BIKE RIDES, VINEYARDS, CAVES, RELAXING AND THE WORLD'S BIGGEST EMINEM FAN
After the fairly intense trek to Inle Lake, I’d arrived at the town of Nyaungshwe, to the North of the lake. I stayed here for 6 nights in total, but to be honest I didn’t do much while I was here.
That wasn’t because the town didn’t have much to offer, but more because I was quite tired after the trek and had so much to catch up on for this website that I wanted to spend the time relaxing and getting up to date with things.
There were still a few moments worth mentioning though and I’ll cover the basics in this post, before moving onto the next part of the journey.
NOISY HOTEL
As soon as I jumped off the boat I checked into my hotel – the Inle Star.
I was relieved to know it was only a minute’s walk and was right by the river. What I didn’t account for though, was that my room was on the ground floor and faced right out onto the road and the river.
What’s the problem? The problem was that the boats which run up and down the river start early in the morning and go until the early evening and they’re ridiculously loud! Combine that with the constant stream of scooters going by and a lie in was definitely out of the question.
First world problems and all that. I spent four nights in this hotel and then checked into another, named the Hotel Emperor, which was much quieter.
BIKING
On one of the days in Nyaungshwe, a few of us rented some mountain bikes to explore the local area.
We rode out of town and headed to Htet Eain Gu Cave and Monastery; about 5km from where we were staying. It was intensely hot, so this was a bit of a struggle, but it was nice to see some of the sights.
The cave itself was interesting. As usual, dozens of buddha statues contained within and it felt a bit like Tomb Raider, wandering through here and witnessing the treasures displayed all around.
Exiting the cave
We left the cave and headed to a vineyard – Red Mountain Estate.
This was quite a hike uphill, but the views from the top were amazing and we spent an hour drinking the local wine and admiring the view. The wine was actually pretty good and I had a plate of tea leaf salad. This stuff was incredible.
We headed back just before sunset to drop off the bikes and went for a few drinks in the evening and to an Indian restaurant I’d heard about called ‘Innlay Hut’.
INNLAY HUT AND THE WORLD’S GREATEST EMINEM FAN
This place deserves a special mention. I ate here on four out of the six nights I stayed in Nyaungshwe. If you are in town and lucky enough to get a table, you simply must eat here. The butter chicken is incredible.
It’s a tiny restaurant in the middle of town, run by a really eccentric guy named Kumar, who is possibly the world’s biggest Eminem fan. He has Eminem music playing all night and makes all of his food fresh to order, which was the best I’d tasted in all of my time in Myanmar.
This place is rightly popular, but rather than trying to cash in on its popularity, Kumar was only concerned about making great food and had to turn many people away each night.
Customers would sit outside and wait for hours for a table to become available, myself included, but it was so worth it.
I chatted to Kumar at length one night and decided to interview him about his love of Eminem, in the hope that maybe one day this would help him get closer to his idol. You never know!? Here it is:
WHERE TO NEXT??
Having spent now nearly three weeks in Myanmar, I wasn’t sure whether to see out the other 9 days of my visa, or move on, so I decided to put it to the dice.
