We flew to Heho and had to make a decision on whether to go up to Pindaya to see the caves prior to going to Inle lake. Still feeling under the weather we pushed on over the most terrible road which had been made worse by the recent heavy rain. The taxi we took charged us 75000 kyatt to go up and then return to Heho to go on to Inle. We are glad we went as this was outstanding site and worth the bone shaking journey.
We had been booked into the Hupin Hotel and it was the first time we had hot water at any time and fluffy clean towels. We did the usual trip around the beautiful lake and I was glad we were booked into the town rather than marooned on the lake. We hired bikes to explore the countryside and spent a few hours at the natural springs.The return taxi was only 15000 kyatts.
Our travel agent had been in touch as The Panda Hotel had put their prices up for the third time and she suggested a change of hotel. We insisted on staying at The Classique Inn which had been one that I had fancied from the start and this was justified as it is in a quiet residential area of Yangon.
At this point we had booked for The Golden Rock but I opted for cancelling this stop as it would take 5 hours on poor roads so we then decided to go a day earlier to the beach. We had discovered the aircon bus only leaves on Friday and the regular bus leaves from a bus station out of town at 6.30am. As previously mentioned buses are not my favourite mode of transport and by a stroke of luck while visiting the Synagogue in Yangon the caretaker also has a travel agency and an empty car was going to collect tourist from Ngwe Saung. After some bartering we paid $100(usually $350) from the hotel to our next hotel which was money well spent.
When we arrived at Swe Hi Thar we were shown to our bungalow which we had picked and although we had chosen not to have the air con tv and fridge I was unaware it didn't have hot water. The manager there was very helpful and as this place is always booked up he couldn't offer us an alternative room. He contacted the manager at the next resort Silver Coast Beach Hotel who had a bungalow. This place is not as well run but had everything we wanted and was clean and had the best restaurant in that area which was busy every day. We had only changed enough money for eating as we thought our hotel was covered but we had to find the extra money for the more expensive room. With nowhere to change at a favourable rate it could have been a problem but one of our neighbours had extra dollars and didn't object changing for euros.
After chilling out for 9 days we had to work out our return. The famous air con bus only returns on Mondays although sometimes empty cars return to Yangon and Tom Tom who operates the travel agency knows when there is an empty car.We booked our bus ticket and as no taxi/cars had to be transported by motorbike to the village to catch the bus. Alas not this time and I had to go by bus which proved not as rickety as I thought but still hard work as it takes 61/2 hours with only 2 stops but glorious scenery. Again we were able to share a taxi to take us into Yangon as the bus staion is out of town and we booked into The Hotel Yangon as this is close to the airport as we had an early flight.
It might sound like we are wimps but I should have done better research as we are not back packers nor do we travel 5 star. The beach is beautiful but most of the resorts are empty with high price tags and due to the lack of transport little demand. There is an airport at Pathein but no flights .
Next time I would get a price for cars from the agent i did find we did save on hotel prices and came across tourists who usually turned up at places who struggled to get rooms in lots of the destination but it was Christmas time.The people are lovely and I felt safe carrying money round but I think in the next few years there will be many changes I just hope the people are not squeezed out by large tour operator who make life easier for the tourist a the expense of the locals.
