7/16 Inle Lake to Bagan

6/16/2013: Well, I wasn't able to finish my blog posts before grad school got started, so now I'm struggling to recall all of the details. Some (i.e. Ariel) might say fewer details would be an improvement to the blog, so we'll see. I just updated the previous 3 days' posts (7/13-7/15) with some pictures I stole from Facebook from Matt (one of my fellow "trekkers"), so it's maybe worth going back and looking at those pics. I added my favorites - he was more comfortable with taking pictures of the locals, so the pictures are nice shots of some of the people we came across during our hike.

Early on the 16th, I hopped on a bus and made the 8ish hour ride from Inle Lake to Bagan. In most other countries, this trip would have taken much less time, but in Myanmar they decided to make all the roads windy, bumpy, and narrow. We were also frequently slowed down by oxcarts and horsecarts pulling people along the old fashioned way. I finally arrived at the bus terminal a little outside of New Bagan around 3pm, then was over-charged for a taxi into New Bagan to find a hotel. I settled for the first one I was delivered to, despite the visible filth and lack of wifi. At this point I had accepted the fact that most places are pretty gross, and Myanmar's internet is too slow to do much anyway. The owners were a very cute and very small Myanmar couple, and I seemed to be their only customer. They rented me a bike, which was possibly the heaviest bike I've ever ridden, and I checked out the town. There wasn't much to the town - just one main dusty street with some restaurants, hotels, and art galleries along the way. The side roads were even dustier and appeared to just be residential.

As the sun started to set, I rode over towards the river, the Irrawaddy, which is the huge river in Myanmar along which most villages are set. There is a big pagoda overlooking the river, and it offers great views of the sunset. Before reaching the pagoda, I stopped at the river edge and noticed big group of people and some cameras. A passing girl told me a music video was being filmed for the "opposition party" (led by Aung San Suu Kyi). It appeared to be a cheesy gangsta rap video with two "thugs" dancing and making "West-side" symbols with their hands in the foreground, and a crowd of people in the background holding Myanmar flags and surrounding two shirtless guys fake-boxing. It was odd.

Political music video being filmed

I continued up the stairs to the pagoda and enjoyed a nice view of the massive river, the mountains on the other side, and the sun set. I talked to a Burmese guy for a while as he was trying to sell me some paintings. Then I watched an over-crowded, rickety old boat with an outboard motor attempt to cross the strong, wide river and hoped they'd make it to the other side as the sun dropped below the mountains.