean. They said it is soya bean but I'm pretty sure it's not. Do you know what are they?

One of the decorations in the hotel - an antique radio!

We had lunch at this place called Green Chilli. It's about 5 minutes walk from our hotel and we enjoyed the Shan tofu a lot, having read about it in a magazine on our way to Yangon. The food quality is not bad and they are quite reasonably priced too!

After lunch, the hotel owner recommended us to take a stroll around the village area for a visit. There were quite a lot of cows in the middle of the day. It gets pretty hot during the day and there were also quite a lot of people fishing along the river, washing and bathing as well. Mind you, the water isn't crystal clear, but murky like the colour of coffee.

A path that is not often taken as we walked in the heat towards the village.

We stopped by a school when we saw some kids drinking water from these urns that were placed outside the school.

The teacher was very kind to let me in and snap pictures of the kids. One of the village boys, whom I believe is rather poor, was outside drawing water from the well (in the 3rd picture from the left). He must be so poor that he had to skip school and help out at home.

The other little ones who ran to the door to see us off.

Saw some nice flowers outside a villager's home as we continue our afternoon stroll.

On both sides of the road, you could see paddy field. I remember being paranoid about snakes as I walk around the paddy field area.

Could you see the ducks So cute to see them swimming in a line.

The sky is so blue in Myanmar. The electric cable tied to those wooden poles are really amazing because they bring electricity to the village everyday. Nevertheless, you will also be warned by the hotel owner that there might be frequent power cut during certain hours of the day if you're to live in Nyaungshwe.

Try spotting the ducks again!

Spotted a dragonfly resting on the cable in the middle of a hot and sunny day!

Another pagoda in the village area.

Village boys enjoying their afternoon in the water.

And kite-flying is also the main outdoor activity. This boy was fully concentrated in flying his kite.

Some villagers were also drying this fermented rice kinda thing outside their homes.

This would be the boat that will be used to take people out to Lake Inle. Most of the villagers who can afford to purchase a boat (costing about USD 2000 without motor installed) will be a boat driver.

Have you every seen such cobwebs before? I sure haven't!

Cows, cows everywhere.

We also passed by a tomato packing centre.

The boss insisted that I take a picture of him after I visit the centre. I've never seen so many tomatoes in my life! The ladies in the next picture are sorting out the tomatoes.

The day to day living in a village.

A child clinging on the the mother's skirt.

The same evening, we visited a wineyard in Myanmar.

That's the tuk tuk that we hired to drive us to the wineyard. It's a makeshift pick up truck on a motorcycle with 2 benches on board, similar to one that I took in Phuket a few years back.

The sunset view from the wineyard is pretty nice and many people were there drinking, enjoying a casual evening with friends and family.

There were boards put up to explain to tourist about the wine-making process. I didn't know that the process to make white wine is different from red wine.

The machineries in the facility. There were many big tanks to store and to process the grapes.

This is how the wine bottles are filled up!

Welcome to Red Mountain Estate!

And a picture of people relaxing while the sun sets, with a cup of wine in hand.

Ah, and I saw fly traps! I never know that you can trap flies this way.

You could pay a small sum of money to do wine-tasting as well.

For dinner, we went back to the market area and tried Lin Htett. The food portion is quite small but they're quite tasty. The eggplant is yummy and we're also served with a lot of side dishes that we do not really know how to appreciate - eg. fermented beans.

That is our dinner in a nutshell. It was a really relaxing day in Heho and again, you could go for star gazing at night by the pool if you want. Remember the mosquito repellent.

More on Heho boat trip after this!