This is part 2 of my “The People, The Culture, The Food – Myanmar” series. You can watch episode one here: Inle Lake, Myanmar.
This is a gallery of the food we ate in Myanmar. Some of it isn’t typical Burmese food, but I’ve decided to include it to give you guys an idea of what you can eat while traveling in Myanmar. Food in Myanmar is varied. You’ll see some Chinese dishes, some Indian dishes, and or course traditional Burmese food. I’ve also included drinks of Myanmar – mainly tea – Burma’s favorite drink. I’ve tried to provide information on where we had the food, and how much it cost.
Biking in Inle Lake was one of the highlights of our 2 weeks in Myanmar. The countryside is almost as beautiful as the lake itself. In this video, we explore the area around Inle Lake, and take a boat tour to various workshops and factories. We see how fabric is made out of lotus, how to extract silver, how to make wooden boats, and we sample some local cigars. If you are going to Myanmar, biking in Inle Lake is a must. The boat tour felt a bit fabricated, but you should definitely get out on the lake. It’s possible to do sunset tours, or just take the bicycle loop and cross the lake then.
I woke up late. The previous day I was up extra early to catch a 7AM bus from Ho Chi Minh City for a 6 hour ride to Phnom Penh.
There’s a fine line between being spontaneous and unprepared when traveling. We like to have a layout of the city we are going to — know where the hotels, restaurants, and main attractions are. Unless we are traveling at a busy time, or there’s a place that we really want to stay, we don’t book a room ahead. Usually, we just have a list of 3 or 4 places that sound good, and then take the chance that at least one of them will have an opening. Most of the time, we end up at the first place on our list, but there have been a few times we were brought to the edge of craziness, running around like headless chickens, sweating profusely, yelling obscenities at each other, as we carried our heavy bags from hotel to hotel, eventually staying in a room that could be confused for a bus station bathroom. Now that we’re in our 30s, this isn’t allowed to happen anymore. I’ve been given strict orders from the higher up (ie. Sara). Luckily, the internet is always at my fingertips and there are really smart ambitious people out there.
We took a bus from the Savannakhet bus station to Thakhek for 30,000k/$3.70.
Thakhek Travel Lodge is a good place to stay as it gives travellers an opportunity to speak to people who’ve done “the loop” (or find people who need travel buddies). “The Loop” is a 400km, three- or four-day motorcycle tour of the natural beauty of the area: limestone karsts, lakes, and some caves including the 7.5km long Kong Lor Cave. This cave is traversed by hired motorboat and takes about two to three hours.
