I was surprised by that elderly gentleman after I stepped out from the toilet in early morning, the following day after all that misfortune happened; he came into our room and gave me a bear hug saying he had forgiven me for everything. I was still somehow perplexed with his sincerity, still I accepted his bear hug and tried to erase him from my wonderful memories in Myanmar. Anyway, since he would be leaving to some other places, I was glad that we would never have to see him again!
So, our plan for that day would be another venture in the local market to spot some indigenous people in their fancy costumes. We headed out pretty early that day at 6.00 am but still there were no sign of them. Probably they already were too modernized to wear their traditional costumes to sell wares in the market. Nevertheless, we had a great time looking at the stuffs they trade in the market.
After that, we went back to Lily's Place for breakfast and to chill a while till checkout time since our bus to Inle Lake would only come at 3.30pm. As usual, Lily allowed us to linger in her guesthouse till then and we spent our time watching telly in her husband's clinic.
By 3.30pm we arrived at the local "bus station", which actually is a row of shops where the buses would stop to pick up passengers. Somehow our bus only arrived at 4.30pm, and that actually was a bad sign for us, but since buses are notoriously late in Myanmar we ignored it.
Throughout our journey, the bus ran into a series of unfortunate events. They almost banged into a songthaew, they got banged by another bus from the back and that bus plunged into the paddy field beside the road, and they got banged again by an incoming truck. I was somehow very relieved that I was still alive and the bus was still in one piece!
What annoyed me the most was at 7pm, while passing through a local village, we were told that there was some riot happening in a town ahead and the military government had announced curfew, allowing no vehicles to pass through that very night! Consequently, we had to stop in the middle of nowhere, and sleep in bus until daylight!
Astonished and totally speechless was I!
We slept in the dormant bus from 9pm until the next day at 4am when they decided to resume the journey. My back was already aching from the hard seat. The idea of sleeping in a bus with no air conditioning (they turned the engine off!) was really unbearable! Lucky for us we only had 3 more days to linger in Myanmar!
The road to Inle Lake was horrible; the road condition was okay but the route was serpentine and undulating, as the bus slithered slowly up and down the hills. Fortunately I was well prepared for it since I had been swallowing my pills for motion sickness since the journey started! But everyone around me was puking out their guts, and I was somehow worried that I would puke as well!
We finally arrived in Inle lake at 12 noon; the journey took us 20 hours! Gosh! I was relieved and grateful to have reached the town just ouside NyaungShwe (can't remember it's name) in a piece! After hopping off the accursed bus, we paid 5000 kyats for a songthaew to NyaungShwe and USD3 for the entrance fee.
Well they say the best things happen when one has finally endured the worst, and I can't agreed more! It turned out that the hotel we booked here was fantastic! Golden Empress Hotel was such a jewel; the reception was good, and the room was comfortable and clean! I was so thrilled to be able to take a shower and change my clothes after that horrendous bus trip!
After settling down, we booked a boatsmen for 18000 kyats and headed down to Inle Lake!
So, our plan for that day would be another venture in the local market to spot some indigenous people in their fancy costumes. We headed out pretty early that day at 6.00 am but still there were no sign of them. Probably they already were too modernized to wear their traditional costumes to sell wares in the market. Nevertheless, we had a great time looking at the stuffs they trade in the market.
After that, we went back to Lily's Place for breakfast and to chill a while till checkout time since our bus to Inle Lake would only come at 3.30pm. As usual, Lily allowed us to linger in her guesthouse till then and we spent our time watching telly in her husband's clinic.
By 3.30pm we arrived at the local "bus station", which actually is a row of shops where the buses would stop to pick up passengers. Somehow our bus only arrived at 4.30pm, and that actually was a bad sign for us, but since buses are notoriously late in Myanmar we ignored it.
Throughout our journey, the bus ran into a series of unfortunate events. They almost banged into a songthaew, they got banged by another bus from the back and that bus plunged into the paddy field beside the road, and they got banged again by an incoming truck. I was somehow very relieved that I was still alive and the bus was still in one piece!
What annoyed me the most was at 7pm, while passing through a local village, we were told that there was some riot happening in a town ahead and the military government had announced curfew, allowing no vehicles to pass through that very night! Consequently, we had to stop in the middle of nowhere, and sleep in bus until daylight!
Astonished and totally speechless was I!
We slept in the dormant bus from 9pm until the next day at 4am when they decided to resume the journey. My back was already aching from the hard seat. The idea of sleeping in a bus with no air conditioning (they turned the engine off!) was really unbearable! Lucky for us we only had 3 more days to linger in Myanmar!
The road to Inle Lake was horrible; the road condition was okay but the route was serpentine and undulating, as the bus slithered slowly up and down the hills. Fortunately I was well prepared for it since I had been swallowing my pills for motion sickness since the journey started! But everyone around me was puking out their guts, and I was somehow worried that I would puke as well!
We finally arrived in Inle lake at 12 noon; the journey took us 20 hours! Gosh! I was relieved and grateful to have reached the town just ouside NyaungShwe (can't remember it's name) in a piece! After hopping off the accursed bus, we paid 5000 kyats for a songthaew to NyaungShwe and USD3 for the entrance fee.
Well they say the best things happen when one has finally endured the worst, and I can't agreed more! It turned out that the hotel we booked here was fantastic! Golden Empress Hotel was such a jewel; the reception was good, and the room was comfortable and clean! I was so thrilled to be able to take a shower and change my clothes after that horrendous bus trip!
After settling down, we booked a boatsmen for 18000 kyats and headed down to Inle Lake!
No comments:
Post a Comment