Was wir an Wochenenden tun

Falls ihr euch fragt, was wir mit unserer Freizeit an den Wochenenden so anfangen, hier eine kleine Liste:

 1. Shwedagon Pagode besuchen

 2. Lichterfestival geniessen

3. Pommes mit chopsticks futtern

 4. Burmesische Freundinnen beim Stipendienantrag unterstützen

5. Slacklinen

 6. Freunden Yangon zeigen: Marianneke, Christoph, Samuel

 7. Freunden Yangon zeigen:Strehl, Sabi, Shirina, Michael

 8. Freunden Yangon zeigen: Annik & Tobi

 9. Freunden Yangon zeigen: Dina & Mettel

10. Freundinnen Yangon zeigen: Seri

11. Freunde mit zu Freunden nehmen: Remo, zu gast bei Lara's assistentin NweNwe (rechts)

 12. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An: Sicht vom Stamm-Guesthouse Soe Brothers 2

 13. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An: Klettern bei Bayin Nyi Cave

14. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An:  "7a" klettern

15. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An: Zuschauer

 16. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An: Fledermausgefüllte Sadan Cave

17. Outdoorwochenenden in Hpa-An: mit dem Boot durch die Höhlen

 18. Kochen mit Freundinnen

 19. Visa runs nach Thailand

 20. Beim Mingalabar-Festival im Meer von Smartphones schwimmen

 21. Früh-Yoga auf field mission

 22. In den Zoo gehen

 23. Visa runs nach Bangkok unternehmen

 24. Licht-/ Wassershow im people's park geniessen

 25. Sunset boat party feiern

26. Donnerstagabend-bouldern 

 27. Das Mittagessen bei der Arbeit mit Kollegen geniessen:  vlnr: Mokham, Will (AUS), Patrick (D), Paing Phyo, Ye Lin Tun, Khun San Aung, Kyaw Htet Aung

28. Dart als Verdauungsanreger nach dem Mittagessen

Inle Lake and train ride through the Shan mountains

After our first trip to the Inle lake region in november, we returned just after christmas 2016. This time we actually got to see the lake. After our arrival, we spent the first afternoon exploring Nyaung Shwe, the small town situated on the north end of Inle lake, with some hired bikes. Just before sunset we drove up to the Red Mountain Estate Vineyard & Winery, one of the few wineries in Myanmar, where we enjoyed a bottle of Myanmar Muscat while watching the sunset. The next day we booked a full day boat tour that would take us to all the touristy spots of Inle Lake. Apart from the machine-gun-like noise of the small motor of our longtail boat, it was a very nice day with a lot of interesting things to see and beatuiful sceneries to watch.

 View from the Red Mountain Estate Winery terrace

 Early and quite fresh start of our boat tour

 the famous "fisherman picture"..

 the actual fishermen fishing..

 Lara negociating in burmese in a silverware shop. Burmese speaking foreigners are always an attraction.

 floating gardens where they grow some sort of tomato

 floating village

 parking lot at the market

they know exactly how much weight can be put on their boat...

 Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda field, definitely shwe (=gold)!

 pagoda field from the nearby hill

 sunset over Inle lake

 

best sign ever. you can watch bird!

After our day on the Inle lake we spent another day in Nyaung Shwe and celebrated the new year at a restaurant near our hotel. They had invited a band from Yangon to play on new year's eve. The band played classic myanmar songs until they were all too drunk to play - at about 11pm. After this we were entertained by the karaoke sound coming from the neighbours place, where a few kids were having the best time and ruining their ears for the rest of their lives. A fun night!

The next day we went to the train station of Shwe Nyaung, the neighbour town, and booked a train ticket to go to Thazi, where we would stay for a night and then continue all the way down back to Yangon. After purchasing the two upper class tickets (2.5$ for the 10h ride) lara went to buy some coffee and snacks for the trip. And then we enjoyed a bumpy and slow train ride that took us all across the shan mountains. The 10 hours we spent on that train comprised amazing landscapes, lots of stops at small villages where the train would turn into a market, all sorts of differen flavours and foods all around - we loved it!!

 classic myanmar

 Lara asking for coffe in burmese...

 ...15 seconds later, everybody wants to talk to her :-)

 Train market

 

 Fresh snack!

 slowly entering more complex terrain

 crossing the steepest part of the railway line: few tunnels, but many railway switches to zigzag down the steep slopes.

 Reaching Thazi after sunset.