From the boat trip with Nixon, we actually saw a lot of Inle Lake already. The only things we did more were some pagodas, sunrise and the vineyard. At Ostello Bello, I met Marloes again together with Luis, who I caught up to during the hike as well and Alfie, who arrived one day later.
In my 5 bed dorm (A very odd number and hence, only someone else when I arrived and met nobody ever after), I met this London dude who is doing some dev work in the financial sector. I overheard Emma describing him as a comic figure since he is always wearing sunglasses even inside.
On the rooftop, I got to know the girls with Marloes as well. Orla is managing the graduate trainee program in a IT consulting company. At the time of writing, I actually met her again in Vang Vieng for a very short night. I don’t remember much about the other 2 girls, except the other Irish one who is a high school teacher. She seemed very nice during the conversation with a nice smile and attentive eye contact.
At Ostello Bello, there are also walking tours. I had nothing better to do and I ended up being the only one on the tour. Actually, the front desk Canadian guy did the tour. He used to be an architect and wanted to travel before 40. So he quited his job and went on his journey by working in different hostels. His general principle is to stay at least 6 months in a country. I think this is a very dedicated way to get to know a country and its customs. Personally, I would decrease this to 3 months after my experience in London. Before Myanmar, he has been to Estonia and Spain, now he has been in Myanmar for more a year already and is currently helping a local guy building his house. This is also interesting to hear that he can actually put what he learned to work. Other details like how the guys wanted to start to work already even before the plan was finished and the now the house is somehow built but the details for the second floor has not been finalized yet.
I also spent more time with Emma and Beth by going to the Indaine Pagodas and the vineyard. I can’t remember what important topics we talked about and the remaining memory of that events were merely talking about how the wine was and some foto shooting sessions.
There was also Jenna, who would sit with us for very short time and already suggest to play card games where after some certain conditions, people can ask questions in the round. And her sample question would dive deeper than small talk to find out for example what your biggest fear would be. This is a good conversation booster to get know everyone better. The next night when we visited the Eminem restaurant, we also talked about your favorite profession if money would not be an issue, how would you spend money if you have plenty (the question actually the dutch girl in Hoi An asked me) and what is your biggest regret.
I also met an 34 year old Taiwan guy from Tainan. He is working for the government admin office and is in Myanmar for 2 weeks. He is very energetic and is always keen in doing something. The one sunrise he went to was unfortunately raining and during the day there was not much to do either so we ended up chatting randomly. I introduced to him the girl I met in Tainan and he would make statements about how getting muscles is not a problem if you go to the gym often enough, even for my statue.
On the rooftop, there were also 2 Swedish girls travelling with their violins. They actually bought the violins in Thailand and somewhere else and met up afterwards. They played some pieces on the rooftop which sounded very nice.
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The Zambian US couple arrived a day later and the next morning I met them, they got themselves one traditional tattoo each. They wanted to go to the traditional cooking class but discovered this place on the way, so they went in. There was no one who spoke english but the owner was kind enough to get one. They were running the shop since generations, but when I went to find it, I only saw a shop being built. So it is not meant to be for me then haha. So the girl got herself a pattern which is supposed to protect her in different ways and the guy got a dragon protecting against black magic. To be honest, the dragon is only solala. And coming back to the story, I think their mentality is reflected very well in this spontaneous tattoo session and also explains their past 4 years.
We met some Dutch girl who was here with her mom, that was quite special. I really can’t imagine that for myself. Cultures…
Also I saw Selina again with David, a twin couple from Lucerne and an retired bicycle shop guy from Fällanden. If you meet Swiss guys, you always meet more than one in that place.
The last day was really not much to do and me and Alfie also talked to an Australian couple for an hour during breakfast. That conversation was also very easy going, ranging from scotland to books to cultural differences. It always needs all parties to carry on a good conversation.
And here a pic from the sunrise
me, drafted this somewhere in a internet cafe in Singapore, and now waiting for the ferry to palau bintan for 2 days.
