Pinlaung

After such a lovely boat trip after the walk and talking to the Canadian couple we decided to team up with Ellia and Karin on an whole day boat trip. At 7am we went for breakfast and then jumped on the bikes to the ferry port. I must admit my bum was still hurting from cycling yesterday so I'm looking forward to sitting and relaxing on the boat.

First stop was the Ywama village which is famous for silver making. Ellia and me even bought ourselves some new earrings.

Next we spent an hour at the market at Phuang Daw Oo Pagoda where we bought a few goodies to bring home, ate Shan noodles and drank endless amounts of tea.

Next was a stop at Inn Paw Kon Village where they make lotus Silk. The stems of the lotus flowers produce a fine web like thread which is then woven into thread for garments such as ladies scarves or robes for the monks. It was really amazing.

Then we stopped at Nan Pa Village where boats and cigars are made. Why the combination I have no idea. Ellia, Karin and Will tried the sweet, banana and strong tobacco cigars. It was weird sitting around them while smoking and smelling the soft scent of banana around me.

After lunch by the river we walked to Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda which was surrounded in small stupas, almost like a mini Bagan. The site is believed to date back to the days of the Indian emperor Ashoka, who sent out monks in the 3rd century BC across Asia to spread Buddhism. Centuries later two Kings of the Bagan empire, Narapatisithu and Anawrahta built pagodas at the site. The site contains hundreds of pagodas, collectively known as the Shwe Inn Thein pagodas. Most are from the 17th and 18th century; the earliest one with an inscription dates to the 14th century. We were all hot and slightly delirious by this point. We were constantly giggling, hiding behind stupas and jumping out, Ellia even found a broom and randomly started clearing up the leaves and then pretending it was a nimbus 2000. I can't explain why we suddenly went crazy but it happened haha

After what must have been a good 2 hours we headed back to the boat and had a quick stop to see the long neck ladies. Honestly I don't know why they still make this a stop on the tour because I don't think I've met any tourists that like it. Its like going to a human zoo and its all faked for tourists. Long necks in this area don't really exist and the ones that do don't wear the necklace all the time anymore and can take them off. Or so I've been told. One of the ladies made us hold the necklace claiming it was 8 kg. It was barely 2kg!!

The next and final stop for the day was the Nga Hpa Kyaung also known as the Jumping Cat Monastery. In the past it was famous for its active cats that would jump through hoops during scripture readings but now the cats are much more lazy and do as all cats do and just lie around in the sun. I can't remember if I've said previously but we always carry balloons and give them out when we see tiny children. As the monastery wasn't that impressive while wandering around we gave some children balloons. They were sooo excited and jusr ran round the outside of the monastery screaming with enjoyment. It was sooo cute!!

Our tour was supposed to be finished by 4pm but we must have been very slow at each of the stops because it was now 5:15pm. So we asked our boat driver of he would go slowly so we could watch sunset and he happily did so! He also slowed down everytime we went past the iconic one legged fishermen so that we could take pictures with sunset. It was a really picturesque and relaxing end to the day.

When we arrived we went to Ellia and Karin's hostel Ostello Bello's roof top bar where me and Will played a quick game of the Burmese version of Caram and then we sat and chatted to a few other tourists. I had a really yummy strawberry mojito or so I thought initially. After a few sips my mouth was suddenly full of glass bits so I quickly took it back!! Luckily no harm was done!

For dinner we went back to the local restaurant for grilled fish, fish steamed in banana leaf and tea leaf salad. It was the best dinner I've had in Myanmar. Cooked to perfection. Absolutely loving our time hanging round with these guys they are fun, funny and so down to earth. Hopefully we can go meet them in Switzerland!!Read more