I was awake at 7am and decided to have breakfast so that I could get served quicker and then go back to sleep without worrying about missing breakfast. After though I decided to stay up and went to book a bus ticket and after go to the hot springs, I was expecting my bus to leave around 11am so I didn't have too much time and the hotel checkout was 12 anyway . I found a pretty good bike and went to the only place that seemed open where they told me that the buses were all full. Went back to the hostel to look at other options like going to Pyu and tried to book somewhere to stay there and in Nya pyi taw but there was not much that was cheap. So I headed out again and after a few places I finally found somewhere that had a bus ticket for that evening which could arrive at a really bad time like 2am but I decided to chance getting accommodation like I managed in Kalaw. There was a couple there buying a ticket as well who wanted a map for the area and I also saw that map at the hostel so I think a lot of tourists cycle to the same places. I now had the whole day free I went back to the hostel to pack, shower and get my laundry done and I locked the bike and took the key but when I went to pick up the bike it had disappeared and there was a man moving and checking bike so I went to see if he could help but he just checked all of the bikes that were there which was no help. So I took another bike which was not as good, made my way through the busy streets and took the road out towards the hot springs. Was quite a distance before the junction and after that I saw kids waving and saying hello to trucks passing which threw out paper for them to pick up. Didn't look like money but I'm not sure. Stopped at a free library for done shade and wrote this and a kid decided to just stand there next to me which was disconcerting, he then got bored and sat opposite. The library had some English books but most was in Burmese and there were magazines and newspapers as well.
As I left the kid finally said hello to me before asking for money. On the road there were lots more kids and I could hear them asking passing cars for money now which I think Hannah mentioned on the tour that children come here to ask for money so that they can afford to go to school. The bike was slow and I thought about changing it but decided it probably wasn't that far to go. Was I wrong. Got to a viewpoint hill which I think was the first thing on the map and there were some other tourists. View was ok but mostly just flat land and on the way down I stopped at the hot air place where some volcanic activity meant there was warm, I'd say maybe 40 degree air came up next to a tree which had changed colour from the fumes. Then I got attacked by loads of mosquitos at once and probably killed about 5 so I left quickly Next stop after the view was the hot springs. I was stopped as I was going to the women's pool so went to the men's but the water there was really hot so nobody was bathing. Must've been about 60 or 70 degrees. After that there were a few pagodas and a town before I came to a walled off area with nice gardens and a hill. Had some nice views of the lake and at the top of the hill were loads of people and a small market. As it was lunch time I looked for some food and found a kind of churro for 200 which I thought might be banana but was just pastry. Two girls served me the food and it was ok so I went back for 2 samosas and the girl gave me a cheeky grin before quickly stuffing a 3rd samosa in my bag while her dad was not watching. I went back down the hill and carried on biking to the last place marked on my map a pagoda which was underwhelming so I headed back towards town and as my phone had stopped working either because I'd used to much data or because I hadn't registered I decided to buy a Ooredoo phone sim at the little stand they had. The people there didn't speak much English so I waited for someone else to come but it turned out they didn't have sims loaded with credit like I needed so I was told to go back the way I had come to a beauty shop turns out it is also a mobile phone shop but it was shut , maybe just for lunch. Went back to the hot spring place and had a good lunch for not much, then met Lotte and Iris as I left, they were going to catch a boat across with bikes included. I rode all the way back to town which was ok but there was too much traffic and also lots of the kids asking for money, when I took a small dirt path it was nuch nicer and I could appreciate the blue sky and great weather. In town I found a shop that sold top up cards but not sim cards, seems they are much easier to get so I should have bought the sim when I had the chance. I did eventually find a place to buy a sim card and was back up and running but in a rush to get to the swimming place as it was getting late and it is quite a ride. Headed out and about halfway I met Lotte and Iris again at the side of the road where they were playing with some orphaned puppies. They said they were going to an Indian restaurant later so I said I would see if I could get there. I made it to the pool around 4.45 so stayed there until 5 as it was getting dark. There were quite a few locals including sone washing. Went back the same dirt path as last time which again had the stream crossing, mud and this time there was a man sleeping on the path. The sunset was looking nice so I decided to go to the lake to see and went into the Inle princess resort which was very nice but didn't check if I belonged or not. The sunset spot was really nice but I was 10 minutes late and the couples there left as I arrived. Rode back largely in the dark then found the Indian restaurant and headed there. The Dutch girls weren't there so I got a table for myself and ordered as I didn't have much time. Food came slowly for Myanmar but it was nice having a curry and reminded me of home. I rushed back on the bike afterwards and was 10 minutes late for when I was supposed to be there but normally things run late in Myanmar. Saw a pickup truck outside the hotel which I thought might be for me especially as he was going to the bus station, but the driver said no Bagan and not JJ so I got my stuff together and waited and asked the woman who works there if she had seen the pickup and she said it hadn't come yet. Then I remembered I had laundry to pick up so I collected it and it was lucky the pickup was late or I would have left it behind. Its good being lucky but organised is better so I'll try to do reminder lists for what I need to do in future. When it got to 7.45 and still nothing I got worried I would miss the bus as I was supposed to be at the bus station at 8.00 which is when the bus leaves. So I decided to walk which was ok it was 1km but there was not much traffic and the road surface was ok. Then I asked dome people if I was at thr right place and yhey said yes so I sat on my suitcase and waited. There was no one else waiting and there was also nobody working there so it was just me at a bus stop waiting and I got worried at the time so I found the number on yhe bus ticket and phoned up and after a few tries I got through but they couldn't speak good English and we got disconnected. Soon after my phone rang and they called me back so we had another difficult conversation and I was still on the phone when someone from a travel shop across the road told me it was ok the bus would come soon. Next a pickup came but only took me a short distance before I moved to a car driven by a Mr Lin who had his wife in the back who gave me a t-shirt as a present. He was interested in tourism so we talked as he drove me to where the bus was and was very helpful and friendly and I'm still not sure why he took me there or what happened with the normal bus service but it's good how the people in the Country can make up for things not always working how they should. I expect nobody else took the bus from Nyaung Shwe and they filled it in Taunggyi and the festival probably delayed things. My seat was an aisle one next to someone so I took 2 empty seats to start with.
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January 2017
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