I woke up today feeling like I’d been rolling on rocks for 3 days, rather than hiking. A combination of dehydration and exhaustion left me in need of a rest day, and the incessant pounding rain left me feeling like I’d made a bad decision coming here in rainy season. I practically wanted to get out of Myanmar. Fortunately I’d heard that Bagan, my next destination, was much drier, so I was prepared to give it a shot before quitting.

But at Inle, instead of resting up, I wolfed down a decent, typical Myanmar breakfast of eggs and toast (no seriously, it’s everywhere here), packed my bags, booked my bus to Bagan, and jumped on a bicycle on the recommendation of Les Francaises, who I’d trekked across with.

We were headed for a market down in Mine Thauk, 12km down the main road, which looked like this:

A good hour later (it would have taken much longer if I hadn’t managed to cling onto the back of a tractor up the hill) we arrived at Mine Thauk, only to be told that the market had ended. Sad face 🙁

We decided instead to walk the long pontoon into the lake, and grab a boat to take us across, which was another great experience:

Shortly after arriving, one of the girls had a puncture, but as I had a bus booked for the evening I didn’t really have time to hang around. I decided to leave them to it and pedal off alone, in search of interesting stop-offs this side of the lake.

I stopped for a second at a monastery, which was again typically run down, though did have a lot of stupas:

Also stopped at the natural hot springs at Khaung Daung, but at $10 entry fee and nobody else in sight it didn’t really take my fancy. Instead, I turned 180degrees and decided to hike up these stairs instead! What better to do on a rest day?:

I found this on the way up, just as the sun came out. Perhaps it was a sign?

There was a pretty good view of Inle Lake at the top, but it was practically impossible to get a good photo, so I’ll leave it to you to visit and see for yourself! Instead, here are the stairs down.

The cycle back from there was pleasant enough, and I stopped for a moment to take this shot of a monastery visible back over the rice paddies:

I enjoyed dinner at a very local pub in Nyaung Shwe:

Finally rolling back into the hotel, I sat enjoying a beer with the manager who spoke pretty good English and introduced me to some strange Myanmar cheese; which basically tasted like butter. In fact I think it was butter, but “cheese” was lost in translation.

Finally, my chicken bus stop-over to the bus station arrived, and I was on my way to Bagan. I’d heard great things, and by now my expectations were high. Come on Myanmar, let’s see what you’ve got.