The Wanderings of busman7

Si. Oui, Yes but in the Burmese way, tamer than most. Food & internet are high compared to elsewhere in the country but not extortionate & once you get past the feeding frenzy at the jetty most actually comprehend the word NO, providing you don’t show any interest in what is being sold however if you do the vendors are on you like fleas to a dog!

However when you have a plain littered with 4,000+ pagoda’s & temples it’s only natural that tourists are going to show up with all the associated clap-trap following in their footsteps!

Which brings up the question of just how many pagoda’s/stupa’s, temples, monasteries & Buddha statues does one need to see in a lifetime, while wandering around barefoot trying to miss most of the pigeon shit & ignoring the souvenir hawkers???

It is worth a visit & won’t break the bank.

However for me personally, I have now reached my quota of Buddha related (in all his 7 poses) statues. Think any more in the near future will lead to a good old screaming, hair pulling, cat kicking tantrum!! LOL

Off to Inle Lake on the 03:30 local bus manaña.

OK after a 12 hr trip on the local bus then a 1/2 hr ride in a motorcycle taxi (paid by the Remember Inn guest house) arrived in Inle another tourist town, in the mountains, with prices a bit higher than Bagan but with no one hassling you on the street .

Took a day boat trip around the lake with 3 great young people from Austria, boat holds 4 & charges a flat rate so if full it’s only 300 Kayats ($3.00US) per person. The trip while interesting covering the floating market, village & gardens along with the usual tourist trap stuff, a silver smith, hand weaving factory, cigar shop (no worries Cuba!), pagoda (which we skipped) & of course lunch at a restaurant that the boatman all go, even included the long necked women it, was one constant sales pitch but a full day on the lake for $3 can’t complain.

Now at the restaurant was the first time I encountered the blatant scam of the prices on the bill being higher than on the menu. When we complained it was oh so sorry a mistake. Yeah right!! Needless to say NO tip!

Have now completed the main tourist trail, Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan & Inle Lake where one meets the same travelers over & over again. So this aft it’s the overnight (tourist) bus back to Yangon & if it’s on time will try to connect with the bus to the beaches on the Bay of Bengal.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 03:22 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.